They want it, so we’re building it

A recent report from FutureLab looked at teachers’ and students’ views of computer games in the UK. As the BBC reports:

It surveyed almost 1,000 teachers and more than 2,300 primary and secondary school students in the UK.

The survey found 59% of teachers would consider using off-the-shelf games in the classroom while 62% of students wanted to use games at school.

So many teachers and students are ready to start using games, but to use them effectively will mean changing all kind of things about the school day. Administrators, policy-makers, and others who make decisions about how school is structured–what is taught, how it is taught, and how it is assessed–will need to make changes to accomodate new kind of learning. That’s why we need to build “best case” scenarios–so teachers and parents and students motivated to use games can point to well-researched examples of how games work for learning.