I am an educational researcher studying massively multiplayer online games (MMOs or virtual worlds) from a learning sciences & new literacy studies perspective. I’m especially interested in what young adults learn from online play. I am currently an Assistant Professor [vita] at the University of Wisconsin-Madison & teach courses on virtual worlds, research methods, and the “smart” side of pop culture. 

I lead a research team of graduate students (and undergrad volunteers), funded by MacArthur Foundation, that investigates the forms of culture & cognition that arise in online games such as World of Warcraft, RuneScape, or Lineage ][. Current studies focus on: informal science, digital & print literacy, computational literacy, collective problem solving, distributed apprenticeship, and pop cosmopolitanism.

This work is part of a larger UW-Madison initiative called the “Games, Learning & Society” (GLS) group that studies how young people engage in meaningful ways with new forms of interactive digital media, ranging from console games to mobile devices to fantasy baseball to you tube to 3D virtual worlds. As part of this initiative, I chair the annual GLS Conference, hosted every summer here in Madison WI.

Blog Posts

new undergrad course for spring: C&I 375 “videogames & learning”

C&I 375 Videogames & Learning

Lecture: Tuesdays 9:30-10:45 am
Discussion Sections:
Tues 11:00-12:15 pm [class # 51882]
Tues 11:00-12:15 pm [class # 51885]
Thurs 11:00-12:15 pm [class # 51883]
Thurs 11:00-12:15 pm [class # 51884]
In this (3 credit) course, we will discuss current research on the kinds of thinking and learning that goes into videogames. We’ll investigate the benefits and drawbacks of [...]

Posted by Constance at 12pm, Monday 09 Nov 09 to Digital Media Literacy, News | 2 comments | read

new worked example: Math as Narrative

Caro Williams & I just put the finishing touches on a second worked example from the WoW research we’ve been doing here at UW-Madison. This one is entitled “Math as Narrative in WoW Forum Discussions” and builds on a previous analysis we did that focused on scientific reasoning in WoW forums in which we gathered [...]

Posted by Constance at 11am, Monday 17 Aug 09 to Digital Media Literacy, Math, Methods | no comments | read

Contact

Constance Steinkuehler
gmail . twitter . facebook . flickr

528D Teacher Education Building
225 North Mills Street
Madison WI 53706

608.263.4669 (office)
608.554.0041 (skype)

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