Digital Games and Learning

by Sara de Freitas (Editor), Paul Maharg (Editor)

The popularity of entertainment gaming over the last decades has led to the use of games for non-entertainment purposes in areas such as training and business support. The emergence of the serious games movement has capitalized on this interest in leisure gaming, with an increase in leisure game approaches in schools, colleges, universities and in professional training and continuing professional development.

The movement raises many significant issues and challenges for us. How can gaming and simulation technologies be used to engage learners? How can games be used to motivate, deepen and accelerate learning? How can they be used to greatest effect in learning and teaching? The contributors explore these and many other questions that are vital to our understanding of the paradigm shift from conventional learning environments to learning in games and simulations.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[KC · Rating 2 out of 5]

The chapters vary widely in quality, but the majority are not carefully written or edited. My favorite chapters, 4 (Revolution: Experiential learning through virtual role play) and 7 (Are all games child's play?) came from authors affiliated with MIT's The Education Arcade project who drew on their experience designing and/or testing educational games in classrooms to write clear and informative essays. While I did learn a few things from some of the other chapters, I would struggle to recommend them due to the low density of useful information and often convoluted writing. I thought the examples and case studies held up surprisingly well given this book is now 10 years old, but it's also worth noting that video game technology and has advanced quite a bit since 2012, so some aspects of the book are a bit dated.