Please spare 2 minutes in completing my survey :)

Hello, I am currently researching about video games as an educational tools and it’s divided into 3 surveys; to parents, teachers and students. If you are in more than one category, please enter accordingly. Thank you!

Here are the categories (Please copy and paste link to the bar)

Parents
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VIwkybykmwhrm56cPc4WVg_3d_3d

Teachers
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=NA56SYxWvidMHRaLSWCs6A_3d_3d

Students
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kxCGcxwNQWN4hYxI7c_2bWzA_3d_3

Well that would be research on the first phase. You’ve got to compile the existing products (good and bad) together, find out and observe:

  1. How are they used in the market?
  2. What is the problem? Is it the problem with the product itself? (eg. the handle is too thick, etc) or is it the problem with the way the product is being used?
  3. Find out the target market of the existing product and perform quantitative (eg. survey or questionnaire) and qualitative research (eg. interview) on them or just pure observation on how they used the product.

Hope that helps. What’s your product prospect?

I took the parents survey and I have also been playing video games for 30+ years. As a consumer, I will not buy the “educational” content spiel regarding video games. I have never seen a good example and I would very interested if anyone could supply a single example with quantitative proof.

there are in the market games like “sim city” which teaches about urban planning, or “the oregon trail”, they teach about the american west (history class)

typically, video games companies would not target it’s market towards the education society due to the argument that profit would be low. anyhow, a man known as david shaffer is currently revolutionizing the input of using video games in the classroom, which he calls the epistemic game.

there is a link here for support.

And Grand Theft Auto teaches me accounting skills.

Thank you for the link but it is lacking quantitative evidence. I want proof of the educational value of a video game as compared to other forms of media.

like i said most video games company are not targeting education to be their target market, those games like sims city wasn’t erected for that and educators are merely looking for ways to analyze the games list and find something positive out of them. even GTA has its good points, educational value does not be academically but life skills.

even games created for flash games have its academic value. maybe this would convince you.

http://www.gamesforwork.com/games/play-10800-Red_Cross_ERU-Flash_Game

Technically, most anything can be educational and I certainly won’t argue that video games are not without value.

But I still would like a quantitative assessment of any educational value a video game may claim, as you had in your survey. I think the simplest baseline would be a book, technology that has been around for 600 years. I would base it on time segments - how much knowledge is gained from exposure to the video game versus the book at 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 8 hours, etc.

My guess (and limited experience) would be the video game may hold an advantage up to 30 minutes, after that, I think it would fall off dramatically. Beyond an hour, they become more mind-numbing repetition than anything else.

If you factor in the amount of time/energy/resources in making a video game versus a book, I think cost/benefit ratio will clearly fall to the book’s advantage.

Any broad claim of the educational value of a video game needs to be proven, otherwise I see it as marketing blather.

You definitely have your point there and I agree on certain level, but to put situation into perspective.

While you may say the more time spent on the book the more you gain more than video games, but to many people, especially they less literal ones, find reading and studying by the book off the hook - they cannot concentrate, leading to not much productivity. Where else one factor about video games that makes it one of the biggest educational value is the fact that they ENGAGE students in playing video games (of course it’s only come down to the decision on what games to use). By engaging it means concentrating on the subject given interpreted by the game, leading to a better understanding of the subject the teacher is trying to teach (Especially beneficial the stereotype underachievers).

Regarding time frame, it is proven by research that a human brain is capable of only concentrating on around 40-50 minutes. When it comes to studying from the book that’s how much time they have to be able to concentrate. Otherwise, I wouldn’t say video games can be repetitive when used in classroom guided by teachers.

Resource-wise, investing in video games (purchasing PCs, video games) in classroom is expensive, yes. But it is believed it is beneficial for the long run, as clearly they are assets that need only to be maintained and improved. While books get old, messy, torn, etc.

Of course I’m bearing in mind that video games when used independently without supervision has devastating effects. After all video games are tools. There are no such things as good tool or bad tool. It is how you use them that will be perceived by the society.

Well, I enjoy reasoning with you :slight_smile:

“to many people” is quite vague. Don’t get me wrong, I believe using software in an interactive method can be a useful tool, along with something as simple as a book. But I have seen many things labeled as “educational” when they weren’t in the least.

I see education at least as important as healthcare and I can argue it is probably even more so. For any claim being made in healthcare, the company making the claim has to prove it. I think it is reasonable for a company to label their product as “educational”, they need to prove it.

Which goes back to my original OP, any claim I have seen in the last 30 years has never been substantiated so when I see one I pretty much consider it blather.

Unfortunately, proving it costs, time/resource/money and oversite. But I think it would be well worth the investment.

absolutely. i agree with you.