Publication details
Digital games´ educational principles utilised in e-learning courses
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | EDULEARN13 Proceedings. 5th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://iated.org/ |
| Field | Computer hardware and software |
| Keywords | e-learning; serious games; teaching principles; interaction; cooperation; online learning systems; rules; roles; players; problem solving |
| Attached files | |
| Description | Universities are the pioneers of e-learning but the process of teaching and learning on-line has not yet been sufficiently innovated (at least in the context of the Czech Republic). My contribution suggests a shift from the instructive (linear) approach to games, a shift which I believe provides an ample opportunity to develop an alternative educational model based on the teaching principles incorporated in digital games as learning systems. Playing, using and consuming digital games as a contemporary medium of choice for my generation structures students´ everyday life. It leads to a transformation of our habits and creates a need for a new form and content of communication. The aim of interaction here in general is to switch over from one-way instruction to active student engagement in the subject matter, in cooperation with other participants. I want to uncover what the place of games in schooling is, how (or why) teachers use them with respect to design of an e-course, how so-called serious games affect people, what students think about them and what they possibly take away from them. Serious games as a learning tool successfully apply several teaching principles which I want to identify. I compare e-learning agendas (as tools in an on-line learning environment) to the modular structure of digital games as complex learning systems. Elements of these dynamic, interconnected systems operate under rules and gameplay mechanisms. I start from the idea of a teacher/designer and his/her shifted role in designing an e-learning course through effective use of ludic principles found in modern digital games. We will touch upon ways in which a teacher (while designing an ecourse) engages, motivates, evaluates and rewards students. Teachers possessing knowledge on how to direct transmission of information in class can now design a playful e-course accordingly, so that they can exploit digital games´ inherent educational potential in teaching mediated by e-learning resources. |