Educational Games

I love games that have something more to offer. I love learning about something without all the effort one is normally required to put in. Whenever I have had to study or remember something I have gone on the lookout to find a game that will teach me. Sometimes I have succeeded in my search but mostly it turns up nothing useful.

I remember from somewhere in the start of the course it being said that our generation has developed with technology and that because of this if we were to be taught with technology we would be able to learn faster and easier. I believe this is true. When I did manage to find games that included maths for example, my grades always showed an improvement by two to three grades. I believe that if you are having fun while learning then you will be more likely to remember, I think it also helps that if you are having fun, you are able to concentrate for a longer period of time.

I believe that all games should provide some sort of education, whether that be historical to simple math, it would not affect the game and would be a great source for leaning.

Immersion and education

So after having a look at the reading and then taking in the lecture I went home and starting thinking about immersion. I was trying to think about things that I become immersed in, such as sites like reddit to simple phone aps. I also started to think about why we get immersed into some things and not others. For instance i have never heard of a student say that they got so immersed by a subject that they chose to spend the majority of their time working on their education.

I then thought back to the lecture when it was discussed how people can be taken out of or incapable of becoming immersed. This made me question why we don't take what we know about video games and apply it to education. Sure there are simple games that do look at this but they rarely become immersed by the user. Not only that but they are also largely directed to a very young audience. Why do we not have games directed for older students, even at the high school level? why is it that i feel i would eagerly take a history class if the lessons were to play video games that take you through the action!

Here is a video which I highly recommend watching. If you have time then look at the other TEDtalks as a lot of them are quite eye openers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM