New media, especially software-based applications, differ from traditional media. While traditional media have been regarded as a channel that provides certain content that can affect a (passively) receiving user, software applications offer more active forms of participation (? interactivity). This is mainly due to the fact that software functions as a structured space, an environment with which the user is enabled to interact. To talk of a software program as an “environment” accentuates the fact that software usage always requires navigation through a pre-structured space. From this perspective, not only is the content of the software relevant to learning and self-education, but also the structures and layers of software that limit, frame or expand possible forms of interaction.
Published in Chapter:
(Self-) Educational Effects of Computer Gaming Cultures
Johannes Fromme (University of Magdeburg, Germany), Benjamin Jörissen (University of Magdeburg, Germany), and Alexander Unger (University of Magdeburg, Germany)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 19
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-808-6.ch043
Abstract
The goal of this chapter is to emphasize a certain notion of self-induced education, to discuss it in the context of digital games and to provide the means for assessing digital games as well as to give hints on their educational use. In the first section, the concept of “self-education” is introduced and distinguished against less complex learning phenomena. The second section discusses and analyses the different layers of “educational space” inherent to gaming software, providing the analytical means for the further sections. The third section presents and analyses educational aspects of single-player games, while the fourth section adds the socio-cultural impacts implied in multi-player communities. In conclusion, a synopsis is given, which sums up the main educational dimensions and connects them to aspects and analytical criteria, allowing a pedagogical assessment of digital games.