“Digital Games-based Learning is the integration of games into learning experiences to increase engagement and motivation” (Higher Education Academy). The connotations of the title insist the use of video games and the themes throughout them, but according to Edutopia Website they declares : “novels, films, plays and other media, games can be high quality materials a teacher uses to enable students to access the curriculum.”
There are benefits to Games-based Learning as it increases the children’s motivation, it is attention grabbing, it is easy to recall the information from it, it also reinforces knowledge and it is stress-free and pleasurable for the children.
These games can be used as a stimulus which is the starting point for other activities to endure from it, also we can use games to teach the children content as games can be used to illustrate concepts and materials which can be used to teach, it also teaches them social skills when playing the games. As educators it is our job to ensure that the children receives a positive impact on social skills, that it is supported in learning and enhances the learning of children, we need to ensure that it is developing the correct skills and it is providing opportunities to apply the skills in a every day life occurance.
Potential challenges that might arise when carrying out this particular activity might be identifying a suitable game to go with the lesson, it might be integrating the game within the time or day structure, it potentially could be confidence in the teacher and whether she has enough skills to manage this for the children to make the most out of the lesson and finally it could be a difficulty claiming the resources and whether the school has the budget to afford the games on each iPad or PC.
References:
https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/gamification-and-games-based-learning
CFE Technologies: Experiences and Outcomes
