11068

11068

Refereed Paper with Presentation

**Perceptions of Educational Games**
Lyn Ackerman, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA, lackerma@hawaii.edu Kellie Kong, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA, kmjkong@hawaii.edu Caterina Desiato, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA, cdesiato@hawaii.edu

Video games have become the new “hot” topic among teachers, researchers, parents and others interested in technology and education. This phenomenological study attempts to understand the lived experience of those who use educational games. A recent post from the O’Reilly Radar, Corcoran (2010, October 27) brought attention to a blog post by McLeod (2009, July 23). With the provocative title of “Do Most Educational Games Suck?” McLeod’s blog post received 78 comments. Comments were analyzed qualitatively in order to grasp commentators “lived experiences.” Data showed that the commentators experienced all video games as effective learning tools. However there was a dichotomy in the commentators’ perceptions of video games as schooling (formal learning) versus learning (informal learning). Understanding this issue raised by personal perceptions of educational games offers researchers, educators and designers insight for the future design, development, and use of games in education.

All Audiences educational games, blogging, commercial games, learning tool