Digital Games Widely Used by Adolescents Today

According to data in a report released by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and the Games and Learning Publishing Council, the explosion of investment in educational technology of the past five years represents a significant opportunity for innovation, but school adoption of technological change has been slow due to long adoption cycles, weak evidence of impact, and the dominance of existing publishers. Meanwhile, almost all teens in the United States are playing digital games. Many of these youth are heavy media users, but are disengaged from school and at high risk of academic failure. The report also identifies significant barriers for games developers to enter the school market such as the changing policy landscape, a lack of teacher professional development on the uses of technology and a need for low-cost, data rich assessments. Key trends that are favoring game-based innovations include one-to-one computing and “bring-your-own-device” initiatives, adoption of interactive whiteboards, a new focus on personalized learning environments and expanding research on the efficacy of engaging digital games.

Richards, J., Stebbins, L., & Moellering, K. (2013). Games for a digital age: K-12 market map and investment analysis. New York City, NY: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. http://joanganzcooneycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/glpc_gamesforadigitalage1.pdf