Game-Based Learning: An Opportunity For Teachers to Shift Paradigms & Innovate | WiredAcademic

What Gamers Know

Gamers understand something that was a bit of a revelation for me last week. My brother gets together with friends and games with cards and dice when he’s social, and he’s on his Xbox 360 and PC when he’s gaming solo or sometimes synchronously with friends. For him,�to technology or not to technology�is not the question. My oldest friend, Adrian Dunston, a computer programmer at SAS, feels the same way. He has as much fun playing a board game (I’ve never heard of) as he has gaming on a computer.

It didn’t occur to me until now to apply what these gamers know naturally to Game-Based Learning in the classroom, which is a hot item among a list of innovative 21st Century Teaching and Learning best practices. It’s not about the technology; it’s about the game. In the case of education, it’s about the game and the learning, but the point is lost if the game isn’t fun.

via Game-Based Learning: An Opportunity For Teachers to Shift Paradigms & Innovate | WiredAcademic.