Machine Learning: Pedagogy, Video Games, and the Challenges of the Day

In the contemporary study of religion Max Weber’s well-known proclamations concerning technology, rationalization, and the disenchantment of the world are frequently cited. Often overlooked, however, is the context in which he spoke, not as a prophet, demagogue, or leader of the modern era, but as a teacher and fellow student. Ultimately, education, as Weber understands it, is an existential task that seeks to prepare the student, and the educator, to engage the challenges of the day full in the face. The inconvenient fact of the matter, for us in our day, a day further dominated by techno-rationalization within and without the classroom, is that these challenges have become all the more demanding. Employing a Weberian analysis to the educational challenges of our day, the present work seeks to question how and in which ways video game technologies might help us reenchant student learning experiences and outcomes in a university setting.