Game Playing and Systems Thinking

A lot of the literature builds on a theory of communication that focuses on text contents and interactive learning. But in order to improve teaching and learning we need to understand why students communicate the way they do. In order to do so, research needs to begin with the actual process by which textual messages are produced. Then we can analyse the form and contents of the messages. The shift of focus from text products to working processes is a matter of didactic design. This chapter outlines the teachers’ didactic designs and the students’ verbal exchanges on a virtual platform. More specifically, what would be the characteristics of emerging patterns of interaction produced by ICT and social communication systems?