Response to Frontline Technology Videos

Image retrieved from http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/50-educational-video-games-that-homeschoolers-love/ (Which is also a great resource for educational games!)

I found both of the PBS Frontline Technology videos, Growing Up Online and Digital Nation, to be fascinating documentaries. Despite the fact that I, myself, was part of the generation that "grew up" online, I hadn't previously taken the time to consider just how much of an impact the internet has had and continues to have on my growth and way of life. Not only did I find the videos eye-opening, but I found parts to be terrifying and jaw-dropping. This was especially true of the exposes on Autumn Eadows and Ryan Halligan in the Growing up online video - I can't imagine being a parent and discovering that my child was doing those kinds of things online (exposing themselves or being cyber-bullied).

That being said, I found the second video (Digital Nation) to be less of a shock-and-awe campaign and more of a thought-provoking look at how the internet and technology can be used to both help and hinder. I found the section about the drone pilots particularly intriguing (it's fascinating to see such a drastic shift in military resources and mindset), but the section about video games, virtual worlds, and relationships really caught my attention, so I decided to respond to the third question posed under the assignment tabs:

3. Do video games serve a purpose in education or are they a waste of time?

I think the most obvious place to start would be to link to a previous post in which I reviewed an article by a teacher-librarian who implemented game design into her class. In short, she discovered that the elements of game design fit naturally into a wide number of core values that are taught in schools today (such as story-telling, mathematics, problem solving etc.).

However, what was discussed in the Digital Nation video - particularly about the game World of Warcraft - fascinated me. This is a different angle of education than what was proposed in the above article. Instead of considering math or English or the like, the video focused on how online video games can educate on and build individuals' sense of teamwork, relationships, and collaboration.

This is a field of research I've dug into before and everything that I've found points to the fact that video games CAN serve a purpose in education. They have been proven to improve several skills (such as those listed above) in addition to having artistic value. On the other hand, video games CAN also be a waste of time - just like television, the internet, or any other medium can.

But what does everyone else think? Are video games art? Are they educational? Are they a waste of time? Or are they somewhere in between?

References

Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier [Motion picture]. (2010). PBS. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/

Growing up online [Motion picture]. (2008). PBS Home Video. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/view/