Innovations in learning and teaching approaches using game technologies – can “The Movies” teach how to make a movie?

The use of games technology in education is not a new phenomenon. Even back in the days of 286 processors, PCs were used in some schools along with (what looks like now) primitive simulation software to teach a range of different skills and techniques – from basic programming using Logo (the turtle style car with a pen at the back that could be used to draw on the floor – always a good way of attracting the attention of school kids!) up to quite sophisticated replications of physical problems, such as working out the trajectory of a missile to blow up an enemies’ tank. So why are games not more widely used in education (especially in FE and HE)? Can they help to support learners even at this advanced stage in their education?We aim to provide in this article an overview of the use of game technologies in education (almost as a small literature review for interested parties) and then go more in depth into one particular example we aim to introduce from this coming academic year (Sept 2006) to help with teaching and assessment of one area of our Multimedia curriculum.