Beyond Edutainment: Exploring the Educational Potential of Computer Games

Computer games have attracted much attention over the years, mostly attention of the less flattering kind. This has been true for computer games focused on entertainment, but also for what for years seemed a sure winner, edutainment. These years the area has gained new momentum and labels - game-bas [...]
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Computer games have attracted much attention over the years, mostly attention of the less flattering kind. This has been true for computer games focused on entertainment, but also for what for years seemed a sure winner, edutainment. These years the area has gained new momentum and labels - game-based learning, serious games and educational games are just some of them. This dissertation aims to be a contribution to understanding educational use of computer games by building a framework that goes beyond edutainment. The framework laid out extends from an experiential learning approach, where concrete experiences are the starting point that can be transformed through reflection, instruction and active experimentation. It is concluded that computer games provide rich concrete experience that can be manipulated in the game universe providing more handles for the student compared to other media formats.