This article is from the Times of India looking at a couple of perspectives on whether video games can become a part of the school curriculum. Initially this article describes current teaching practices in India India India ’s education system but I don’t have quite the same dramatic opinion of Australia
The article goes on to explain how video games are excellent learning tools that promote creative, thinking learning and improve comprehension, reaction time also providing students with the ability to handle failures and enhance intelligence. Gee (2004) agrees and recognises that video games can provide powerful learning environments. I definitely see the potential for using video games in learning contrary to my limited experience with them. Yet this quote from the article “when will people realise that learning has to happen entirely from experiences in real life scenarios” (facilitated by video games) (Paul, 2010) made me wonder if there can’t be a balance of traditional and digital educational mediums. I agree that real world connections and authentic experiences consolidate deep learning but I still think that there is a place for traditional mediums and that they can successfully coexist with digital media and video games in an educational setting.
Van Eck (2006) explains how today’s ‘digital natives’ have become disengaged with traditional instruction. If in the future video games and digital media are the only ways that children will be able to process knowledge successfully and learn are we doing our jobs as educators to equip them with skills they need to learn in a variety of environments and situations? Does this mean students in the future won't be able to learn from the ‘boring old’ book?
Golda Mangan
If India’s current ways of teaching students is producing factory workers, is Australia doing the same or are we, as teacher librarians, adopting innovative teaching practices and higher order thinking experiences for students?
ReplyDeleteSome educators, like Gee, believe that video games can transform learning, promote creativity and build confidence. Tyagi, in particular, believes that there will be a time when people will realise that learning, through video games, will happen entirely from experiences in real life scenarios and not through rote learning. I tend to agree with Tyagi in that, as the traditional classroom is slowly becoming obsolete, it is being replaced by these more innovative teaching technologies. When students learn through video games, they are highly motivated, engaged and keep track of their goals.
But, like Shetty, even though I acknowledge the importance of teaching through video games, I believe they must be handled very carefully. They can be highly addictive, but if they are used to stimulate children’s literacy, design and communication skills and more, they can have beneficial effects on student learning.
With the amount of research today on the effect of video games on learning, I wonder how long it will take for teachers to accept it entirely? It is my goal to pursue this issue further and keep up with how young people are learning through video games and other digital media.