Gaming Trends

It's been an interesting semester!  If you would have told me in January that I'd spend as much time as I have playing an online game, I wouldn't have believed it!  I think I've come a long way in both my game playing ability and my understanding of the way that gaming could potentially impact our educational environment in the future.  To look ahead to 2030, which really isn't that far off when I think about all that has happened in the last 15+ years in education, gives me a chance to really see an educational environment where games are a main focus.  

Teachers strive to reach their learners and keep them engaged.  McGonigal cites Czikszentmikalyi when she talks about engagement in gaming, saying, "we regularly achieve the greatest form of happiness available to human beings: intense, optimistic engagement with the world around us. We feel fully alive, full of potential and purpose"(Kindle Locations 616-617).  That's how a student should feel when they leave a classroom!  Full of potential and purpose.  If games can offer students that level of engagement, then the classroom of the future could be centered around students' game playing.  

Another potential impact of game playing is that students would be challenged, as I was during my Settler's experience, with setting goals and working both alone and with a group to achieve those goals.  Willis (2011) states, "When learners have opportunities to participate in learning challenges at their individualized achievable challenge level, their brains invest more effort to the task and are more responsive to feedback".  
I talked earlier in the semester about schools and the educational system needing to "level up" in their efforts to really meet the needs of the learners.  As we've learned more about the way that the brain works and the effects of game playing on the brain, we should be able to develop methods and pedagogies that cater to these game playing students. 

I teach in an elementary setting and also work with teachers at the graduate level.  It's certainly clear that the "one size fits all" mentality won't work when it comes to game playing.  Elementary students have different needs from their high school counterparts and the dichotomy becomes even greater when you continue to shift from high school to college.  Students' brains are wired differently and they develop according to that wiring.  Researchers from The University of Rochester studied reaction time in answering questions.  College students who "played the action-packed fast-paced games like the popular “Call of Duty” answered a series of questions about 25 percent faster than their counterparts" (Carter, 2012).  

It's time to take a closer look at the impact of video gaming in the classroom.  Gaming has important benefits like motivation, reward, feedback, engagement, collaboration, etc. All skills and experiences that as educators we strive to provide for our students.  It's important to realize that these components can make for powerful experiences in the classroom.  Positive experiences that can propel students forward in their learning and achievement.  

This semester has given me a reason to really look at and think of the ways that games could play a role in the classroom of today and tomorrow.  It will continue to be an interesting picture, framed by the games we bring into our classrooms.