Gaming

        Today’s generation of children and students have access to an immense amount of technology that they are always utilizing. Many schools have incorporated technology into their academic programs as a new means of facilitating learning. Gaming, however, although not new to kids in their everyday life, is a new way for educators to stimulate interest in certain material. Many parents view video games as mindless distractions that do not teach anything beyond hand-eye coordination. This is not necessarily true, in that learning is always happening as one is engaged in a game. Many computer games promote problem-solving skills as kids are placed in a virtual world, needing to complete tasks and get to the next level of the game. I think using games in the academic environment can be very beneficial to students but I still believe that teacher to student learning is the best kind of learning and that computer games should only be used in moderation as a way of helping to fuel young minds.

      I feel like gaming, as we’ve discussed it in class, can be used in just about any area to teach someone something in a more engaging way. Games can serve as tutorials to teach a concept that will be applied in the real world. Doing it in a gaming fashion first, allows you to practice and understand what really needs to be done. In that sense, I think gaming could definitely be applied to telecommunications because in any field of study, you’re going to be teaching something to at least one person, or “newbie.”  Besides that aspect of gaming, I don’t really see any other ways in which it could be related or efficiently utilized to my major or telecommunications.

      Penn State Educational Gaming Commons promotes the idea of gaming within the teaching, learning, and research environment. This is their official website that allows you to look into exactly how they plan on implementing this at Penn State University. This site serves as a hub where PSU faculty, staff, and students can work together with educational games to communicate and collaborate. I thought this was very interesting and tied in perfectly with our discussion of gaming in the classroom.