It's just a game? Report on computer gaming published

A newly-published report Learning in Immersive

Worlds: a review of game-based learning explores the increased
attention being paid to games to support learning objectives, presenting
the findings of a literature review and a set of case studies of game-based
learning from everythe ‘explosion’ in leisure
gaming overt the last ten years has important implications for the use of
games and simulations in both pre- and post-16 education.day
practice contexts.  

The Jisc-commissioned report finds that computer games
could have an important role to play in learning but that for learning to
take place, games must be related to learning outcomes and be relevant to
real world contexts of practice. Factors that influence learner motivation
include, the report suggests, the player’s sense of challenge, the realism
of the game, opportunities to explore or discover new information and
learner control.

One major barrier to the uptake of game-based learning, says the
report, is the perception that gaming is a leisure pursuit with no
pedagogic value. However, the ‘explosion’ in leisure gaming overt the last
ten years, with more than 335 million leisure software titles having been
sold in the last decade alone (Office of National Statistics/Screen
Digest/Chart-Track, 2006), has important implications for the use of games
and simulations in both pre- and post-16 education.

Author of the report Sara de Freitas says that using game-based
learning effectively means that the research community will need to
continue to explore both the use of commercial games in learning contexts
and the development of proprietary games. ‘In both cases,’ she says, ‘there
needs to be an emphasis upon embedding games effectively and in accordance
with sound pedagogic principles.’   

A copy of the full report is available at: Learning in Immersive
Worlds