• ‘conflicts of image’ may occur, where a
games developer or producer would be
producing both ‘fun’ or ‘cool’ games,
and ‘learning games’
• the almost total lack of video gaming
equipment in schools, as opposed to
homes, would require a massive
investment in hardware for producers of
console-based games.
5.2.2 Using mainstream games
in schools
The use of mainstream computer and
video games is both potentially very
interesting and very challenging for formal
educational settings. Numerous
challenges surround the use of these
games in a classroom setting; while some
titles offer more scope for learning in the
less constrained home context.
The key issues concerning the use of
mainstream games in schools are:
• the many roles and requirements of the
teacher in terms of training,
understanding of the game, keeping the
students ‘on track’ and troubleshooting.
It is arguable that the role of the
teacher, or mediator, is often as
important as the game itself in terms of
whether useful learning has taken place
(Birmingham 2001)
• identifying games that may be
successful or useful in a classroom
situation. Here, educational funding
bodies need to ensure that a ‘chicken
and egg’ situation does not develop,
where schools wait to view the results of
the successful deployment of games in
other schools before introducing the
technology themselves. It is of
increasing concern amongst the games
research community that the use of
such games in schools has now been
widely discussed for a number of years,
but has still failed to take place in any
coherent manner
• cultural acceptance of games as media
through which learning can take place.
This is to a degree outside of the control
of the educational sector, which must
contest or deal with wider public
perceptions of games
• compatibility with school hardware,
licencing agreements, and arguably
other software, eg allowing the
player/user to easily port the financial
results of a session on a business
simulation game into Excel
• there is a need for developers of games
(and other software) aimed at the formal
education sector to consider the various
stakeholders involved, and to consider
both their needs (and how these may be
fulfilled by the game) and their reaction
to such a device.
Nevertheless, there is sufficient interest in
the use of these games in the classroom
to encourage further exploration in this area.
5.2.3 Using ‘lite’ versions of
mainstream games
It is perhaps in a compromise between
edutainment and mainstream games that
the greatest potential to classroomuseable
games lies. These would:
• have all unnecessary content removed
(thus providing ‘immediacy of learning’)
• have their content and underlying rule
base verified and tested by educational
organisations
• include background/help/training
materials for both the teacher/
motivator, and for students |
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• include curriculum-relevant tasks
and content
• allow users to save at regular intervals
• be compatible with the original ‘full’
versions, so students could continue
using the game at home
• be offered to schools on an attractive
licensing system.
There is potential here for the games
industry to develop an attractive, and lowcost,
solution. As the code already exists
for the games, development costs for the
‘lite’ versions should be very low.
Marketing of the games would both open
up new revenue streams, and extend the
longevity of the original title, as students
keen on the game purchase it for their own
use. This does however assume that there
are enough existing or planned games with
sufficient content relevant to school-based
learning to form a ‘lite’ version.
5.2.4 Developing game-based
learning communities
The role of online communities associated
with games in education is in its infancy
and little related research or evaluation
exists. The evidence from trials of games
play in school does point to the importance
of children’s wider gaming culture.
Discussion, reflection and planning are all
collaborative activities that go on as
children talk about their gaming, and plot
their next session. Moreover they see this
talk as a vital part of the fun of gaming.
In recent years educational software
developers have begun to pay more
attention to the role of such interaction by
creating online communities within which
various ‘educational games’ can be found.
Examples of this include the SparkIsland
site, Grid Club and others. To date,
however, these tend to be restricted to
online communities ‘surrounding’
educational resources, rather than
communities within which the games
activities generate discussion and debate.
Trends indicate that such virtual
communities could contribute significantly
to learning related to games play and, as
such, this activity warrants research and
evaluation.
The value of collaborative learning, and the
role of computers in promoting such
activity have been thoroughly researched.
Whilst such collaboration cannot be
assumed, and children have to learn to
work together, computer-based activities
can help in this process. How this
collaboration translates into a multiplayer
gaming environment and how these
environments might be used to support
learning, remain some of the most
interesting areas for potential further
research and development.
5.3 FINAL CHALLENGES
The central theme of this report has been
a consideration of the case for developing,
and using, computer and video games for
educational purposes. In various
idiosyncratic ways, and mainly isolated
instances, such games and technologies
are already being used in some
classrooms (mainly in western countries).
However, various issues relating to
perceptions of games, relevance to
curriculum, accuracy of content and
suitability for use in timetabled classroom
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virtual
communities
could contribute
significantly to
learning related
to games play |
