Ed Gaming – A Trend to Watch

 
According to http://screentime.org the average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television every day.  The same organization cites a study saying 1 in 4 children under the age of 2 have a television in their rooms.  In fact, a 2009 report by ABC News found that back in 1999 a survey of seventh grade students in Montreal revealed that 50% of boys and 25% of girls self-reported spending at least 42 hours a week in front of a screen (Dotinga, 2009). Given the advancements in technology one can only assume this number has increased since then.

As an educator, I continually hear teachers at all levels mourning the loss of attention spans among students caused by excessive screen usage.  But is there a way to leverage this tendency to actually motivate and engage students in learning?  Bryan Alexander, a researcher at the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, explains that games can nurture the following list of pedagogical principles: “repetition, scaffolding, multimedia reinforcement, assessment, taking learners to the edge of their zone of proximal development, and increasing challenges over time” (2008).

Creating a culture of gaming on campus requires faculty to be engaged in uncovering quality games for their content areas along with university libraries acquiring digital game assets and promoting them to students.  Finally, IT staff must be consulted regarding the bandwidth required to support high-demand software on campus. 

As I researched this topic I found myself easily distracted by the wide variety of gaming options for a wide variety of content areas.  The first to catch my attention was developed in the UK to educate the pubic on the spread of the swine flu virus http://www.clinical-virology.org/killerflu/killerflu.html.  Be careful, you may end up entranced for hours.

Here are some sites that have been highlighted by thought leaders in educational gaming:

• http://www.bogost.com/games/
• http://www.persuasivegames.com/
• http://seriousgames.ning.com/
• http://www.seriousgamessource.com/ 
• http://www.watercoolergames.org/

A good first step would be to search for a game that would be appropriate for your course and then include it as an assignment with a threaded discussion follow-up activity where students reflect on the content that was presented.  Just try not to spend too much time in front of a screen as you’re putting this activity together.

References

Alexander, B. (2008). Games for Higher Education: 2008. EduCause Review, 43 (4).

Hall, B. (2009, January).  Five Learning Trends for 2009.  Retrieved August 5, 2009 from Chief Learning Officer, http://www.clomedia.com/take-five/brandon-hall/2009/January/2503/index.php

Dotinga, R. (2009).  Teens Spending Too Much Screen Time.  Retrieved August 4, 2009 from ABC News, Health http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/Story?id=4510769&page=1

Brian McKay Epp
Academic Trainer and Consultant