Video games have become an essential part of the way people play and learn. While an increasing number of people are using games to learn in informal environments, their acceptance in the classroom as an instructional activity has been mixed. Successes in informal learning have caused supporters to falsely believe that implementing them into the classroom would be a relatively easy transition and have the potential to revolutionise the entire educational system. In spite of all the hype, many are puzzled as to why more teachers have not yet incorporated them into their teaching. The literature is littered with reports that point to a variety of reasons. One of the reasons, we believe, is that very little has been done to convince teachers that the effort to change their curriculum to integrate video games and other forms of technology is worthy of the effort. Not until policy makers realise the importance of professional development and training as an important use of funds will positive changes in thinking and perceptions come about, which will allow these various forms of technology to reach their potential.The authors have hypothesised that the major impediments to useful technology integration include the general lack of institutional infrastructure, poor teacher training, and overly‐complicated technologies. Overcoming these obstacles requires both a top‐down and a bottom‐up approach. This paper presents the results of a pilot study with a group of preservice teachers to determine whether our hypotheses regarding potential negativity surrounding video games was valid and whether a wider scale study is warranted. The results of this study are discussed along with suggestions for further research and potential changes in teacher training programmes.
Despite ongoing research over the last 15 years, the presence construct remains somewhat limited in its ability to be applied beyond the sensory domain. In order to increase its usefulness for applied challenges (e.g., using presence theory to enhance simulators' effectiveness), a discussion about a new conceptualization of presence is introduced. This novel perspective on presence is rooted in the notion of "experiential design," an approach businesses use to create strategically compelling and memorable experiences. The paper begins with a brief review of presence and then a description of the concepts of experimental design. Following this, a theoretical model of presence, based upon experimental design, is offered. Using this model, an exploration on the mitigation of breaks in presence is offered (a break in presence occurs when presence fails to be maintained). These ideas are presented in order to improve the likelihood of presence emerging for simulation participants and to enhance interdisciplinary researchers' shared conceptualizations of presence.
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