My E- Learning Blog

In an article written by Clark, Quinn (2005) questions how to design a game  that is reliable, systematic and fun.

He came up with the core foundations of the learning list for eduactional games. They should be:

Contextualized – the learning should be in a setting where the learners actions make sense.

Clear Goal – the learner should have an end state that they are motivated to achieve. (

Appropriate challenge – the level of difficulty has to be beyond the learner’s capability, but not so far that the learner can’t accomplish the task; learning happens best in the space just beyond the learner’s capability where, with some effort and support, they can accomplish the task.

Anchored – the actions that the learner takes have to have a meaningful effect on the outcome. There can’t be meaningless actions by the learner after which the story proceeds, but instead there have to be real consequences in the story line of the actions they take. Learners learn best when they’re operating in ways they recognize are meaningful.

Relevant – in addition to the actions taken being meaningful to the story, the story and actions have to be meaningful to the learner. We need stories that appeal to their interests and motivations. Learners learn best when the setting is one they viscerally care about. 

Exploratory – the environment has to have a wide variety of possible choices (or at least a perception of same), and the ability to try different things and explore the internal relationships. Learners learn best when they have to make choices and face the consequences of those choices.

Active manipulation – a related facet is having the learners active in exploring those relationships, and operating on the world in ways that are similar to the way you operate in the real world and that reflect the story setting. Learners learn best when there is minimal overhead between their intentions and the actions taken to achieve them.

Appropriate feedback – the feedback from the world has to come in a way that makes sense in the world. They need to know they’ve acted, even if they don’t immediately get to know the final outcomes of their action. Learners learn best when they get feedback about how they’re doing.

Attention-getting – the action can’t be totally deterministic, there needs to be some randomness and probability. Total determinism isn’t desirable. Learners learn best when their attention and curiosity is maintained.

Clark Quinn has given some very clear objectives fof what Game-Based eduactional games should all contain. Perhaps these are excellent key points for teachers to acknowlege that these games can offer to our students when deciding on what programs or games would be beneficial for our students and schools. 

In a study by FutureLab Projects they found that the reason why schools were reluctant to  use games-based learning approaches in schools were:

• There were a variety of technical obstacles to be overcome when using the games in a school context. Technical support staff play a significant role in supporting teachers to overcome these difficulties.
• Concerns over curriculum and assessment appeared to be more influential in selecting the age of students to use games in lessons than the age rating for the games.
• Many teachers found the fixed length of lessons to be constraining in both the planning and implementation of games-based learning in schools.

“What was clear from the study was that a number of factors were significant in influencing the process by which games can be appropriated for use in schools”. These included:

• the technical infrastructure of the school (including personnel and facilities)
• institutional and professional factors (including the organisation of time and space in the school, cultures of collaboration/knowledge sharing, traditions of ‘best practice’ in lesson planning, and classroom rituals)
• the extent to which games can be ‘disaggregated’ and appropriated to meet specific needs
• the individual teachers’ personal experience of games play, and their personal and professional identities as teachers
• the pervading cultural expectations of children’s attitudes to and expertise in playing computer games.

“While games may have potential to support learning , it is clear that these factors need to be taken into account by teachers, and ideally by school leaders and games developers, before this potential can be fully realised”.

As a student teacher participating in E-Leaning, I have had the opportunity to see first hand how schools react and work with ICT. In most cases, schools who are implementing ICT in their schools feel they are  limited as teachers feel they dont have the time and right expertise to simualte an integrated computer lesson. The common factors that I have seen is simple tasks such as getting students to sign in with the correct code, or only having only one teacher in the room to help student with any problems they are having. In many cases I am sure that teachers wished they had 100 heads and 100 arms to help all students. So wouldnt be great if these software companies made a game simulation of the classroom ICT environment that would assist teachers in implementing and guiding students into their ICT lesson. For example, a program that would allow each student to have an “expert IT Teacher” on their computer assisting them throughout their tasks. It could be created into a game of some sort that if the student was able to figure out the problem themsevles perhaps they earned points towards the end of the lesson. ( Just an idea!)

I have just come across this resource site called the PInk Flamingo’s  Resource List, there I found some interested blogs on the ideas of Digital Games for Learning that the author has collected.

The site states that;

“Promoting fun is the number one objective for learning digital game-based learning”.

All quotes and blogs that the author has commented on is reflective of his objective on promoting fun for digital learning.

I recommend that you take the time to read each blog as there is a fast amount of information on how we can influence our classrooms.