Shuttleworth Foundation has been exploring the significance of digital based learning to education. The foundation recently organized its first Games and Learning Indaba in Cape Town and Johannesburg bringing together researchers, game designers, educators, Web 2.0 enthusiasts, video gamers, etc. Here is a snippet from the news.
“The aim of the Indaba was to explore the state of gaming amongst youth in South Africa, identify opportunities for using games, and barriers to their increased use, in education and learning,” says Steve Vosloo [Communication and Analytical Skills Fellow for the Shuttleworth Foundation] .
“This is still very much an emergent field,” says Vosloo. “Our research suggests that ‘learning games’ face the challenge of competing with commercial games for kids’ attention. There are also attitudes in education surrounding gaming that must be tackled; most educators need some convincing that you can learn from playing and that there is more to video games than first meets the eye. However, the Foundation is not suggesting that game-based learning is a panacea for education – but rather that it has a role to play alongside other forms of learning.”
Vosloo adds that the Indaba was a first tentative step for the Foundation in critically exploring the space between moral panic surrounding the perception that games are violent, addictive and a waste of time, and blind faith that believes gaming is the only future.
The Foundation continues its research and will build on the outcomes of the first Indaba.
