Game Based Learning

Doing a bit of research, I have noticed that schools around the world are finally introducing computer-based learning (GBL) in the classroom, and for good reason: It’s a great way to engage students with something they participate in by choice during their downtime. In both 2010 and 2011, the Horizon Report: K–12 Edition, identified GBL as an emerging technology that will impact teaching and learning in the next two to three years. “Games are really ­effective for ­increasing the engagement level of lots of people,” Larry Johnson (CEO of the New Media Consortium) explains. “We’re no longer ­thinking of games as something only kids do — we’re in our third generation of people who have grown up with these games.”

I also came across this site Quest to Learn, a New York City public school that has based the principles of game ­design and integration in the classroom. Supposedly, each trimester, in each class, students are given a mission — a complex problem they can’t solve at that time. I think this ­unconventional learning model, in which students play games to introduce and reinforce skills is great. The designed quests that students embark upon are very sequenced, with each one giving them a piece of information they need to solve the complex ­problem. Students ‘level up’ only ­after they complete each quest. The approach mirrors how many video games work, and is a natural way for educators to think, set and achieve goals for students who have grown up playing on their computers. The idea of play in learning has been around for a long time and for some weird reason, it ends after early elementary school.

We all in our daily lives, even as professionals, play with objects and ­concepts to see how they work. If we mess up, it typically doesn’t hold serious ­consequences. Making failure fun is an ­important part of games and should also play a role in learning. Sure, there are other obstacles, though to all this game play. Game development is expensive and also some CEOs/managers/teachers don’t under­stand the technology’s learning benefits.  What do you all think?