Digital learning games have officially gone mainstream, with nearly three-quarters of K-8 teachers saying they use them for classroom instruction, according to a new national survey.
But the rise of digital gaming within schools still pales in comparison to the advances seen in the commercial gaming sector, according to a 67-page report issued by the Games and Learning Publishing Council, a project of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, a New York City-based nonprofit that studies digital media use and children.
Students are still mostly using desktop and laptop computers to access digital learning games in class, and most teachers are still using short-form games to deliver content and allow students to practice basic skills, rather than leveraging the significant learning potential to be found in long-form, multiplayer, and immersive games, the report found.