Survey: Students Want Educational Games

Converge Magazine points out that students have expressed a desire for more educational videogaming in schools in the annual Speak Up Survey conducted by Project Tomorrow. Converge says the survey revealed:

… that online or electronic gaming is one of the technologies that students use most frequently, and that educational gaming is one of the emerging technologies that students would most like to see implemented in their schools. Yet, only one in 10 teachers has adopted gaming as an instructional tool.

The survey also found other disparities between students and teachers in expressed desires for online learning, school e-mail accounts, and mobile devices for learning.

The survey was impressive in scope, eliciting responses from schools in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and American Dept. of Defense schools abroad. In all, about 319,000 students were surveyed; 25,000 teachers; 19,000 parents; and 3,000 school administrators, including directors of technology. The online survey closed in December, 2007.

Lots of interesting data in this survey. The selected findings article makes for good reading.

References:
Speak Up 2007 for students, teachers, parents & school leaders: Selected national findings. (2008, April 8). Project Tomorrow. [Online]. Available: http://www.tomorrow.org/docs/National Findings Speak Up 2007.pdf

Report: Market for Video Gaming in Mexico Soon Worth $1 Billion

I’ve blogged a lot about our Canadian friends and the wealth of research occurring on videogames north of the border. Now, here is an interesting report via MCVUK from ResearchandMarkets.com on our southern neighbors that notes marrying ages are rising, leading to a larger population with free time (usually at home with parents) and more money to spend on entertainment. Consequently, by 2010, the market for videogames in Mexico could be worth $1 billion.

Alas, the full report is a couple thousand Euro. But, the introduction and table of contents are freely available.

References:
Ingham, T. (2008, March 13). Report: Mexican games market to hit $1bn. [Online]. Retrieved March 13, 2008 from http://www.mcvuk.com/news/29906/Report-Mexican-games-market-to-hit-1bn