According to Prensky, if digital natives work at twitch speed, it only makes sense these same individuals would prefer gathering information through random access rather than step-by-step means. Prensky indicates this shouldn’t be a surprise given the Internet is a networked web of information all interrelated via hyperlinks. This new structuring of information “has increased their [digital natives] awareness and ability to make connections, has freed them from the constraint of a single path of thought, and is generally an extremely positive development” (Prensky, 1998, ¶ 12). This is yet another cognitive departure from prior generations who value and prefer step-by-step approaches.
Published in Chapter:
Digital Propensity: An Investigation of Video Game and Information and Communication Technology Practices
Boaventura DaCosta (Solers Research Group, USA), Angelique Nasah (Solers Research Group, USA),
Carolyn Kinsell (Solers Research Group, USA), and Soonhwa Seok (The Center for Research on Learning—eLearning Design Lab, University of Kansas, USA)
Copyright: © 2011
|Pages: 26
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-495-0.ch052
Abstract
There is a growing interest among educators to use video games in the classroom as part of the curriculum to meet the educational needs of today’s students. This may be justified, in part, by claims in recent years about today’s technology-savvy students and their adept use of information and communication technology (ICT). However, such claims have not been accepted without scrutiny; indeed, the relationship between games and learning has been tempestuous over the years. This chapter sought to identify the gaming propensity of postsecondary students (N = 580) through the use of a questionnaire. Age, gender, and socioeconomic status were examined as factors that might explain why students play games. Results suggest that age, gender, and socioeconomic status are composite factors that contribute to gaming, but not the most important consideration in terms of general ICT usage. The findings raise a number of implications for educators, educational policy-makers, practitioners, researchers, instructional technologists, and game developers across both the education spectrum and the entertainment industry in terms of the use and development of video games.