Online gaming has become a multi-billion-dollar industry since the 1990s. Entertainment has always and will continue to be a very lucrative source of revenue for those who are creative enough to produce it. Today, most online games have been filled with blood and violence. Some even say that online gaming have been a source of inspiration for other nefarious activities, but I digress. Although online gaming was developed purely to be a source of entertainment, it is also a great platform for e-learning. Online gaming can deliver both an education and entertainment. For example, Minecraft: Education Edition has become a “transformative way to engage students and ignite their passion for learning” (education.minecraft.net).
In this initial discussion, please take the opportunity to
visit the website: https://education.minecraft.net/
and provide your assessment of this platform that most teachers across the
world are describing as “transformative.” Feel free to provide comments below.
Charles,
ReplyDeleteMan am I glad I found your blog. This is an interesting topic to me. Escpecially since all four of my children are Minecraft junkies! This new Minecraft: Education Edition will be a hit and I feel better letting them have more "screen time". I myself want to explore the Bio form and extinction "world". I am looking forward to exploring and discussing more educational video games with you.
Andy
Andy,
DeleteThanks for commenting on my blog. Minecraft: education edition is definitely trending in the right direction. My kid spends hours on minecraft, so I decided to look into how I can get him to learn while also being entertained. I plan to dig deeper into this subject because I do believe that online gaming can be very beneficial, especially if educators can leverage the popular platforms.
Charles,
ReplyDeleteOnline gaming has definitely grown over the years and the platforms that offer online gaming has exploded. I remember back when doom was on computers only and one of the few that let you play with other people. Since then graphics in games has gotten a lot better and most look to real to be a game. With that said your argument that these games don't contribute to other "nefarious activities." You don't think there is a link to seeing these images on a regular biases doesn't desensitizes people and make it easier for them to commit the acts in real life? I attached an article that starts to explore this topic from both sides.
https://www.cnet.com/news/a-connection-between-video-games-and-real-world-violence/
Mike,
DeleteI do believe that some of the violent games contribute to real life violence, but I also believe that it starts with the environment children are raised in. Violent video games are just a contributor, not necessarily the catalyst. However, online gaming can be very educational if it is leveraged for the right reasons and not simply for entertainment. Just recently, the head of Microsoft's Xbox announced that they are releasing educational content into the marketplace of minecraft via their popular platform, xbox one. You can read the article here: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/03/24/phil-spencer-message-to-community/. The best way to increase the use of online gaming for educational purposes is to leverage the popular platforms kids use, i.e. playstation, xbox, nintendo, etc. What are your thoughts on these platforms versus computers?
Mike/Charles,
DeleteI can definitely see both sides of the argument when it comes to violent games being a contributor for the propensity of people to commit violent acts in real life. I think this is especially true for younger children that are allowed to engage in violent games at such a young age with no oversight. Like Charles says, I think that is where the environment children are raised in becomes a factor. I am reminded of an incident of two 12 year old girls luring their best friend into the woods during a sleep over...stabbed her and left her to die in the woods. Fortunately she survived the attack. The girls claimed they attacked their best friend because they wanted to prove "slender man was real" here is a link to an article that tells the story. https://abcnews.go.com/US/slender-man-stabbing-victim-speaks-publicly-time-situation/story?id=66268385 Although the existence of slender man may have not been the sole contributing factor to the actions of the girls, it clearly was a factor no less. All said, I think it really does boil down to parent oversight and discussions about what games young children should be exposed to but that does not negate the fact that gaming can play a significant role in delivering quality education because people have been exposed to gaming for years now. Great post and discussions about how to leverage gaming and produce quality education materials.
Anthony
Anthony/Charles
DeleteCharles thanks for the article, I was not aware of the educational version. It's good to see they are attempting to offer an alternative. I also get what you are saying when it comes to the environment the kids are raised in, and the responsibilities parents have. But I will suggest this. Family's now have two parents working just to make enough to survive, so kids are left alone more than in the past. You also have numerous company's like xbox and playstation fighting for the attention of our children. They are also unregulated. So is it fair to expect a little moral integrity from them and to expect them to do what they can to limit access to some of these more violent games.
Charles,
ReplyDeleteThank you for introducing minecraft education edition. I had a chance to look at the minecraft education website and am amazed at the content they provided. They had math, language art, science and even computer science. In each content area, they provided lesson plans with learning objectives and activities and materials to be used for children. This is an example of how digital gaming can change the education landscape. I am looking forward to reading more blog postings about digital gaming.
Professor,
DeleteI apologize for the delayed response, I've been under the weather this past weekend but I am back to almost 100% again. Thanks for reading my post and I am excited to share any experiences I may encounter researching this topic.
Charles, I agree that online gaming is of educational value. I am not sure if you remember Oregon Trail but I do believe that was one of the first online games and it had educational value :) my daughters really like minecraft because they can build houses and other things and my 14 year old plays Oregon Trail now too (I guess it is making a comeback). I look forward to reading more about how we can use gaming in the learning environment.
ReplyDelete-Mandy
Hi Mandy,
DeleteI may need to look into the Oregon trail game you mentioned and that may well be my next topic of discussion. Thank you Mandy.
Charles
ReplyDeleteI was actually fortunate to see online gaming used in instruction with my niece. She is an 8th grader and they played an online game called "Stop Disasters Game". It teaches what resources, structures, and fabrications are needed to protect a sea side town from a tsunami. She hated the game but it did teach how the player needed to forecast and predit what structures needed to be reinforced and how all of the different elements could cause you to fail. I look forward to more postings from you.
Tammy
Thanks Tammy, I look forward to researching more online games that provide educational value and sharing them on this platform.
DeleteCharles,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insight on your blog. I have picked a similar topic in the gaming realm, so it is interesting to see your take with online gaming. I agree that online gaming is a huge industry. My son has his own channel and makes money from this technology. A quick scan of the internet shows approximately 1.5 billion online gamers in Asia, 386 million online gamers in Europe, 377 million users in the Middle East and Africa, 266 million users in Latin America, and 210 million users in North America. With those kinds of numbers, it is clear online gaming is global. I am like you and think we should absolutely use gaming to our advantage. As I have researched gaming for learning I found by 2025 approximately 75% percent of the workforce will be the millennial generation. That is a generation who grew up on video games. We need to ensure the older generation does not hinder what the younger generation is driven by. I agree that the video game world has lots of violence, but in my opinion, it is no different that the movies they watch or news they see on TV. The parents need to ensure they take measures to protect their kids from the violence until they are age appropriate. There is of course a limit to how far we let the graphics and violence go, but with game ratings and age restrictions on certain games, it seems society is doing its part. It is time to make video games part of learning.
-Kevin
Kevin,
DeleteThanks for posting and I totally agree with you. Online gaming is definitely the future of eLearning as well as VR and AR. I think those combined can make education fun!
Charles,
ReplyDeleteI think that tying current popular video game themes into learning is a great way forward. While many of the popular games out there are nothing but mindless button mashing, I could see many popular titles gaining use in classrooms with a little adjustment. I know when I was a kid, any video game was awesome, but ones with educational undertones lost their luster quicker than others. Games like Number Muncher, Oregon Trail, and the Carmen San Diego series were fun for awhile, but never stood a chance against Mario, Sonic, Madden, and the crew from Mortal Kombat. I think taking current title that have a following and trying to work with developers to lean towards educational development may be a good way ahead. How much world history could be gleaned from a Call of Duty campaign if the story was historically correct? Good work here brother, I look forward to next week.
-Donny
Donny,
DeleteI agree with you 100%. Utilizing the popular games to leverage education is the way to go. I do believe that most games provide some type of education, but it is not necessarily the right type. Most games tackle the "good" vs. "bad" theme (Modern Warfare) or tap into the competitive nature (Madden) of gamers, but like you said, if we can add educational value to popular games, the sky is the limit.
Charles,
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that games like minecraft have been great with younger children. It has been able to keep them engaged in learning and teaches them at the same time. I had my seven year old ask her sister to show her how to code so she could build her own game. When asked why, she said that see started learning how to build things using minecraft. Peaking the interest at such a young age is, in my eyes a great step forward for educators.
Walt