Response to Learning Issues in Serious Games
I recently came across the blog Perspectives on Education by Dr Victor Lim Fei. The latest entry is entitled Learning Issues In Serious Games and contained an interesting perspective on the use serious games in education. There are a number of issue, challenges, and benefits of using serious games, many of which are reminiscent of Web 2.0 and the idea of participatory culture and being the producer of the content. Leaning on Piaget's social constructivism theories "when the student is involved in the construction of the game, the experiences of the student is either reinforced through assimilation or is realigned through accommodation. Learning thus takes place multimodally, by means of experience." The instructor is now a facilitator of learning, creating a learner focused environment. There are however, some issues inherent in the very concept of a game.Games typically mean there is a winner and a loser, they are competitive, and can rely on character stereotypes to