Four insights into the future of games and technology for learning
Two very disparate sources shared insights this week on the role of video games, and by extension, technology more broadly, in 21st century learning. James Paul Gee, a venerable yet cutting-edge education researcher and social critic, spoke about the topic to the Digital Media and Learning center of the MacArthur Foundation, and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center , the research center on children, learning and media founded by the founder of Sesame Workshop, came out with a big “market map and investment analysis” of “games for a digital age,” meaning, games in K-12.
1) All games are not the same.
“Many video games are very good at creating motivation and creating engagement, but they are not good for covering a whole curriculum.”–Gee
The Cooney report made a distinction between games based partly on how long they take to play, a rough measure of complexity. Although long-form games (an open-ended quest like Minecraft) are better supported by research, short-form games ( a vocabulary quiz like Murray’s Word on the Street) have more market potential because they fit better into a traditional class format.
The envelope, please…
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