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Response to Peers Technology Trend Against Video Games in Education

Can and Cagiltay (2006) found teachers were unsure about incorporating video games into classrooms because they felt the games may have a negative impact on students’ perceptions about the importance of the course. They also found that some had doubts about the capabilities of the game to cover the concepts. Annetta (2009) found that video games did not improve student learning. Chuang & Chen (2006) conducted a study and found video games did not allow students to improve upon judgement and students could not distinguish between similarities and differences among concepts.

If teachers do decide to incorporate video games into the classrooms, there are challenges they will encounter. Firstly, each student needs access to a computer and the Internet with the loaded video games. Tüzün (2007) found that classes have to relocate to a computer lab with availability and scheduling often being an issue. He also found that firewalls can prevent students from gaining access to instructional content and there is often a lack of immediate technical support to solve issues that arise.

Instructors must spend time teaching students how to use the video games and this takes time away from the learning objective (Tüzün, 2007). Students that are familiar with video games “compared the games with commercial ones, and had higher expectations from the game environments ” (Tüzün, p. 470).

The games require students to navigate through different sections of the game to access the learning task (Tüzün, 2007). Some students have difficulty focusing on the learning task that was the objective of the video games and spent time on other gaming activities other than the focus of the learning task (Tüzün; Can & Cagiltay, 2006).

If teachers do choose to incorporate video games into their classroom, “it may be hard for teachers to redirect students from games to normal instruction” (Can & Cagiltay, p.316).

Annetta, A., Minogue, J., Holmes, S. Y., & Cheng, M.-T. (2009). Investigating the Impact of Video Games on High School Students' Engagement and Learning about Genetics Computers & Education, 53 (1), p74-85.

Can, G., & Cagiltay, K. (2006). Turkish Prospective Teachers' Perceptions Regarding the Use of Computer Games with Educational Features. Educational Technology & Society, 9 (1), 308-321.

Chuang, T.-Y., & Chen, W.-F. (2009). Effect of Computer-Based Video Games on Children: An Experimental Study. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (2), 1–10.

Tüzün, H. (2007). Blending video games with learning: Issues and challenges with classroom implementations in the Turkish context. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38 (3), p. 465–477.