What do parents think?

With the 3rd provocation in mind “To whom am I accountable?”, I am thinking about an important player in the implementation of video games in the classroom: parents. So, what do parents think about using video games in the classroom?

Despite the findings showing that video game-based learning improves students motivation and stimulates deep and creative learning, the perception of parents is often negative and their opinions greatly influence the decision to use them in a classroom setting. In order to understand the reasons behind these beliefs, a study has been conducted based on a survey about video games involving 858 parents of secondary school students in Flanders (Bourgonjon, 2011).

The survey reveals that:
- the majority of parents had no experience with video games and this lack of experience resulted in a diminished belief in the learning opportunities offered by video games and little confidence in their choice as a pedagogical tool.
- parents believe in both positive and negative effects of video games. They believe there is some truth in the negative messages portrayed by the media and are displeased with the content of certain video games. However, they also believe the games offer some learning opportunities and children favor their use in the classroom but these idea is not always supported by the teachers.

These findings are important for teachers to keep in mind when proposing to parents the use of video games as a learning tool. For parents, we need to help develop their understanding of the potential learning opportunities offered by video games. We could achieve this by gathering specific information regarding the learning opportunities from different sources while at the same time providing an opportunity for hands-on experience with educational video games.


References:

Bourgonjon, J. Valcke, M. Soetaert, R. de Wever, B. Schellens, T. (2011) Parental acceptance of digital game-based learning. Computers & Education Vol. 57 pp1434-1444.