In the last week the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia has released it study on playing games in Australia in 2008. The report is an interesting one from a whole range of perspectives, but for me it is the use and application of games in education or lack there off that is a challenge.
The basic findings of the report state:
- 88% of homes have a device for playing computer or video games.
- 68% of Australians play computer or video games.
- 46% of gamers are female.
- The average adult gamer has been playing for 11 years.
- The average game play session is one hour.
- Half of all gamers play daily or every other day, a quarter play once a week.
- Computer and video games compete with other media leisure time, not with outdoor activities.
- 70% of parents in game households play computer and video games, 80% of these parents play them with their children.
- 92% of parents say they are aware of the games played in their homes.
- 91% of adults (including gamers and non-gamers) say Australia should have an R18+ classification for games.
So as an educator and advocate for game play as a learning tool what do I take from these findings. Well we should be getting our students to make games for other students and people in general - develop project based learning programs around the design, development and management of game building. We should be engaging our students to build games that are both entertaining and educational that fit within our curriculum but provide support for learning ideas, knowledge and/or concepts that are difficult to do in a classroom or need may need ongoing reinforcement.
Our students should be able to make games that can make money "in the real world" that is then put back into the school to help support and develop technological applications, training/professional learning and resources. If students can achieve this whilst at school and put something back into the system imagine what they could do outside of school or when they leave.
We should be developing social networking applications to link together students and teachers with skills in music composition, artistic ability etc and then providing a flexible repository for these students and teachers to deposit resources for others to use.
This findings say that the average game play session is one hour, imagine if we could stimulate our children with an educational based activity at home for one hour just three times a week. They have the consoles, the connectivity is coming, why are we waiting.
"Most attitudes toward computer and video games are positive. They relieve boredom, offer
excitement, are mentally stimulating, reduce stress, are educational and create culture according to adults who use them.
75% of gamers say interactivity in games makes them more educational than other media."
