Educational games essay example

Will Gaming Save Education, or Just Waste Time?

The title of the article itself is crucial about the true essence of an educational game. Does it save education? Is it just a waste of time for the students and the educators involved? Is educational game important and needed in education development? These are only of the few questions that we can ask about educational games. One thing that caught my attention is that how important is the use of technology in education and if gaming is part of it, then there is no way of this hard-to-teach concepts like failure and perspective. In 2008, Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that of kids ages 12 to 17, 97 percent are playing digital games every week or half played daily. About 21 billion dollars are spent by consumers in 2012 on the game industry, that is half of all American households dedicated and purchased game consoles and even most of them have two game consoles. They believe that gaming provides a happy recreation from what would be happening in the classroom.
According to Katie Salen, a well-known game designer, a professor in DePaul University, and one of the masterminds in Quest to Learn in New York public school, that games and playing is always part of the classrooms for a long time. It is quite agreeable that games offer several educational benefits and it provides an environment to learn by doing. Games are rich with data and are filled with significant information for the players on how to get better, or what they need to do. Games open up assessment and powerful; data can be used by educators as well as student (Salens & DiCerbo, 2013).
According to Jessica Millstone, educator at Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Bank Street College of Education, that gaming has a sweet spot in education; it helps the students take hold of concepts that are hard to learn compare to a book. In adapting educational games to the classroom is not a disadvantage in general instead challenges. However, these challenges affect as most public school classroom based in Los Angeles; digital gaming has not yet past the experimental stage. The adoption of gaming in the classroom is to know the difference between the gaming world and the real world. According to Ron Smith, an art and media teacher at Helen Bernsteain High School in Los Angeles Unified School Districts, students do not have time to consolidate what they learned on gaming and games has a place in learning.
There is an effective outcome on the real issues in educational games. The system in most schools adopted a factory system of education with speed and complexity (Bushnell, 2013). The computers allow the educators to adapt to each student’s skills and speed particularly. Students can master the subject and educational game is a big change to level up the understanding and reach impressive outcomes. Gaming is a digital game with learning objectives while gamification introduces the mechanics of games such as the use of points, leaderboards, and rewards on activities without the necessity to play a game. Educational games give the educators a boost on data competencies. Being ahead in education with technology is a great advantage to students and educators. This change has able to do with the sight of the educators how powerful the educational games are towards learning. This change is fundamental in the experiences of educators as models of mastery in technology and gaming saves education.

References

Schaffhauser, D. (2013, September 2). The Journal: Will Gaming Save Education, or Just Waste
Time? Retrieved from http://thejournal. com/Articles/2013/09/02/Will-Gaming-Save-Education-or-Just-Waste-Time. aspx? Page= 1
Fioriello, P. (2013). Edudemic: What to Look for in Educational Video Games, Retrieved from
http://www. edudemic. com/educational-video-games/
Tack, D. (2013). Forbes: Serious Games and the Future of Education, Retrieved from
http://www. forbes. com/sites/danieltack/2013/09/12/serious-games-and-the-future-of-education/