Technology/Gaming Educations Future

Technology in Education



Where have we been and where are we going? This is a fundamental question that is instilled in us as humans. It is important to look at the past as well as the future to assure we learn from the past so we do not continue on a path that is not working. This is where some people would say we are with technology in education. We have been following the same path for a while now and we do not seem to be advancing as fast as technology is. If Educators do not start looking at the past twenty years technology will soon by-pass the current American education system and our students will be the ones who are left in the dust of the global technological world.



Society’s Impact on Education and Technology



Societal norms have always had a major effect on education. During the Industrial Revolution education placed an emphasis on a “teacher-centered, with linear reasoning by students” and rote memory (Kemp, 20). This worked for the time period where the work industry put value in a single task, listening to the demands of a boss and working on a set time schedule. This prepared students for factory life. With the invention of the printing press Textbooks and pictures were the first forms of Technology in the classroom. These aided students in their rote memorization that society held value in.



In today’s society “We are recognizing how new technologies affect transportation, communications, business, workplace operations and social changes that alter every aspect of our lives…These changes place new needs on our educational systems” (Kemp , 20). Unfortunately in the past twenty years technology is growing at a speed that the current educational systems have not been able to keep up with. In many schools these old systems are still in full force despite the fact that the old [the above mentioned] standardized educational format, is counter-productive for meeting many of the new educational needs” (Kemp, 20). During the Great Depression there was also a “social education was aimed at youth, the most vulnerable and perhaps unstable demographic of American society “(Kliebard, 1999; Williams, 1936). This assessment of youth is still current today which is why starting early is the best way to teach. (Cisneros, 44). Teaching Technology should be no different, start them young and build them.



The History



To understand where we are going with technology we must look at how the current systems got started. “in March of 1985, the American Industrial Arts Association changed to the International Technology Education Association” and became the first Technology focused association (Wicklein, 25). Prior to this change they had established the Jackson’s Mill Industrial Arts Curriculum Theory document which Wicklein states was “the starting point of the modern era of technology education…, it was the Jackson's Mill document that provided the needed systemic refocus of the curriculum formerly known as industrial arts” ( 25). This document was the first attempt at focusing some of education on technology.



After this document was out and the Technology association became active a few teachers took the lead on this technology push. “Michael Neden and Max Lunquist, middle school teachers in Pittsburg, Kansas, redesigned and reconfigured their teaching laboratory to reflect modular learning experiences in technology education” (Wicklein, 25). It was there reconfiguration that “started a nationwide redesign in both physical characteristics of the technology education laboratory and the curricular format in the delivery of technology content” (Wicklein, 25). The start of Technology education was fostered and pushed through by teachers.



Present Day Educational Technology



Once we have seen the past we can begin to look towards the current situation of Technology and Education. Who knows better what is and isn’t being done than the students? Knowing this Hiller, Lee, Turner, and Johnson surveyed middle school students to get their opinions on Technology in their classrooms. One finding was that “Technology use inside school tended to be more individual-based and academically traditional (e.g., word processing, testing, conducting research on the Internet) (Lee et.al., 507). This traditional use of Technology is comfortable for the teachers but is, as Kemp is quoted earlier, “counter-productive for meeting many of the new educational needs” (20).



One fear that many educators have when addressing technology in their classrooms is the socio-economic divide. Teachers are afraid to give assignments that will put poorer students at a disadvantage. However when surveyed in the “focus group sessions [they stated] that the majority of students use a variety of technologies outside of school in authentic, personal, and social ways” (Lee et. al., 506). On top of that these students see the use of technology outside of school as “as an integral part of their everyday lives” (Lee et. al., 506). If students are able to use technology as such an important part of day to day, why are schools not taking advantage of technology more in the classroom?



Video Gaming



One technology that has had major impacts on society is video games. From the first popular video game, Pong, all the way to today’s online interactive the video game industry has thrived. How did this phenomenon really start? Way back in 1958 when computers took up entire rooms and the only places that could afford them were universities, “a physicist named William Higginbotham, we are not making that up, at the Brookhaven labs here in New York, created a game called tennis for two, that worked on an oscilloscope screen” (OnNetworks). Then a few years later in 1961 Steve Russel at MIT created a game called Space War. As Dan from OnNetworks, PlayValue points out “these first two video games … weren’t built with any kind of commercial potential in mind.” They were on giant expensive computers that only the elite in the educational field could even play with.



The Founding Fathers



So who were the founding fathers of Gaming, well as Josh states “If Higginbotham and Steve Russel, sort of, invented video games it was Ralph Baer and Nolan Bushnell who actually developed it as a business” (OnNetworks). While working for the militaries top secret contractor Sandres Associates Baer was “secretly using his budget and resources at work to chase this crazy dream of a TV that you can play” (OnNetworks). Baer designed a game which Magnavox engineered in the Magnavox Odyssey and the first table tennis game.



Bushnell who got his start at an amusement park after gambling away his college tuition, started learning of the entertainment business. He later returned to school in Utah where he came across Russels Space Wars. He had an epiphany and right then and there decided that the game was his future. His first attempt at an arcade game, a rip-off of Space Wars called Computer Space, bombed because it was to complex. Bushnell did not give up though he opened his own gaming company called Atari, and he soon ran into Baers table tennis game at a tradeshow. The simplicity of the game gave Bushnell an idea and his second game, a rip-off of Bushnells, Pong was born. A few years later Atari was on the rise and Magnavox Odyssey was no more. Baer did not just disappear, later he ripped-off an idea from an Bushnell an Atari game called Touch Me. The handheld game he created from that idea was an extremely successful game and the first handheld electronic game called Simon.



The Impact of Gaming



Some researchers and parents are afraid that video games will have a negative impact on society. ConsumerAffairs.com lists one of these fears “as the social isolation of spending hour after hour on a computer video game.” Are video games really isolating the players socially? Not anymore, today many game makers have combated this issue with virtual worlds, where gamers can interact with other gamers from around the world. While this does not make up for the face to face interactions that gamers should be getting at school, in the family and at work it is definitely an addition to the social interaction and much more interaction then they get from watching television.

Violence in video games is also a major concern. Researchers at the Indian University School of Medicine used state of the art brain scanning technology to map emotional arousal in teen gamers. “Kids who played the more violent games had an increase in emotional activity and a decrease in self control, inhibition, and attention… Teens that played the more violent Medal of Honor expressed a negative effect on the brain the other group,” which played Need for Speed a less violent game (MSN). On the other hand many do not see an issue with the games but an issue with the parental supervision. As Gerard Jones stated, “What all the research comes down to is no, video games alone are not going to make the average child more violent. However, the ways in which children take in and process video games changes as they grow and mature. This would be a major reason for the ratings on games. It comes down to parent using the controls on the game systems and on purchasing the games that are appropriate to their child” (Commonwealth.com). Games that are more realistic in their violence (like Call of Duty) are shown to have a greater impact on younger children, while games with more fantasy violence (like Spiro) do not.



The last issue to be discussed is the health concerns that video games cause, such as addiction and lower physical activities. Lucy Bradshaw mother of two and video game producer refuted that this is an issue for the gaming companies when she states, “Again it comes to the parents to take accountability to give their children a limit and take the responsibility to give balance, with other activities than just games” (Commonwealth Club). By setting limits Parents can help teach their children how to prioritize time and still play games. As far as lack of activity goes video game companies are working on solving that issue. Some parents may ask, “Is it healthy for our children to be sitting at a computer or video console for hours at a time.” Today there are many “new games are physical; Dance Revolution and the Wii are examples.” (Commonwealth Club). These games offer a great opportunity for gamers to play and exercise at the same time. “But again it is the parents that the responsibility lies on to make sure their children are doing many activities” (Commonwealth Club).



Impacts on Education



How can video games be used for education? Lucy Bradshaw a video game producer designs games with education in mind. In fact she believes that “most games based on real world systems are or can be used as educational tools. Look at the neighborhood planning and the economical planning that goes into games like Sims. (Commonwealth Club). “In a sense what kids are learning when they play these video games is the scientific method, build a hypothesis, play it out see if it works, if it doesn’t then go back and build a new hypothesis” (Johnson). In his book, Everything Bad is Good for You, Steven Johnson discusses how games work the brain through a continuous cognitive process “to figure out how the system works in order to make a decision for the best strategy to go forward. This kind of decision making is not used when reading books, which is why these video games are a great teaching tool” (Johnson). In addition to the application of games as learning tools there is also the motivation value. “Motivation strategies are used to engage and retain individuals in the learning environment” what better motivational tool than games. (Ferguson, Nichols, & Rasmussen, 267). Video games can be used in education for the better.



Video Games through the Literary Culture Lens



When many from the older generation look at games they do not see this potential for education. Instead they “would say that games are kind of silly, on some level there is no cultural depth to this, this is not a work of art” (Johnson). This judgment is made from a more traditional Literary Cultural Lens. Maybe instead of looking at games through this lens Educators need to find a new lens to judge them by, if they did they might just find some value after all. “Take for example a math word problem where Simon is conducting a probability experiment he randomly selects a tag and needs to figure out what is the percent that he will select his number in the hundredth draw…” if we are to look at this basic math problem through the literary lens one might say, “well who is this Simon, you know, we do not know anything about him where is the psychological depth here, what’s his motivation” (Johnson). Yet without that depth, that added knowledge the educational field sees value in this problem. Different kinds of learning need different lenses to judge with in order for the judgments to be fair and accurate.



Where do we go from Here?



Technology needs to be embraced by the educational community as society already has. Students that were surveyed expressed a great “a desire for having more technologies in school for learning purposes” (Hiller et. al., 506). They want to learn and they want to do it with technology. Teachers need to become more comfortable with technology in day to day applications as well as integrating this technology into their lesson planning. Training in technology costs money and funds are always something that the educational field is short on. Teachers need take the ball and make an effort to train themselves when training is not available or out of their price range. One of the ways that this can happen is by taking the lead from our students and trying out the video games on the market. There are many video games out there that could have very practical applications in education. Lucy Bradshaw’s daughter in fact has talked her teachers into allowing her to use video games, such as Sim City for school projects (Commonwealth). Maybe we the educators should be following the lead of this 5th grader and being the fun and joy back into our students’ school experiences through video game projects.



Traditional Schooling is Failing, how can it be Saved?



School has had the purpose of creating educated, responsible adults ready to fill the job market and find success in the world. Over the last few decades the American school system has begun to fail. Students are not prepared for the real economic world. Continuing with the traditional school methods, of focusing on abstract cognitive skills only, is not working. Even those students that are considered success stories in school can have trouble moving into the real world. “The consensus from the education and business worlds seems to be that the best-equipped new graduates possess both abstract cognitive skills and practical technology know-how-and that having one without the other is a shortcoming” (Villano). Without training students for technology we are doing a disservice to our students. CEO’s of major businesses admit that they prefer hiring “people with knowledge of HTML, C++, Java, and Ajax; people who have the ability to build web and database applications that can grow over time” (Villano). Without teaching these skills in school teachers are failing the students.



How do we save our school system? We need to change it. We need to bring in technology and use it as both a teaching tool and a motivator. Even middle school students know they need more authentic learning examples in schools, through a survey students stated that they “would like school experiences to be more directly related to careers that they might have in the future” (Hiller et. Al., 509). In today’s business world it is hard to find jobs that do not need some technical savvy. Teachers need to step up to the plate and challenge students through technology. Schools for higher education need to raise the bar when training future teachers. We need to recognize “that student teachers need access to different kinds of knowledge in education as part of their training (Haugaløkken, 57). In order for our children to be successful in this new global technology age the educators must change their attitudes to prepare students for the future and stop living in the educational past.





Refrences

Cisneros, J (July/August 2008). The banning of you and machines: Competing discourses of educational technology during the new deal” 52(4) 42-48

Ferguson, F., Nichols, J., & Rasmussen, K. (2006). It’s a new world: multiculturalism in a virtual environment. Distance Edcation, 27 (2), 265-278

Haugaløkken O., and Ramberg P.( 2007, February). Autonomy or control: discussion of a central dilemma in developing a realistic teacher education in Norway. Journal for Education in Teaching.33(1). 55-69

Kemp, J. ( ) Societal Evolution and the need for systemic change in education. Tech Trends, 50 (2), 20-21

Lee, J., Johnson, J., Spires, H, & Turner, K. (Summer 2008). Having our say: middle grade students perspectives on school, technologies, and academic engagement. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 40(4), 497–515

On Networks. (2008). Play Value. The Founding Fathers. Podcast retrieved from OnNetwork : http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/play-value/the-founding-fathers?autoplay=true

Villano, M, (Jun 2008). T H E Journal, 0192592X. Which Side Are YOU On? Vol. 35, Issue 6

Wicklein, R. DTE (2006, April) Five good reasons for engineering design as the focus for technology education. The Technology Teacher, 25-29