The role teachers' expectations and value assessments of video games play in their adopting and integrating them into their classrooms

    Authors

    R. F. Kenny;R. McDaniel

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Br. J. Educ. Technol.

    Keywords

    MEDIA; DEBATE; Education & Educational Research

    Abstract

    Video games have become an essential part of the way people play and learn. While an increasing number of people are using games to learn in informal environments, their acceptance in the classroom as an instructional activity has been mixed. Successes in informal learning have caused supporters to falsely believe that implementing them into the classroom would be a relatively easy transition and have the potential to revolutionise the entire educational system. In spite of all the hype, many are puzzled as to why more teachers have not yet incorporated them into their teaching. The literature is littered with reports that point to a variety of reasons. One of the reasons, we believe, is that very little has been done to convince teachers that the effort to change their curriculum to integrate video games and other forms of technology is worthy of the effort. Not until policy makers realise the importance of professional development and training as an important use of funds will positive changes in thinking and perceptions come about, which will allow these various forms of technology to reach their potential. The authors have hypothesised that the major impediments to useful technology integration include the general lack of institutional infrastructure, poor teacher training, and overly-complicated technologies. Overcoming these obstacles requires both a top-down and a bottom-up approach. This paper presents the results of a pilot study with a group of preservice teachers to determine whether our hypotheses regarding potential negativity surrounding video games was valid and whether a wider scale study is warranted. The results of this study are discussed along with suggestions for further research and potential changes in teacher training programmes.

    Journal Title

    British Journal of Educational Technology

    Volume

    42

    Issue/Number

    2

    Publication Date

    1-1-2011

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    197

    Last Page

    213

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000287486800017

    ISSN

    0007-1013

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