Why schools should be like video games | part 1
Today with computers and especially with games, we provide the opportunity to take a lot of the workload off teachers to free them up to actually teach instead of being tied up in the busy work of grading homework that could be done by a machine, a machine that could respond instantly and tell the students the moment they try something whether or not they’re correct. With games, especially digital ones, we provide the opportunity to create that rapid feedback cycle that allows students to focus on iterating on their mistakes and learning through their failures. We don’t simply present them with assessments but rather use our assessment time not only to assess but to provide learning opportunities. When somebody asks you why we should consider using games in schools, absolutely tell them how much more engaging we can make the classroom, but that’s something they probably already know.
Also tell them that we can finally do away with a classroom that instills in students a fear of failure, that we can finally be done with a classroom environment that discourages students from taking risks that lead to discovery and instead prepare them to innovate for the future, that we can free teachers of the burden of creating rote homework and instead let them focus on their real job, teaching, that through games, we can get kids experimenting, exploring and discovering freely and perhaps through doing so, get them to love learning rather than fear it.