Mediation as Adopting Roles: Facilitator and Guide

Becker had the participants in the study "design a learning situation or instructional intervention ... including lead-up activities, gameplay with goals and debriefing" (p. 483).  This exemplifies teacher as facilitator in the creation of the lesson goals, objectives and instructional design, shifting to guide in the "instructional intervention."

Becker also says, "games absolutely require interaction.  They cannot simply be watched or passively digested" (p. 485).  In addition to the interaction between game-player and game, I would also add that interaction between student and teacher as the teacher guides the student in the zone of proximal development, to achieve something that they couldn't before, is another dimension of interaction interaction. 

If students have complete freedom and independence, without any teacher guidance during a lesson when computer technology such as gaming is integrated, then the four elements of the teacher mindset likely do not exist in the execution of the lesson: 

1. there are no highlights or pitstops on the journey towards the lesson objective ("Mediation as journey")
2. the teacher acts only as lesson designer and facilitator and not a guide on the journey where the teacher "positions" the student to question, predict or hypothesize ("Mediation as adopting roles")
3. there is no mutual investment where teacher and student engage in social interaction and a partnership ("Mediation as mutual investment")
4. technology is domesticating in its use to review or reinforce, rather than liberating ("Mediation as appropriation")