Games in Education

What comes to mind as I read James Paul Gee's article and watch the videos is the importance of "making it real "for students. Or using what students are interested in as a tool for learning. We, as educators are always looking for ways to teach that offer an "emotional attachment"for students and at the same time, as Gee says "will offer skills,values, and conceptual understanding" that we believe are important. In order to be effective educators we need to be current in what the interests and as a result the skills  students develop in the present moment we teach. Education needs to constantly change along with the changes in social skills and cultural competencies. Online games have often been viewed as entertainment, something parents and teachers have prohibited young people to play. Unfortunately, most things that we are not competent in or do not understand;we fear and ban. In one of the videos the point is made about My Space, why are we not using social networking as a way to be globally connected and teach social skills as opposed to blocking it and being 100 % convinced that no good will come from students having access to it at school. Computer games are viewed this way too, unfortunately, there has been a lot of violent games on the market, but as time goes on we are seeing  worthwhile games that can be used in the classroom or as an entertaining way for students to learn a variety of social skills,academic skills and often will "implement new forms of learning, bringing students to a higher level of learning"
In considering using games in the classroom, Gee offers some basic guidelines to follow when making a choice. Much of it is common sense from an educators perspective but he analyses common game formats and styles and helps us make greater distinctions as to what kind of game will most benefit our students.