Engaging Students through Digital Gaming

Young people today are enamoured by the engaging experience afforded by commercial video games. The Net Generation is digitally literate, prefers to learn by doing, and has been raised in the presence of computers and computer games (Oblinger, 2004). They are also willing to dedicate many hours of their free-time to gaming. Engagement has been characterised as a kind of mindfulness, intrinsic motivation, cognitive effort and focused attention, as well as an important prerequisite to learning and academic success (Herrington, Oliver & Reeves, 2003). Gaming provides a virtual learning platform that integrates learning into self-directed, immersive game play.
Harnessing gaming as a medium for engaged student learning is a worthy consideration for educators who struggle firsthand with the increasingly shortened attention span of learners today (Annetta et al., 2011). However, the integration of digital game-play into education meets with challenges and considerations. A shift in educational pedagogy may need to occur as well as a change in the role of the teacher. Aspects of game design might also be considered to ensure that 21st Century Learning objectives are being met through gaming. As with the introduction of any new teaching medium, obstacles that threaten engagement and performance pose problems to the efficacy of gaming in school.

Please feel free to visit the pages on this website and read my original paper, entitled "The Impact of Educational Gaming on Student Engagement".

You may also choose to view a prepared slidecast that further disseminates the main ideas of this paper.

Other resources have been collected regarding student engagement and educational gaming, to offer more information on this topic.

Annetta, L., Lamb, R., Bowling, B., & Cheng, R. (2011). Assessing engagement in serious educational games: The development of the student engaged learning in a technology rich interactive classroom (SELTIC). In Felicia, P. (Ed.), Handbook of research on improving learning and motivation through educational games: Multidisciplinary approaches. (pp. 310-329). MUN Library Online Reserve: IGI Global.

Herrington J., Olivier, R., Reeves, T. (2002). Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning environments. Australian Research Council: ASCILITE. Retrieved from: http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet19/herrington.html

Oblinger, D. (2004). The next generation of educational engagement. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 8(8), 1-18.