Video Games in the Classroom: Developing Digital Literacies
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Author(s)
Beavis, Catherine Alice
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2012
Metadata
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Popular culture and the digital world are an important part of many children’s lives. Computer games, virtual worlds and social networking sites are seamlessly integrated into their everyday work, relationships and play. While the degree and nature of children’s involvement varies according to age, interest, opportunity and parental support, by the time they leave primary school, most students will have had significant engagement with popular culture, media and new technologies, including active first hand experience of digital culture and the online world. In Australia, the Australian Communications and Media Authority ...
View more >Popular culture and the digital world are an important part of many children’s lives. Computer games, virtual worlds and social networking sites are seamlessly integrated into their everyday work, relationships and play. While the degree and nature of children’s involvement varies according to age, interest, opportunity and parental support, by the time they leave primary school, most students will have had significant engagement with popular culture, media and new technologies, including active first hand experience of digital culture and the online world. In Australia, the Australian Communications and Media Authority researched levels of engagement with digital culture and the online world. This study surveyed the media usage of young people between the ages of 8 and 17 in the year 2007 (ACMA 2008). It found that online engagement was an important part of children’s lives. In Australia at that time, the study found, boys and girls aged 8-11 spent an average of 30 minutes on the internet per day (p. 4). Between a quarter and a third of children aged 8-11 had a computer or game console in their bedroom (p. 7) and 24% of the 1000 children in this age group who participated in the survey played online gaming against other players (p. 12). Given the rapid rate of change, and the growing presence of technology in almost every aspect of our lives, it is highly likely that figures about children’s media usage in both countries have increased since then. All of these are good reasons for building digital literacies into the literacy and English curriculum, and for paying attention to the multimodal, digital texts that are part of contemporary children’s lives.
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View more >Popular culture and the digital world are an important part of many children’s lives. Computer games, virtual worlds and social networking sites are seamlessly integrated into their everyday work, relationships and play. While the degree and nature of children’s involvement varies according to age, interest, opportunity and parental support, by the time they leave primary school, most students will have had significant engagement with popular culture, media and new technologies, including active first hand experience of digital culture and the online world. In Australia, the Australian Communications and Media Authority researched levels of engagement with digital culture and the online world. This study surveyed the media usage of young people between the ages of 8 and 17 in the year 2007 (ACMA 2008). It found that online engagement was an important part of children’s lives. In Australia at that time, the study found, boys and girls aged 8-11 spent an average of 30 minutes on the internet per day (p. 4). Between a quarter and a third of children aged 8-11 had a computer or game console in their bedroom (p. 7) and 24% of the 1000 children in this age group who participated in the survey played online gaming against other players (p. 12). Given the rapid rate of change, and the growing presence of technology in almost every aspect of our lives, it is highly likely that figures about children’s media usage in both countries have increased since then. All of these are good reasons for building digital literacies into the literacy and English curriculum, and for paying attention to the multimodal, digital texts that are part of contemporary children’s lives.
View less >
Journal Title
Practically Primary
Volume
17
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2012 Australian Literacy Educators' Association. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Curriculum and Pedagogy Theory and Development
Creative Arts, Media and Communication Curriculum and Pedagogy
English and Literacy Curriculum and Pedagogy (excl. LOTE, ESL and TESOL)