TED Talks Daily - How video games can level up the way you learn | Kris Alexander

Episode Date: September 7, 2026

Video games naturally tap into the way we learn: they focus our attention and track our progress as we head toward a clear goal. Kris Alexander, a professor of video game design and passionate gamer himself, thinks the same elements should be used in traditional education to cater to different learning styles and engage students across the world, both in-person and online.This episode originally aired in 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, y'all, Elise Hugh here. My three daughters just headed back to school with new backpacks, new teachers, and all that first day energy. And back-to-school season can make me feel like a student again, too. So for this month's TED Talks Daily playlist, we have gathered five of our favorite talks about learning, teaching, and the joy of staying curious. No textbooks required. Happy listening. You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity. every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. You probably know how hard it is to rest a young person

away from their screens in order to focus on school. But video game expert Chris Alexander says, why not both? Why couldn't the augmented reality and virtual worlds we experience in most innovative video games be embedded in our education? In his 2023 talk from TED at Destination Canada, he shows us the possibility for learning that's already available if schools engage with it after a short break. And now our TED Talk of the Day. When I was in senior year university, this was around 2004, I was in one of those classes where the teacher would read the slides,

word for word as part of a three-hour lecture. Oh, you all know what I'm talking about? Okay, cool. I ended up doing all right in the class by catering to my own learning style. After a little bit of experimentation, I found that playing a video game during this lecture, a game like Tetris, or in this particular case, Zelda the Minish Cap,

helped me pay attention because the primary way I engage with information is by listening. And this meant that the teacher's voice with matching text were a distraction for me. Anyway, I was at the back listening and participating, mind you. But one day, this teacher decided to call me out. He stopped the class and said, excuse me, are you playing video games in my class? And then I said, I am, sir, but this is the way that I learn.

And then he said, there's no way that you're learning anything. And then I said, sir, I'm not interrupting. I am learning and I'm even participating. And then he said, no, I don't want you playing video games in my class. And then I said, sir, and then I said, sir, I'm going to place this Game Boy Advance on the table, repeat your last two sentences word for word, and then I'm going to pick up this Game Boy Advance and keep playing. And then he said, I don't think you can do that. And then the class went, ooh.

Oh, you can picture that? All right, cool. So I placed my Game Boy Advance on the table. I looked him right in his eye, repeated his last two sentences word for word, and then I picked up my Game Boy Advance and kept playing. And then you know what he said? All right, carry on. So, since that day, I've become a professor myself, a video game design. And I'm convinced that there's absolutely something that video games can teach the world of academia.

how they can cater to human learning, how they can enhance online instruction and how they can provide clear objectives. Let me explain. Humans can take information in three core ways, audio, text and video. Now, as I demonstrated earlier, I'm an oral learner,

which means I prefer to take an information via sound. And some studies show that when two or more of these channels are used, learning gains are higher, but there's a catch. Now, I was struggling to pay attention in this class because of something called cognitive overload, which can happen when audio, text, and video aren't different enough when used together.

So when the audio of my teacher matched the excessive text on his slides, my brain was overloaded. Teachers who use technology in the classroom need to ensure that each channel is complementary, otherwise students are going to have difficulty transferring information from working memory to long-term memory. Now, I fixed the problem for myself

by essentially using the teacher's voice as the soundtrack for the game I was playing. And this brings me to my first point. Video games by design are a complex blend of audio, text, video, and interactivity that can intensify. focus. That was a point of my PhD. And because of their enjoyment factor, these components of video games can help with something our students

desperately need in the classroom. Motivation. Now, at their best, video games can immerse us, focus our attention, and provide clear objectives with demonstrated output. You know how well you're doing every step of the way. And video games can teach multiple things simultaneously. Like, there's this class I teach, game design, where I like to use a video game called Virginia. Now, in Virginia, you play as Ann Tarver, a newly hired FBI agent who is tasked with internally investigating someone who just happens to be the only other female agent.

in the precinct, and this game is based on a true story. Now, on the surface, I'm using Virginia to teach game design, but I'm also using the mechanics of video games to trick students into exploring complex concepts like history, sexism, racism, corporate culture, and tokenism while we play this game together. To me, effective instruction,

Directive instruction merges theory and practice. Each week in this class, I like to pick a unique video game that matches the game theory and sprinkles in a couple of life takeaways. We play the game together and talk about it, and then the students have to go and make video games themselves. And this all happens. Wait for it?

Online. And guess what? COVID forced everyone to join me teaching online. and most schools struggled. But there are many examples of effective online instruction in unlikely places like YouTube streams, Netflix programming, and, believe it or not, Amazon's Twitch. Now, as you probably know, Twitch is an online streaming platform

where people can watch other people play video games, but it can also be used to learn how to paint, with Ergo Josh. Learn how to play piano with Juanor piano. Learn how to code with Rosio Tome and even how to cook meals with Yarrumi-chan. Uh-huh, yeah, real. And Twitch had an average of 2.78 million concurrent viewers in 2021.

Now, that's a lot of motivated learners if you actually think about it. One of my favorite classes to teach online is a class called e-sports broadcasting, where I'm essentially just using video games to teach students how to professionally present themselves online using a free piece of software called Open Broadcaster Software or OBS. Here, I teach them how to connect any available camera to the software, add white balance, and color correction to help that image pop, Use on-screen text to complement the video

and compress any available microphone to make it sound and look exactly like what they're accustomed to consuming online. And the same processes that hook viewers on Twitch are the same processes school should use to learn how to engage students online and globally. That should be one of their objectives, shouldn't it? Hold on. What are the objectives of a post-secondary?

education anyway. And what could education overall learn from video games, which clearly say, start here, do these things, and then obtain these things? Now, if the goal of a post-secondary education includes students getting a job in the same thing they went to school for, guess what? Schools are failing. More than half of graduates do not get jobs in their field of study. That would be like enrolling.

in chef training and then graduating to start a job in data analytics. Why not just enroll in data analytics? You could. Grow with Google has an online program promising you a job in data analytics starting at $74,000 a year, and that program is free to start. Epic Games offers a pathway to become a developer with its Unreal Engine for Interactive 3D Development. a field that they say has gone up 601%

and is paying people 57% more than the average salary. For clarity, their Unreal Engine is the same tool used to build Fortnite and the same tool used to build some of the backgrounds behind the Mandalorian at no cost to use. Are you all hearing all these near-free, no-fee examples I'm giving you? University in particular is mad expensive. The cost of university has gone up. 1,200% since 1980.

To me, to me, there's not a single job, trade, or discipline that doesn't in some way connect to the video games industry. There are dentists like Dr. August de Oliveira, who are using augmented reality to see the roots of your teeth while working on your teeth. Psychologists are using virtual reality

to help you overcome a fear of spiders and broadcast technicians responsible for filming, a dragon flying over a live stadium full of people as part of a League of Legends' e-sports broadcast. Video game technologies are embedded in all of these, and that must mean that the video games industry is not just made of players, but made of you. Now, I'm not suggesting that video games

replace classroom instruction. Settle down internet. I'm advocating for the components of video games, especially the engaging ones, to be ported into classroom instruction because the audience, the students, clearly understand the media. There are roughly 3 billion video game players worldwide. Video games contain the blueprint for engaging education

because of the way that they cater to human learning. A complex story, interwoven with learning content, and a bit of artificial intelligence. for difficulty and balance. Online instruction can be enhanced if schools turn to top streaming platforms and streamers to learn how to effectively engage students online. And the objectives for education overall

need to be as specific as a video game so that those who are enrolled have a clear line of sight to where they're headed. If we can start showing students how their passion for playing connects to their futures, we will have done our jobs. The next generation of teachers are those who can connect the path of study to profession via passion. Oh, and one last thing about the playing of video games.

There's a 22 study suggesting that the playing of video games is associated with heightened cognition, faster reaction times, improved working memory, and modifying the cortical networks associated with the process of playing. And that is what I should have said to that teacher. Thank you. That was Chris Alexander at TED at Destination Canada in 2023. And this talk was originally published in March of that year. If you're curious about TED's curation, visit TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today.

Ted Talks Daily is a podcast from TED. This episode was fact-checked by the TED research team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Tobner, and Tonzica, Sungmarnevon. Additional support from Daniela Ballerazo, Christopher Faisi Bogan, Valentina Bohanini, Ban Ban-Ban-Chang, Brian Green, and Lainey-Lott. Learn more at podcasts.com.com. I am Elise Hupe. Thanks for listening.