Education, Technology and Games

EDCI 675 Entry

Posted on October 1st, 2008 in Uncategorized

Videogames have become the entertainment of choice for most children and young adults. Within the past five years the videogame industry has surpassed the movie industry in overall profits. Production costs for game creation now ranges from $1million to $10million dollars. These games can be found on computers, consoles that connect to the television, and mobile devices including cell phones. The rise of videogames has promoted the need for a radical change in public education.  Current generations demand fast, accessible, instant online information and social connectivity.

Children even as young as two years of age are playing media intensive games, and the research suggests that their brains are developing in a radically different way than generations past. These new technologies and their results on children should be considered when designing classroom lessons. Without the ability to rationally express their demands, k-12 students need a radically new classroom pedagogy that includes all types of technologies. Even if the technologies exist, often the teachers do not know how to implement it effectively to reach this “new” student.

Can the concepts that lie beneath the visual layer of videogames be extracted and studied? Can the actual philosophical design concepts be used in a classroom even without the technology? Given that information technologies (IT) like computers and cell phones are just a vehicles for information, can an entire pedagogy be created without using actual IT and used if those concepts understood? If it can be done then the following question could be asked. What makes a game addicting, fun, desirable, and most importantly educational? Some argue it is the ability to make choices and become “the best” that makes video games fun. Others argue that the best games are ones that are connected to an online community where the game gives players the ability to recreate themselves and have anonymous social connections. What if those concepts of choice, winning, and social connectivity were incorporated into a pedagogy? Every game play must learn how to play the game. Gamers might not be learning basic concepts found in State/Federal content standards, but there are large pieces of information being learned. Finally, what if you could take those concepts and combine them with Mastery Learning. What would happen if a teacher could give the choice for each student to follow their personalized path, and achieve at the highest level possible?