The need for digital media in educational settings
May 6, 2009
Dr. Michael Wesch kan het niet eenvoudiger stellen: hij vroeg aan zijn studenten wie graag naar school gaat. Minder dan een derde van de handen gingen de lucht in. Meteen vroeg hij hen wie graag leert. Bijna alle handen gingen de lucht in. Wat zegt dat over ons onderwijs? Auw.
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And? So does that mean digital media can help in any way? And since when can you trust what students say about what they LIKE to do? Maybe – just maybe – the schools are simply bad in fundamental ways, and need improving.
This video is no proof of anything indeed. It is merely an illustration of how the ways of getting hold of information and how the ways of communication have dramatically changed the past 50 years, while the method of education has changed very little the past 50 years.
The question why this method has changed little is a difficult one. Is it because this method has proven to work best? How do we know that for sure?
Is it because other methods are too expensive?
From an experience branding way of viewing, if people say they experience that they don’t like to go to school and that they like to learn, why shouldn’t you believe or trust them? Why should they be lying? It doesn’t mean however, that all learning should be made “fun” and everything should be a game. Sometimes learning just isn’t fun. And I don’t think anyone would like everything to be a game.
I just think serious games (as a form of digital media and my subject of study) can have a more explicit role in teaching as a whole. It has been proven playing games improves skills and stimulate intelligence and IQ-levels. Furthermore they can train social skills, can make taboos easier to discuss, are able to learn coping techniques. Games as a tool in education can really improve education as a whole in fundamental ways. But current educational institutes might not be ready yet.