Thesis Reflection - Digital Technology and Games

The main purpose of the study will be to make effective yet fun educational digital games that will help secondary school students or other students aged from 11 to 18 in learning key skills through the use of technology.

After reading several articles and journals all start with a particular statement, Secure Networks (2016), Hatch, Kristina E. in Determining the Effects of Technology on Children (2011) and Kevin C. Costley in The Positive Effects of Technology on Teaching and Student Learning (2014) say that technology today has become part of our lives: at home, at work or even in any other place. The use itself will prepare children for future life and jobs and that nowadays children are very attracted to technology so it will help to keep students more focused to the lesson.

“Others argue that children using technology are becoming socially stunted, ungrateful, and ridden with health-related issues” (Hatch, 2011).

A survey on media use, conducted by The Kaiser Family Foundation in 2010 cited in (Hatch, 2011, pp. 3-4), states that a group of eight to eighteen years old spends on average of ten hours and forty-five minutes per day exposed to media.

To be able to start working on the research question it would be wise to explore some pros and cons of technology impacting our lives and that of our children, since introducing an engaging game to school and accessible also at other places might increase the hours spent on technology. Although it might also remain the same since hours spent on the game might also result in less hours spent on another technological medium such as television.

The following list is a brief summary of pros and cons related to technology:

Pros

• Compact and Easily updated

• Improved Vision

• Renovating the Class

• Socialisation

• Exercising with Games (ExerGaming)

Cons

• Loss of privacy

• Degrading Multitasking

• Health Related Issues

• Changing Social Norms

It is very hard to state whether it is good or bad, and this might all change soon again since technology will keep on changing and evolving. Another aspect is that today’s generation of children which have been exposed to technology for a long time have still not developed into adults so these studies may not be conclusive yet (Hatch, 2011).

References

Costley, K. C., 2014. The Positive Effects of Technology on Teaching and Student Learning. [Online] Available at: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED554557.pdf [Accessed 18 January 2017].

Hatch, K. E., 2011. Determining the Effects of Technology on Children. [Online] Available at: http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/srhonorsprog/260 [Accessed 18 January 2017].

Secure Networks, 2016. 10 Reasons Today’s Students NEED Technology in the Classroom. [Online] Available at: http://www.securedgenetworks.com/blog/10-Reasons-Today-s-Students-NEED-Technology-in-the-Classroom [Accessed 24 November 2016].