Creative, Active, Responsible Students in the Digital World 1 | Page 14

CO-FUNDED BY THE ERASMUS + PROGRAMME OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Game-based learning, using online video games for educational purposes
By Eleni Androulaki
3 rd Primary School of Agios Nikolaos Crete, Greece
At the turn of the 21 st century, public interest in games as learning tools took hold. In
the eyes of digital game-based learning proponents, the general public and today’s teachers
finally understood something that students and educational researchers knew all along.
Ongoing research supports their effectiveness in education. Another factor for the
acceptance of digital game-based learning, is that today’s students are a part of a digital
generation that has become disengaged with traditional instruction. As a result, digital games
may have a permanent home in education. According to a survey of K-8 teachers, 55 % have
students play digital games in class at least weekly.
Definitions
Digital game-based learning refers to using actual digital video games as learning
tools. The basic idea behind digital game-based learning in the classroom is that, as opposed
to isolated tasks such as memorization, quizzing and drilling, digital games help students
learn subject matter in context, as part of an interactive system.
Game-based learning should not be confused with gamification. Gamification takes
an element of education and replaces it with a game-based element. For instance, a teacher
may replace grades with levels or experience points.
Several types of games may be used in digital game-based learning.
Educational Games: Video and computer games that use an engaging and immersive learning
experience to deliver specific learning goals, outcomes and experiences.
Online Games: Games that range from simple text-based games to games that span complex,
virtual worlds used by large numbers of players simultaneously.
Serious Games: Games that train or educate users; generally, serious games have a primary
purpose other than entertainment.
Simulations: Games that model real-world situations.
Effectiveness of Digital Game-Based Learning
Digital games are effective teaching tools because, “Games embody well-established
principles and models of learning,” according to EDUCAUSE Review. “For instance, games
are effective partly because the learning takes place within a meaningful (to the game)
context. What you must learn is directly related to the environment in
which you learn and demonstrate it; thus, the learning is not only relevant but applied and
practiced within that context. Learning that occurs in meaningful and relevant contexts is
more effective than learning that occurs outside of those contexts, as is the case with most
formal instruction. Researchers refer to this principle as situated cognition and have
demonstrated its effectiveness in many studies over the last fifteen years.”
Other reasons help account for the success of digital games in education. Researchers
point to play as a primary socialization and learning mechanism common to all human
cultures and many animal species. Also, games apply to Jean Piaget’s theories about children
and learning. The concepts of assimilation and accommodation are relevant to digital games,
where cognitive disequilibrium is at play for the learner. In other words, students learn from
failures and successes they encounter during digital games.
CREATIVE, ACTIVE, RESPONSIBLE STUDENTS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD
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