Gaming's Place in the Classroom

The primary benefit of introducing gaming into the classroom and greater educational field is the high student interest in gaming (Roblyer & Hughes, 2019, p. 176). Perhaps the greatest challenge associated with gaming in the classroom is actually getting it into the classroom. Few "good models" actually exist, and they take a long time to produce (Roblyer & Hughes, 2019, p. 176). Another challenge that many teachers, and I personally, face is the fact that most teachers are not familiar with gaming. While our students begin gaming at such young ages, most teachers today grew up with little to no gaming in our lives.

Because of my background, I have yet to use any form of gaming in my teaching other than Kahoot and Quizlet. I know very little about gaming, and none of my mentors or colleagues have ever mentioned a gaming source that was effective for them in the English classroom or that a student mentioned was helpful for them.

Roblyer & Hughes (2019) created a wonderful list of areas to consider when evaluating a game's level of appropriateness. Not only should age levels be considered, but technical considerations should be considered as well (p. 178). Both are directly related, in my opinion. Students in the fourth grade at my school are already using Google Classroom and Microsoft Word for their assignments, but the majority of last year's senior class had only been using Google Classroom for a year or two. That information helps teachers determine what games would be appropriate for those individual students. I agree that it is also important to consider the purpose behind the game's development, how it progresses, and the underlying content like the way society and culture are portrayed (p. 178).

References

Roblyer, M. D. & Hughes, J. (2019). Integrating educational technology into teaching: transforming learning across disciplines. Pearson.