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Educational Use of Computer Games: Where We Are, and What’s Next

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Reshaping Learning

Abstract

This chapter aims at providing readers with a contextual view on educational use of computer games. Apart from the elaboration on the intrinsic educational traits of games, we introduce two recent initiatives of game-based learning (GBL), namely, “education in games” and “games in education,” and review a number of representative instances among each initiative. Last but not least, we discuss the current challenges of adopting games in education, and the areas worth further research effort so as to gain new insights into the future development of GBL.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Researchers and commentators sometimes use the terms “mainstream games” (e.g., Kirriemuir and McFarlane 2004; Sandford and Williamson 2005), “off-the-shelf games” (e.g., Prensky 2001, 2006; Squire2003), and “serious games” (e.g., Gee 2003, 2005; Mishra and Foster 2007) to mean recreational games.

  2. 2.

    In contrast to recreational games which are designed originally for entertainment purposes, the term educational game(s) refers to the game(s) that are designed deliberately for education purposes. Some researchers and commentators (e.g., Kirriemuir and McFarlane 2004; Gee 2003, 2005) use the term “learning games” to mean educational games.

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Jong, M.S.Y., Lee, J.H.M., Shang, J. (2013). Educational Use of Computer Games: Where We Are, and What’s Next. In: Huang, R., Kinshuk, Spector, J.M. (eds) Reshaping Learning. New Frontiers of Educational Research. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32301-0_13

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