Edutainment: is learning at risk?

Abstract

Since the early 1990s interest has surged in developing edutainment software, namely applications that possess the allure of electronic games while achieving educational goals. In the rush to adopt this new seemingly harmless technological fad, both educators and parents overlooked its long-term harmful effects. The aim of this article is to draw attention to these effects, particularly to the inflated expectation in the learners that the process of learning should always be colourful and fun, and that they can acquire information without work and serious study. It argues that what is essential is realizing that education is concerned with the development of cognitive structures and that educational technology is a medium, not a pedagogy that is useful in creating such learning environments. In this context, it may be time to examine critically the educational potential of edutainment software together with the advantages and disadvantages it might bring to the instructional process. The discussion begins, after a brief definition of edutainment, with an understanding of what technology and education entail. Then the discussion broadens to a critique of problems with edutainment drawing on the findings of educational psychology.

Teacher and Learner Views on Effective English Teaching in the Thai Context: The Case of Engineering Students

“…However, creating enjoyable activities in the classroom is not easy. There are challenges involved (Okan, 2003), as teachers have to design the activities in a meaningful manner so that students will have sufficient language proficiency level for them (Nguyen and Thi Khuat, 2003).…”

Promoting Socio-Cultural Values Through Storytelling Using Animation

“…When using edutainment software, students will get to learn through the use of entertainment (Egloff, 2004;Klein, 2007). Children who enjoy learning will loosen up and learn better thus enable them to take things more easily and became more motivated to put forth effort without resentment and such software motivates students to explore topics in greater depths (Okan, 2003;Prensky, 2007). Using ICT, multimedia-based education can be realized in a variety of ways, for examples through interactive story telling, simulation, games and animated story.…”

“…Through ICT which is available today, various resources could be accessed via the Internet and CD-ROMs. With a combination of text, audio, graphics and animation, computer technology enriches education in a way that traditional teaching media such as books, video, role-plays and so forth might look irrelevant and tedious (Okan et al, 2003). Children are now increasingly using media at schools, with family or friends.…”

A Study on the Interactive “Hopscotch” Game for the Children Using Computer Music Techniques

“…Therefore the hybrid word "Edutainment" is created to emphasize the game-like formats in the media [3]. Some researchers emphasize that educational technology is a medium, not a pedagogy that is useful in creating learning environments [4]. Some traditional games with new added technology have been developed for the rural children [5], which show the potential of using technology to integrate with the traditional game.…”