Hmm...
Academics and videogames, it would always be an uneasy cocktail
One of our esteemed community members and a wonderful Game Based Learning conference participant (brilliant in the Pecha Kucha session),
Paul Pivec, has recently posted an article for UK agency
Becta (who have yet to respond with a policy on Game Based Learning) where he considers the efficacy of game based learning and posits a theory about what he calls "Game Based Teaching"
The article can be downloaded
hereIt's an interesting but controversial article in that it appears to perpetuate a proposition, perhaps by those organisations that seek further academic research funding, that there is no solid evidence that children are really learning anything from videogames or whether it is the way in which the teacher is deploying them and ignoring the very real value of the informal learning that is going on out of school.
I would certainly suggest that the teachers engagement and willingness to use videogames is a vital part of the equation but the notion of Game Based Teaching I feel is getting dangerously close to wanting to put teachers back into the comfort zone of them being in control of the learning.
Can the fact that children and adults learning from videogames really be questioned?
I believe even
James Flynn has agreed with the original proposition by
Steven Johnson that modern media including games are having an impact on children's intelligence.
I enjoyed reading Paul's article although didn't agree with everything it contained as it didn't resonate with my first hand experience of both using games with children in schools and having the honour of spending time, often in their schools, with leading practitioners such as Derek Robertson, Ollie Bray, Kim Applin, Anna Rossvoll, Steve Bunce, Dawn Hallybone and many of the other UK-based innovators in this field.
Have a look at Paul's report and see what you think
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