The case studies: Part 1

The link to the case scenarios that Derek posted yesterday are of diverse, different families that have many differences and similarities. The first three families in households AW, AT, and BC, are most certainly diverse in how technology plays a role in the family life. The first family uses technology as an entertainment venue, but at different times during the day as each family member had a different timetable. The elders, as they are referred to, appear to avoid use of the TVC and prefer watching movies and soap operas. The children in the family also play games from both the gaming and the educational cartridges, but are the use of technology is restricted by the grand-father, limiting their use of the TVC system. At first, the children did not use the TVC strictly for conventional learning purposes, but instead learned how to play games like Mario and Duck Hunt. From what I read, I assume that the children learned on their own with little interference from the family, which may suggest a quick 'picking up' of the games' mechanics. After some time, the children then learned to play games on the educational cart with the aid of the elders in the family; most notably, the parents. This first reading suggests that the family encourages a more typical educational component of learning from games rather than the tactile component, such as learning how to play Duck Hunt. The second case study involves a much smaller family in comparison to the first case family (first family contained 13 members while second family only contains 6 members). The study found that the children played the entertainment games exclusively due to a language barrier on the educational games cartridge. The father of the children also played the entertainment games with the children while the mother preferred watching regular television. Unlike the the first case study, the parents did not encourage the children to play the educational games as there was the ever-present language barrier. The third reading (scenario BC) showed a different dynamic than previously experienced. The researchers found that there was one daughter fluent in English that taught the other family members to play games on the TVC. In this case, there was a specific order of who played on the unit; father and son, eldest daughter, older daughter, and sometimes the youngest daughter and mother. However, the mother was afraid to play games for fear that she would ruin the system. While the mother preferred to watch TV, there was never any conflict between the family about watching TV vs. playing games. The reading described the watching of TV and playing games as viewed by the family as complementary since the TVC was both interactive and educational. However, it could be that the hierarchical structure in the family that decides who plays the TVC and in what order may also play a role in deciding when the TV is watched and when the game system is played. In comparison, the games cartridge was played for twice the amount of time then the educational games cartridge was played. Additionally, the researchers found that the mother was very supportive of using the TVC as an educational component since it taught concepts such as the alphabet and was thus willing to sacrifice watching TV.

From the three readings, it is easily determined that playing the games cartridge was much more prevalent in the family than playing the educational games cartridge. Regardless, the families that did play the educational games cartridge were very supportive of their children playing it and attempted to teach their children how to play the educational games with a good measure of success. There are several key things that are similar in the first three families; there is a language barrier for some family members and the family members that do practice a religion practice Hinduism and, much less prevalently, Christianity. Unsurprisingly, it would be best if future game projects were made in the native languages of the regions as well as games that involve religious figures as this may encourage families to embrace the playing of educational games. I wasn't surprised by the hierarchical structure of the family in household BC either. What did strike me was how easily the family agreed on TVC play vs. TV watching. Again, I wasn't there, so I can only speculate as to all the reasons that this occurs, but it is a positive sign that the mother supports learning from gameplay rather than simply watching TV serials. I am most interested to see how the Hanuman games are seen by those same families as there is a major religious figure in them, there is a language barrier present in both games, and there is (what I consider) fun gameplay. Stay tuned as I will have more thoughts from the other readings.

Harrison Lee