Virtual Learning

A few weeks ago we were discussing learning through games and on computers.

With the introduction of more technology within schools people have come up with many different ways to enhance learning through digital means and whether we agree with this.

In class we looked at Inanimate Alice, a game in which you read a story and complete tasks as you go. You cannot move on if you failed to achieve all the tasks in your current chapter, the tasks cover many areas of the academic curriculum in a way that pupils wouldn’t even realise they are learning.

Initially I was very sceptical about this and couldn’t see how playing a game can enhance learning, especially of young pupils who would be more interested in the playing than the learning.

Since then, I have spent a lot of time in a school where I have been helping out and working with pupils. In this school the pupils use a whole range of websites and apps to encourage them to learn and revise.

From the outside watching pupils race go carts on a screen, or slide coins down a track wouldn’t look like revision, and I was one of them people who thought like that. But, from experiencing first-hand how involved kids get into these games and they do learn and revise without consciously doing so.

In the end, I now see that getting pupils excited about solving Maths problems or creating their own stories is a good thing no matter how you do it. Learning is learning and should be encouraged however and wherever.