Clearly research supports the conclusion that computer games enhance student engagement. The question remains however whether standards-based learning actually takes place. The outcry for more research is loud and clear: Where is the evidence that curriculum standards are met “more efficiently” using computers versus traditional teaching methods? Note the operative word is “efficiently.”
The economic crisis looming over all of us demands that we validate the efficiency with which we educate. It’s one thing to occupy, engage, and entertain (babysit?) students and it’s quite another to enable learning in the most efficient manner possible.
During the recent boom years, educators have been spoiled while able to jump aboard any and every bandwagon that came along promising to make education more fun and for such a low, low price. So much experimentation has taken place yet test scores remain at the same levels and/or trend rates as before. Therefore the question remains whether the added expense was necessary at all. Present circumstances warrant a revisit to this question and research should focus on determining an answer.
The food force game is a good example of a very entertaining online gaming environment that has a great deal of information to teach . I don’t doubt that students would enjoy it, remain engaged while playing it, and learn from it. And many may falsely assume it is free. Yet though the program is free, the hardware required to run it needs to be up to date and herein lies a common problem across the education landscape. Many schools are laden with antiquated hardware that would not process such a memory and graphics intense gaming environment. Of course there are web-based educational games. But many schools don’t have access to the bandwidth or money to retrofit the infrastructure of existing buildings to generate it.
As a person who enjoys new technologies and has an open mind for and eye upon the future, I believe computer based learning can be perfected and in fact will be. Whether it is at that level now remains to be proven by good research but regardless of the outcome today, I’m certain future advances in processing speeds and bandwidth will allow for the development of learning that will be far more effective than traditional models. (posted 4/3/09)
