Shiv on Learning

“Take for example the ‘Hole in the Wall project (Mitra and Rana, 2001) Computers were set up across India in locations that had never seen any type of technolog before. No training or tuition was provided, yet these children were surfing the internet within hours, downloading movies, using drawing software, playing video games, and even taught themselves how to cut, paste, and save their files. They collaborated with each other and worked in groups, they formed social groupings, and became highly motivated to continue to use this new available technology, all without supervision. They displayed all of the attributes that Prensky, Oblinger (and others) suggest are only present in children that they refer to as ‘digital natives’.

Another example is the poverty alleviation project in Peru, set up by Dr Logan Muller (Muller, 2004) The task of this project was to install computers in remote locations high in the Andes to provide access to market information. These locations had no electricity and had never seen technology of any kind. Yet the local children were quick to utilise the computers and often assisted the older generation in how to use them. They collaborated, preferred multimedia applications, appeared to be goal orientated, and as with the ‘Hole in the Wall’ project, they displayed all the traits of children who have grown up in a digital world and spent countless hours playing computer games.”

From: Games based learning or games based teaching? (Paul Pivec) July 2009