Limited Capacity seats available
There is growing interest in the use of games or game elements (i.e. gamification) to aid learning, and in their impact on individual development and society. Empirical evidence often supports their efficacy for learning (Clark, Tanner-Smith, & Killingsworth, 2016; Hamari, Koivisto, & Sarsa, 2014). However, gaming introduces challenges in educational contexts regarding privacy, mandatory participation, inclusion, and potential for addiction or manipulation. The broad impact of games on health and behaviour is also poorly understood, with reviews and meta-analyses reporting conflicting evidence on aspects like their influence on aggressiveness (e.g. Ferguson, 2015; Greitemeyer & Mügge, 2014).
This 180-minute interactive workshop seeks to explore the benefits and drawbacks of using games in education. Drawing on our work on the Gaming Horizons project (www.gaminghorizons.eu; Persico et al., 2017), this participatory workshop takes a critical look at existing empirical investigations, identifying and challening the main arguments for and against the use of games in education. Discussion and reflection will be driven by participants’ own perspectives, and on experiences, questions and concerns underpinning their investigations and practices related to GBL.
Discussion will approach three disciplinary perspectives: (1) strictly educational, considering how games impact learning, dissecting which types of games show more potential for different educational objectives; (2) psychological, detailing positive and negative effects of applied and entertainment gaming on behaviour and health; (3) ethical, engaging with critical issues regarding the use of games in institutional contexts, especially with students. These perspectives will be approached discretely, and in their connections and overlaps. We ultimate aim to jointly identify some possible recommendations for stakeholders (policy makers, researchers, developers, educators, and gamers) with regards to the pivotal aspects of gaming and their applications for learning.
This interdisciplinary workshop is aimed at participants with experience in gaming and/or gamification.
Clark, D. B., Tanner-smith, E. E., & Killingsworth, S. (2016). Digital games, design, and learning: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 86(1), 1–17. http://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315582065
Ferguson, C. J. (2015). Do angry birds make for angry children? A meta-analysis of video game influences on children’s and adolescents’ aggression, mental health, prosocial behavior, and academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(5), 646–666. http://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592234
Greitemeyer, T., & Mügge, D. O. (2014). Video games do affect social outcomes: A meta-analytic review of the effects of violent and prosocial video game play. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(5), 578–589. http://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213520459
Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014). Does gamification work? -- A literature review of empirical studies on gamification. In 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 3025–3034). IEEE. http://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2014.377
Persico, D., Bailey, C., Dagnino, F., Earp, J., Haggis, M., Manganello, F., Passarelli, M., Perrotta, C., & Pozzi, F. (2017). D2.1 Systematic Review and Methodological Framework. Retrieved from http://www.gaminghorizons.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/05/D2.1-State-of-the-Art-Literature-review.pdf
