DGBL (Digital Game-based Learning)

Digital game-based learning is one of the most discussed areas in the field of digital technologies in learning.

When reading about this topic I remembered my childhood when I was sitting in front of the computer and playing video games for hours. My parents didn't ever forbid me doing that, they even sometimes played with me which gave me more motivation in that. I turned the computer off when I was already bored of the games. Later I started to get bored sooner, because everything was already the same and I couldn't find anything new for me to discover in those games. It is followed to say that the learning from the games had already happened, and there was nothing new for me to learn. 

Video games first of all provide children problem solving and critical thinking skills. They become creative, especially when they not only take the role of a consumer, but also the role of a producer.

With digital games learning is produced within a certain context, e.g. they don't have to read about the games and then go and play it according to the instructions. They just start observing in the context themselves which fosters their consciousness raising skills.

When playing a digital game children are not afraid of making mistakes and of being assessed. Actually, assessment happens at every moment in games, which is fun here as compared with the assessment in classrooms.

However there are also some risks in using video games. The thing is that not all the games are of good quality. One of the dangerous things is their getting addicted to some games, thus forgetting everything rest in the world. This is, of course menacing their health, e.g. the eye-sight. Moreover, computer games can be violent in their nature and affect negatively on children's character and the whole psychology. So, parents should be very careful at first stages in choosing the right games for their children. they should also often play them with their children to understand the content better and its affects on the child.

DGBL is also applied in TEFL. Games can engage children in practicing both receptive and productive linguistic skills. E.g. I leaned a lot of vocabulary items from the game "Tekken", like "start, play, exit, enter, turn on, turn off, game over, time is up, win, lose, perfect, etc.". The football game was good for developing my listening and reading skills, etc.

Eventually, technology helps children to learn in new ways and to create the models of what education might be like in future.