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Learning | Humanity
Why online social games may be poised to replace textbooks in schools.
The world has entered a bright new technology- driven era, yet the education system remains rooted in a gray industrial past. At least, this is the argument that a growing number of education professionals are making.
One idea for reform that is steadily gaining popularity involves moving learning almost entirely online and declaring textbooks more or less obsolete. Some suggest taking Web-based learning one step further: Online social gaming may become the educational tool of choice.
While traditional education proponents may be quick to dismiss computer games as inconsequential, others argue that a strong precedent for independently motivated online game-based learning has already been established. Examples include PBS KIDS's interactive whiteboard games, which teach basic subjects to very young children, and the Learning Company's hugely popular historical learning game, The Oregon Trail.
Advocates for gaming in education also point to professional training situations where games are increasingly replacing lectures and presentations. Further afield, Jane McGonigal, the director of game research and development at the Institute for the Future, has designed awardwinning games to help ignite real-world solutions to pressing social and environmental challenges, such as global food security and a shift to renewable energy.
In their book, A New Culture of Learning (CreateSpace, 2011), Douglas Thomas...