Edutainment, as the word itself suggests, is a fusion of education and entertainment. The prominence of the term highlights the increasing focus on the connection between the educational process and the playful phenomenon, challenging the traditional notion that learning and play are conflicting concepts. While lessons have been the traditional method of teaching for centuries, edutainment goes beyond the mere delivery of content, focusing on the active engagement of students. Over the years, edutainment has taken various forms, from simulators teaching practical skills to graphic novels or video games. The basic concept, however, has been present for quite some time, as evidenced by Sesame Street, which aired in 1969, a television program that taught phonetics, numbers, and letters, transforming education into a pleasurable experience for children.
During the pandemic, digital education has played a crucial role in ensuring students' right to study. In this context, games have emerged as extremely useful methods in the learning process. Currently, a growing number of conventions, journals, and projects dedicated to learning express a new interest in the use of games or video games. These tools, sometimes originating as entertainment, are increasingly adapted to achieve educational objectives.
How might the opportunities presented by the technological age be transformed into efficacious educational experiences? Considerable speculation arises regarding the capacity for learning from video games, particularly those featuring captivating yet ostensibly unrelated settings and narratives, often centred on themes such as combat and shooting. To fully grasp the educational potential of video games, it is imperative to regard them as a distinct medium possessing unique characteristics. This necessitates the application of specific evaluation criteria and a perspective distinct from those conventionally employed in assessing books or movies.
Within the context of video games, two types of learning can be distinguished: explicit learning, involving knowledge of game rules and contexts, and collateral learning, which entails the cultivation of skills and attitudes transferable beyond the confines of the game. The concept of collateral learning aligns well with John Dewey's experiential theory of progressive pedagogy, emphasizing the significance of acquiring knowledge through experience to engender enduring attitudes. It further underscores the central role of participation and interaction with the environment in the educational process.
Alongside the definition of explicit and collateral learning, we can identify two categories of video games: serious games, explicitly designed for training purposes, and entertainment games, whose educational value is often uncertain as it is less tangible and secondary to the entertainment aspect. The distinction is based on the explicit intent of serious games to pursue educational objectives directed towards the acquisition of specific knowledge, while entertainment games are often perceived as lacking specific educational aims. Recent research has highlighted how playful experiences, such as those offered by entertainment video games, can positively influence social skills, leadership, and cooperation among players.
Video games have the ability to offer the opportunity to learn soft skills, surpassing the quality of the learning experience in real institutions like schools. It is crucial to examine how players actively participate in the construction of the game, treating it as an institution with negotiable rules during interaction. The institutional structures of video games vary significantly, influencing the degree of agency. The concept of "agency" in the context of video games is the ability to act meaningfully and see the results of decisions and choices. Educational video games often impose institutional constraints to achieve specific learning objectives, guiding users through predetermined paths and established goals, limiting agency. In contrast, other games rely on a sense of agency, allowing players to adapt, create, and evolve their own institutional structures. This process leads to greater flexibility and sensitivity in players' thinking, as they are not bound by rigid training.
Games like World of Warcraft, with a storyline set in a fantasy world and often without predetermined educational objectives, are examples of entertainment games that actually address a wide range of affective, behavioral, and cognitive outcomes. In this participation process, collateral educational value emerges, not so much focused on knowledge acquisition but rather on the development of attitudes and skills.
The key concept seems to be "empathy." Games, especially digital ones, offer the opportunity to immerse oneself in scenarios and contexts challenging to represent in reality, allowing individuals to "walk in the shoes of others" and experience firsthand.
Another example of edutainment arises from serious games. In this instance, the declared goal is to educate, train, and inform. This learning mode extends beyond academic settings and finds suitable application in business, military, social contexts and others. Examples include SeaGame, set in a virtual port that rewards knowledge and respect for marine world rules, Supercharged, aimed at understanding electromagnetic principles, and Nemesis Game, where the player is a citizen of a city ruled by social and innovative power; this game involves the implementation of sustainability techniques and encourages the development of new ideas through "Co-Creation Labs," where teachers, innovators, and parents can contribute towards realizing the game's objective: creating a happy city.
Within companies, the areas of applicability of the learning modality through serious games are increasing, spanning from marketing to cybersecurity. In his thesis "Security Serious Game" (2021-2022), Manuel Sabelli proposes numerous valid examples of computer-based games, such as Centigrade. Set in a corporate environment, this game allows the player-employee to acquire knowledge of cybersecurity. Another example is Fintech Tycoon, where the user learns how to optimize resources and invest in corporate structures and technologies.
The future is now, and digitization has become an integral part of schools, businesses, and institutions. Therefore, it can no longer represent a passive tool; digitalization must engage in an active relationship with the user to ensure an all-encompassing and enduring learning experience. Nowadays, we can view edutainment training techniques with favor and hope for substantial research to transform digital tools into a valuable resource for learning at every institutional level.