The Educational Potential of Electronic Games

The online educational paradigm demands a new way of thinking about the pedagogic models and new strategies to intervene in society; strategies that could respond to education contemporary processes. This demand is valid because both the technological development and the social and economic changes, as producers of new cultural patterns, have caused the school to realign itself regarding what is demanded from it: Intentional actions that prepare people to insert themselves with a critical posture towards society. In this sense, the increasing complexity experienced by electronic games began to demand a greater cognitive effort of their players. This has fostered some capacities in its players that could be used within the relations of teaching and learning. This paper describes an exploratory study with two phases: The first one analyses four MMOG (Ikariam, OGame, Gladiatus and Metin2) and its pedagogical potential related to the development of problem solving skills, communication and interaction skills, and motivation to perform tasks. The second phase is a survey conducted to the players of these games about their motivation to play and their perceptions about its pedagogical potential. The electronic games work not only as didactic interface or objects of analysis, but mainly as a way to produce alternatives educational practices. Keywords: Electronic Games, Cyberspace, Real Time, Interactivity, Online Education

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