Teacher roles in learning games - When games become situated in schools

Using learning games in education gives rise to a learning situation where game culture meets school culture and the result can be successful or corrupting for both. In this paper I present a case study of school classes and their teachers playing the game ‘Homicide’, a game where children play the roles as forensic experts who solve a series of murder cases. When teachers use this type of games, they have to adapt to new teaching situations and roles. This includes the fictional role in a game, but also the role as a supervisor for a group of students that play the role as professional experts. I present examples of teachers who adopt different roles in the game, and discuss how understanding the background for these roles can help us define the game-based learning situation. Finally I discuss what consequences the problems presented here may have for the design of future learning games. Author