Kurt Squire asks: How can video games be used to improve online learning?

Long seen as wastes of time and even as social black sheep, video games may now add important elements to online education.

In his article " Changing the Game: What Happens When Video Games Enter the Classroom?&lrquo; Squire notes:

Over the past few years, games have gone from social pariahs to the darlings of the media, technology, and now educational industries. E-learning educators in particular stand to learn a lot about building next-generation learning environments from games.

While online courses are usually little more than "online course notes," games offer entire worlds to explore. While educators wonder if it is possible to create good online learning communities, game designers create virtual societies with their own cultures, languages, political systems, and economies.While completion rates for online courses barely reach 50%, gamers spend hundreds of hours mastering games, writing lengthy texts, and even setting up their own virtual "universities" to teach others to play games. In short, while e-learning has a reputation for being dull and ineffective, games have developed a reputation for being fun, engaging, and immersive, requiring deep thinking and complex problem solving.Yet another fascinating possibility in the world of online education.

Posted by Rhys Alexander