Skip to main content

LTEC 5240 Day 4 Defining Educational Games

Write a reflection about your perception of what should be considered an educational game. Explain your reasoning and provide some insights into how you developed this position. Your response should be at least 300 words. Delve deep and reference examples and resources where possible.
While I have a broad and inclusive definition of a game, I tend to have a narrow and exclusive definition of what an educational game is. According to our textbook, there are three basic criteria for games: “ (a) Interactive rule set governing play (b) Conflict to drive play (c) A win scenario/condition.” (Warren & Jones, 2017) A fourth criterion is required to make a game educational: does the game effectively teach learners? Growing up, my parents wanted me only to play educational games. I argued in less eloquent terms that Tetris was a game because it taught some problem-solving skills.  Tetris may help a person improve their spatial reasoning and eye-hand coordination, but there are no clear learning objectives.  Tetris also does not have a clear way to assess what someone has learned, nor can you truly transfer this learning to other domains.

Simulations, according to the book, also do not qualify as “games.”  Having a virtual galaxy or rainforest might be highly educational.  You can have game elements within the simulation like a scavenger hunt.  However, the actual simulation doesn’t have learning objectives.  There is something inherent in the definition of games that requires a goal, and simulations do not have that.
My definition of an educational game includes games like Carmen Sandiego, Kahoot, and Mavis Beacon. However, my definition would also include things that don’t need technology.   I would consider classroom versions of Jeopardy review game an educational game. It has clear learning objectives, competition, rules, and a win/loss condition

Effective teaching requires a combination of different tools. The competitive nature of games is something that increases engagement. In the end, it is less critical if something is an educational game, and more important that students learn whether it be through a game simulation or traditional teaching techniques.

Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining “Gamification.” New York, NY: MindTrek '11.

Warren, S. J., & Jones, G. (2017). Learning Games: The Science and Art of Development. Denton TX: Springer International Publishing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LTEC 5510 Week 13

Week 13 Blog: My course is pretty much complete. Additional feedback from peer reviews will be necessary, but I don’t plan on making any drastic changes.   I have a rough draft of my job aide done, and it should be finished after I get my feedback from my partner. I assumed that the Job Aide was going to be one of the more difficult parts of this course. I don’t like writing long papers. But when I started discussing how the class worked, I found it very easy to write. The only thing I have left to do is the presentation. While part of me thinks it won’t be that difficult, I know better than to believe that. I entered this course believing that my material as a biology teacher would have made the creation of the course simple. I predicted wrong. While it was nice to have old worksheets, PowerPoints, quizzes, and links to YouTube videos in my career, that in many ways slowed me down.   Having old material made me a little complacent.   As someone teaching the sa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Final Entry LTEC 5220

I have learned a lot about the multi media perspective in this class.  In some ways, there is obvious.  I have learned a great deal about graphic, audio, video and web design. I seemed to have gotten my money’s worth for the Adobe Creative Suite.  Some key things that I need to keep in mind. ·          Planning is of paramount importance.  Tools like storyboarding help immensely.  ·          Use stuff out of the creative commons or the public domain. Royalty free things are good for the “real world”.  ·          Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  If not, you will have wasted a lot of time. ·          Find good help. I had great help from my parents and friends when making my videos. I was also working with Jessica Lambert, but she had to drop the class. I wish I could have been there ...
Post a Comment
Read more

LTEC 5510 Week 11

Week 11 Blog By the end of this week, your full initial development must be completed. Were you able to finish according to your timeline? Why or why not? What technology challenges have you faced? What “people” challenges have you faced? How have you sought to overcome these difficulties? What have you learned about completing a major project within a professional deadline? What will you do differently next time? What were your strengths as a designer? What do you need to improve? What a difference a week makes. Due to COVID 19, I got furloughed for a few weeks.   Thus, I had a lot of free time this week, and I have been able to get a lot done. It is incredible how much I could get done when I don’t have a full-time job to worry about. There are a lot of challenges in this course. My old teaching PowerPoints had a lot of breakpoints where I could ask the class a question, do demonstrate something. I had to spend a lot of time rewriting my PowerPoin...
Post a Comment
Read more