Newbie

Newbie: A 46-year-old tries to become a gamer . . .

My name is Tom Miller and I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person. I did well in school. I can drive a stick shift. I even know how to use most of the remotes sitting on the coffee table in my living room. I generally feel like I’m good at seeing patterns and figuring stuff out.

Computer games, though, baffle me. They seem entirely “other,” like they’re meant for people who are much younger and much smarter than I am. Up until now, I’ve avoided the things, because… well, who likes to feel old and stupid??? Not me, that’s for sure.

And then I got this job, part of which involves writing about how computer games can be used as teaching tools. And now I’m the one with some learning to do… because in this world, I am a complete and utter “newbie.”

I suspect that I’m going to be feeling old and stupid a lot… but maybe I’ll get to some other place - “young and smart” is out of the question, but could there possibly be something else???

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Newbie is part of the Learning Games to Go project that’s creating digital learning games and curricula for middle school pre-Algebra classes. For this project to succeed, many teachers (especially those in my age group and older) are going to have to learn about computer games for the very first time. How do they work? What can they do? How can they help in the classroom? It’s going to be a big leap for a lot of folks, just as it continues to be a big leap for me. My hope is that by sharing my learning process, with its ups and downs, its silliness and frustrations, this blog might help encourage others in their own learning adventures.

As adults, it’s often difficult to learn new things… especially in public. But whether we’re six or 60, the first step toward learning something new is to admit that we’ve still got something to learn.

I’m happy to have your company on the journey.