• Home
  • Login
  • Registration
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS
ESLarticle.com
Tweet
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Members
  • Add Article

Top Categories

Teaching 509
Other 210
Classroom Management 138
Career Development 135
Learning Methodology 121
Study Skills 90
E-Learning/CALL 87
English Language Learning (ELL) 78
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) 77
Teaching Methodology 76
English Language Teaching (ELT) 73
English as a Second Language (ESL) 64
Teach in Shanghai
Home / Articles / E-Learning/CALL / View Article

Publishing

  • Articles
  • Add Article
  • Articles Archive
  • Latest Articles
  • Popular Articles

Latest Articles

Jan 5, 2019

Metacognition in Reading Competency

As related to the reading process, metacognition can be defined as contemplation concerning one's own thinking processes or knowledge of one's own...

Jan 5, 2019

Mass Media Literacy Reflections for Language Instructions

"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself." Galileo Galilei Mass media forms thrive today. As development...

Nov 30, 2018

Ideas for the First Class with New Learners

~~The first class with new learners can be an anxious one for all concerned – teacher as well as learners. Below are some tips to make that first...

Nov 19, 2018

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners It is estimated that there are over a billion English speakers in the world, including native speakers,...

Nov 15, 2018

Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Hom

Education Today, December 2013 Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Home  Timothy G. Weih University of Northern...

Popular Articles

1126538 Views

5 Creative Ways to Decorate Your Classroom Bulletin Board This Winter

Back to school, fall leaves, Thanksgiving and Christmas all easily lend themselves to great decorating themes, but what to do when those are over...

365478 Views

Three Unique Ideas To Make Your Bulletin Board More Useful

Bulletin boards have long been existent in campuses. They have proven to be such versatile and useful aids in both the learning and teaching...

132393 Views

History of the Chalkboard

Walk into just about any classroom and you will find one: A dark green board on the wall, lined with pieces of chalk and felt erasers. Chalkboards,...

62742 Views

Report Card Comments

For a small minority, writing report cards isn't a big deal. But most teachers generally dread report card writing time. Completing the comment...

41268 Views

The Most Useful American Business Words

The Most Useful American Business Words: Here's a list that will come in handy for any student enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL)...


Computer Games Can Help You in School. No, Really!

by Dave D\\\'Alessio, PhD

Aug 19, 2008 E-Learning/CALL 3744 Views

_notregistered/art_164_c64cb8261a~.jpg

Almost everyone says that computer games are bad for you. But some games you can have fun playing can also help you in school, and in life, if you let them.

There are all sorts of games, so let's stick to one type: online, text-based role playing games. If you haven't ever seen or tried one, they are actually pretty simple. These games are constructed verbally, as text intended to be read, rather than visually. You and a number of other people log onto the game and then simply type in descriptions of your actions...what you say, what you do. Most of the games have a virtual "presence," which means that your actions happen in rooms that have a physical description you can read and react to. The game software allows you to interact not only with the game server itself, but with any number of other players in any number of ways. They usually don't require any fancy skills, and are often completely free to users.

It's handy to talk about online text-based role playing games because their attributes lend themselves to helping players with their lives. Role playing is used by teachers and corporate trainers because it is a good way to learn. Text-based games allow your imagination to play freely. And playing online with a group of real people creates an infinite number of play possibilities.

So, apart from obvious things like keyboarding skills, how can you improve your school skills by playing a game? Let's see...

It's a dirty little secret that when schools ask businesses what they think students need, the business people say "Good group skills." No wonder: whether you call them committees or task forces or units or teams, the work of the world is done by groups.

Schools answer this by building group work into your classes. For instance, group projects and presentations are built into courses in business or communication. Sometimes there are entire classes called "Leadership" or "Group Dynamics." All of these are graded on how well the group works, and the better your group skills, the better the group does and the better you do.

What are good group skills you can learn from playing games?

* The ability to both lead and follow.
* The ability to contribute to planning, to analyze a problem and create a solution collaboratively.
* The ability to persuade others and to accept complex reasoning.
* The ability to take no for an answer!


Think that can't be so? Watch this: Imagine you are Captain Berin, a fierce warrior and a Guardian of the City. A gang of cutthroats, kidnappers and murderers is plaguing the City. The Guardians meet to figure out how to finish off that gang of thugs once and for all!


At the meeting you offer to infiltrate the gang, but the answer is no - you are too well known a warrior. Instead, the Guardians arrive together at a plan: The older, less able Guardians will interview the victims, examining their stories for clues. The more agile members will take the clues and track the gang to their lair. And once they are cornered, the fiercest Guardians, led by Captain Berin, will attack!


The plan works perfectly, and one day, just before dawn, you lead your men in on the attack! The bandits resist, two are killed, three are captured and their hostages are released. You parade the captured gang members through the City to the cheers of the crowds, bringing them to the Hall of Justice to meet their inevitable fates.


This is not entirely a fictitious example. It's based on a situation that happened in an online, text-based role playing game called Firan (www.legendary.org/firan) not too long ago. Firan is one of the largest of the online role playing games. Each week around 200 people from all over the world log in to play. This plot, which stretched over about three weeks, involved over thirty different players, as Guardians, victims, criminals and finally lawyers and judges.


And those things Captain Berin did? The leading, the following, the debating, the planning? You did them! You were playing his role, but you chose his actions and you wrote his words.


You can learn good group skills from playing games if you find a game that rewards you for playing with people. When you are looking for a game, ask about how people advance in the game: If one of the ways is to be nominated or voted on by other players, that's what you want.


Apart from Firan, which is a bit unusual because it is based in a completely original world with a historical feel to it, there are plenty of other worlds out there for you to play in, based on Harry Potter, Star Trek, the Lord of the Rings, Dragonball...any place that has fans has games built around it. Discworld, Pern, even Pokemon, all sorts of worlds await you. Go to a site where they are listed, such as Mud Connector (www.mudconnector.com), pick one out and give it a try! There no telling what you might learn.
 

Article source: http://eslarticle.com/pub/e-learning-call/164-computer-games-can-help-you-in-school-no-really.html

  • General Information
  • Pictures
Author Info

Author Name: Dave D\\\'Alessio, PhD

About Author: Prof. Dave D\\\'Alessio studies commercial uses of new communication media and the phenomenon of media bias, and has been using games and simulations as teaching aids sine the 1980\\\'s

General

Pictures:

Most Recent Articles

  • Mar 5, 2018 The English classes online help develop your confidence levels by Dave D\\\'Alessio, PhD
  • Dec 8, 2017 What Is the Scope and Existing Trend of E-Learning? by Dave D\\\'Alessio, PhD
  • Aug 10, 2017 Major Reasons to Choose Online English Speaking to Classes by Dave D\\\'Alessio, PhD
  • Mar 12, 2017 Effective Planning and Implementation of Computer Technology in School by Dave D\\\'Alessio, PhD
  • Feb 18, 2017 The Value of Technology in Educating Young Children by Dave D\\\'Alessio, PhD

Actions

  • Print Page

Articles Archive

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020

Random Articles

Teaching

The History of Linguistics

Linguistics, the study of language and languages, traces its origins to Ancient Greece in the fifth century B.C., during which time speech making,...

Learning Methodology

How To Get Straight "A"s

There are different subjects each year at school, and each subject needs a different way to study, a different concentration way and a different...

Teaching

Assessment Methods And Record Keeping In Education

Assessment is a way of finding out if learning has taken place, but it's also necessary to assess the entry behaviour / understanding of your...

Career Development

The History of the English Language

The History of the English Language Rojin Ramezani, Shahin Ahmadi Shad* *.E-mail: Sir_linguist@yahoo.com Abstarct The English...

Teaching Methodology

Five Successful Teaching Tactics Which Never Fail

My simultaneous experience as a teacher and a student makes it convenient to experience the difficulties and problems on both sides. Efficient...

About ESL Article

ESL Article is a private ESL/TEFL site designed and maintained by educators and educational administrators. It was launched in August 2008 with the aim of bringing ESL/TEFL students, parents, teachers and schools information and articles about the teaching profession and learning community.

Icon Group Member

ESL Article is a member of Icon Group Thailand (IGT), a group of ESL TEFL TESOL websites providing educational resources and information to teachers, schools and students around the world. The group was founded in 2003 and now includes 15+ websites covering educational information services, teaching resources and e-learning.

What is ESL?

English as a second language (ESL) is the use or study of English by speakers of different native languages. It is also known as English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), English as an additional language (EAL), and English as a foreign language (EFL).

  • Home
  • Registration
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Help
  • Partner
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
​

© 2021 ESLarticle.com.
Member of Icon Group Thailand - Educating the Future:
TESall All TESOL  Total ESL  ESL Job Feed
TEFL World  TEFL Jobs Overseas  Teach Overseas
Asia TEFL  ESL Powerpoint  Teacher Training