Digital Games in eLearning Environments

Abstract

The notion of using games in education is as old as games themselves. In addition, the massive market opened by the digital games industry has caused great interest regarding their specific potential in education. However, this interest is sometimes thwarted by the resistance of traditional educational settings toward technology-enhanced learning and digital games. The future, on the contrary, is much more promising within the eLearning field. This field is in a process of evolution and reinvention, seeking new features and ideas to improve the learning experience. We believe that educational games are a perfect medium for these new directions in eLearning. In this article, the synergies between the new eLearning environments and educational games are explored and reviewed.