Many students these days are addicted to computer games. There is not much we can do to stop our students from playing computer games instead of doing their homework. We can try, with great effort and even make some small victories... There must be a better way.
From growing up along the Southern coast of Victoria, I was able to experience the awe of the powerful waves that come up from the Southern ocean. If confronted with a huge wave coming at you, and you tried to fight it to retain your footing, you would just be picked up and thrown to the bottom and washed around like a washing machine. I found that if confronted with an impassable wave it was much better to join it and surf it into the beach.
After reading (Beavis, 2008), I was inspired to write this. As teachers, I think it would be better to combine some of the students homework with the computer games that our students are playing rather than attempting to stop them. I do not suggest that we promote computer game addictions and force students to play computer games if they are not allowed to or don't want to. I just suggest that we work with students that already have a computer game addiction. Teachers can find out in a supportive manner what computer games students are playing and develop some English tasks to go along with their games that will improve their English skills. If you can't beat them, join them!
Let's surf this impassable wave of computer games into the beach of literary success!!!
Eg. Write about your current quest in WoW. Cover these questions when you are writing about it.
Who is it about?
What is happening in it and what do you need to do?
When do you need to do it and how long will it take?
Where is this quest and where do you need to go?
How are you going to do it?
Why do you need to do it?
Also a small possibility. Some of these tasks may trigger a gestalt moment in the student to help him/her realise that he/she is wasting a lot of time playing computer games for no real purpose. If a student is able to realise this on his or her own than this would be much more effective than an authorive figure constantly tryng to drill this into a student. If a student figured this out, a teacher would have to only agree, "Hmm, that makes sense Tom. I agree, computer games do seem to waste a lot of time and money and you do not get anything real back from them."
Beavis also talked about incorporating computer games into classes (2008).
Reading:
Catherine Beavis (2008) 'Paying attention to texts', English in Australia, vol 43, no.1, pp. 23-31.
It is commonly assumed in the research literature that computer games are a useful educational tool because students find them motivating. But according to my surveys at my placement school, I found that a large proportion of the students do not find games motivational at all, and that there is no evidence of a relationship between an individual’s motivation to play games recreationally and his or her motivation to use games for learning. So, I think that employing games for their motivational benefits alone is not justification for their use. However, certain computer games may provide other pedagogical benefits and there is evidence from the study that while individuals may not find games intrinsically motivational, they may be motivated to use them for learning if they are perceived as the most effective way to learn.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback. The findings of the survey you did at your school are very interesting. I plan to set a task like this for some students that seem to play computer games instead of doing their homework. I will let you know how it goes.
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