Urgent Evoke and Educational Gaming: A Hop from Reader Rabbit

What first comes to mind when I think of effective educational gaming is the game series "Reader Rabbit." When I was struggling with math after I changed schools, my mother heard from a friend that this game was helpful to her child with their mathematics skills. My mother, though apprehensive, figured that having me play the game during the summer would help me retain some of my math knowledge She also figured that "Reader Rabbit" was better use of my time on a computer than "Barbie Detective." I remember really enjoying the game. My math skills improved so much that after that summer,  I was no longer in remedial classes and instead tested into advanced math. I do not know for certain, but "Reader Rabbit," may have been a large contributor to my success. Overall, it was really fun which is and was surprising for something educational. My mother and I have good memories of this particular game so it would make sense that my initial reaction to the question of whether educational gaming is effective is a jolly "heck yes."



As I began to look at some of the games that were included in the resources folder however, I began to see that the idea of educational gaming today is much different from my experience with "Reader Rabbit." One major difference is that educational gaming today is mostly discussed in the context of the classroom instead of the home. Experiencing gaming in these different environments has an impact on the learning that is gleaned from the games. For instance, if I were to make all of my students play "Reader Rabbit" in a computer lab I am guessing that many of them would be distracted by the other applications of the computer, the new computer lab environment, and if they have not had much access to computers, the idea of the computer itself. My home was also very relaxed; I was not constantly looking at my peers' screens to size up where I was compared to them, nor was there any pressure to get to a certain part in the game for it was available every day to me on my own time. I do not think "Reader Rabbit" would be as effective in a classroom setting with multiple students for these reasons.
 Another difference in educational gaming today is that the games are way more advanced and have much more to them in terms of graphics, story line, and interface. “Reader Rabbit” was a two dimensional game that followed its characters through a castle and had the gamer answer math or reading questions along the way in order to proceed. Today, upgrades in technology allow students to play online together in one game, with a variety of different games available to them and with more content areas available. For instance, the game “Evoke” has very few things in common with “Reader Rabbit.” “Evoke,” is a game where its players are asked to tackle a social justice issue and then basically research the issue then blog on it on the site. There are some prize and point incentives for these posts.  While games like “Evoke” engage students with new content, I am afraid that games like “Evoke” might be hard for students to concentrate on for a while since the interface, the social justice content, and the idea are completely novel to them.

Educational gaming is also dependent on how much students enjoy video games and game ideas/content. It would be great if student were able to have a game that pertained to their interests and experience with computers and or games, and in an effective environment. I do not think one can simply rule out educational gaming as a good, bad, or effective strategy for student learning. I may have had a blast with one type a game, but I may have suffered playing “Evoke.” In order for educational gaming to sufficiently help students, one must first look at a student’s background and sort through the variety of games that are available to them in the content area they need. I was lucky enough to hop right in with “Reader Rabbit,” but that is often not the case for all educational games.