Learning with Digital Games

Teachers and parents are struggling to teach children forced to stay at home. Many learning institutions have published plans to try and reestablish learning with their students, called Continuity of Learning plans. These emergency protocols strive to provide learners with a way to continue their academic work while remaining safe at home. The plans connect learners with meaningful tools and resources to continue their academics using the philosophy of “something is better than nothing.” As schools try to develop more robust remote or distance learning plans to reestablish education with their students, more and more teachers and parents are turning to digital resources to help fill the learning void.

Games provide learning opportunities to the digital generation. Educators and parents have seen the popularity of games such as Fortnite, Pokemon Go, and Minecraft gain the attention of today’s children. Globally, over 2 billion people play digital games because they are highly interactive, engaging, and fun. There is also a growing body of research that supports that players can learn deeply through gameplay.

Learning with Digital Games: A Guide for Educators and Parents during the COVID-19 Crisis is a free guide that will provide educators and parents with over 40 learning games and ten learning game hubs to supplement instruction for learners during the pandemic. https://www.ryanschaaf.com/post/learning-with-digital-games-a-guide-for-educators-and-parents-during-the-covid-19-crisis

Each game entry in the guide provides the title of a game, its suggested age range for players, a game description, and the academic content covered in gameplay.

Gameplay for learners may include independent play, where children are simply learning as they play. Some games may require support and guidance from parents or educators.

The purpose of this guide is to provide some relief for the educators and parents of PreK-12 learners trying to provide digital learning resources for the digital generation. This resource is not a comprehensive solution – just a free guide created by passionate educators working to help quarantined learners. This resource is free to you – please use it, or share it with an educator or parent you feel might find it useful. If you share the resource on Twitter, please include us in a mention (@RyanLSchaaf & @keriaengel)

Learning with Digital Games: A Guide for Educators and Parents during the COVID-19 Crisis is a free resource with the purpose of providing some relief for the educators and parents of K-12 learners trying to provide learning experiences for the digital generation. This resource is not a comprehensive solution – just a guide created by passionate educators working to help quarantined learners. This guide is free to you – please use it, or share it with an educator or parent you feel might find it useful.

If you share the resource on Twitter, please include us in a mention (@RyanLSchaaf & @keriaengel).

Ryan L. Schaaf is Associate Professor of Educational Technology at Notre Dame of Maryland University and author of Game On: Using Digital Games for 21st Century Teaching, Learning & Assessment. If you are interested in more teaching resources, please visit https://www.ryanschaaf.com.