How are digital games used in schools
European Schoolnet, (May 2009)Abstract
Digital games are important for
education systems in two ways. First,
they are important because games are
a very popular and widespread leisuretime activity for the age groups whom
these systems seek to educate.
Through gaming during their leisure
time, youngsters informally and
inevitably acquire certain skills,
knowledge and values. With digital
games increasing in popularity to such
a great extent, it would not be wise for
education systems and teachers to ignore them.
Secondly, digital games are possible vehicles for learning processes of a different nature. Providing schools
with information and communication technologies (ICT) in the form of computers, software, internet access
and digital content, and providing teacher training programmes for these technologies, have not proved
sufficient for the teaching process to be transformed. Personalisation of teaching and learning, transdisciplinary approaches, meta-cognitive development and learner empowerment, have not been
systematically implemented by bringing ICT into the classroom. Digital games have the potential to
contribute to this renewal, through the resources and know-how invested in their design to challenge players
and keep them interested.
When the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE), commissioned European Schoolnet to produce
an overview of the use of digital games in schools in Europe, it was seen as an opportunity for the education
systems it represents to identify and better understand what is happening on the ground. European
Schoolnet was, however, not new to the topic, having already acted as a partner in a project called
eMapps.com, funded under the European Commission’s 6th Framework Programme for Research and
Technological Development. This project (2006-2008) was about learning through games and mobile
technology in both school and informal settings. European Schoolnet is also a partner in another two-year
project called Imagine, initiated in late 2008 and funded by the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning
Programme. Its objective is to valorise the outcomes of projects and initiatives to support the implementation
of game-based learning strategies at policy level.
These two projects and the present Games in Schools study are all first attempts at European level to better
understand in what ways and to what extent digital games could contribute to improving teaching and
learning processes in schools. They show that teachers presently using digital games in their teaching seem
to value them for different purposes. The precise role to be assigned to the teacher when using games in the
classroom, the way digital games can support different learning styles and the respective contributions of
different types of games to various learning processes, are just a few examples for more in-depth
investigations to be launched in the near future.
