The New York Times has an article about the
intersection of Video Games and Education. In my opinion this is not really
a brand new frontier. However, there definitely is synergy (oh yeah
there’s that evil word!) between two disciplines however I don’t think
it is one of those cut-and-paste cases. To make GOOD educational software
that combine video game aspects requires work and research. And most
importantly, getting the software developers and the educators talking with
one another.
An educator usually knows what type of tool they would like out of
software when teaching a class and the software developer must be
willing to work with the educator to meet that goal. This is nothing
new in my opinion.
It seems in the article they discuss Muzzy Lane Software
that is developing some software called Making History that let’s people
control European Governments in history and simulate the outcome and effects of
their actions. They are also putting it at a very realistic price tag
of $25-$40. While Open Source isn’t an evil route, I know teachers
would be happy to spend money on a software tool that let’s them enable
teaching. However, just putting out the tool IS NOT enough. There
will be some teachers who are computer savvy enough to be able to pick it
up and integrate it into their classroom teaching. However, just handing
someone a car doesn’t give them any idea of how to actually drive it,
maintain and use it in their daily life. What will also be necessary
is information resources for teachers on how to integrate this into their
own classroom teaching. Good luck with that, that is is the toughest
part.
