Teachers were taken seriously and the entire education system was considered sacred till a few years back. But with the onslaught of digitisation, the dynamics of learning have changed. The attention span of a learner is lesser as compared to those of his forefathers, and his diversions many and varied. Quick learning and everything served in a platter is desired. Curiosity has less space and not welcomed in classrooms, owing to the strict adherence of completing the syllabus by the teachers and the focus from an examination point of view.
But if knowledge has to be imparted, teaching methods and pedagogy has to change. It is necessary that teachers bring entertainment into the classroom to retain the attention of the student and all the five senses are used for learning. Thus edutainment was born.
It is a form of entertainment that enables the participants to be educated. The education takes place and the participants hardly notice the process. The importance is largely accepted by teachers who have already been projecting its aspects in the process of education. Even though they have the possibility to visit different exhibitions, see different companies etc to provide the students with the picture of the real world, they could still engage in various entertaining activities directly while teaching.
Game play could be characterised as a free activity of a group or an individual limited by a certain time period. The topic of the game sources in the interests of the group and the meaning is to be found directly in the game or is outside the play — for example a motif. The game is the medium to obtain specific needs or meet different targets. It is different from everyday life by its distinctive rules and also by the inside play features, such as competing or the role identification. It brings the satisfaction of the needs, enjoyment, entertainment and also some knowledge and experience for the players.
Much before the rapid development of film and TV, there were some features of edutainment discovered in fairy tales and fables and storytelling that mirror the experience of mankind and are distributed by word of mouth. They are fables and fairy tales that provide moral messages. Hand in hand with the development of TV broadcasting in the second half of the 20th century and with the development of cable TV, the society experiences the spread of entreating educative series for children, youth and adults. There has been a rise in edutainment channels.
Presently there is increasing correlation between the level of education and the expectation for the quality of entertainment which is meaningful and still is not considered as a waste of time. Use of technology in education has focused on blending constructionist systems in the form of interactive simulations, with the support of network media. In contrast is a more traditional, instructionist approach in the classroom where a student is treated as an empty vessel to be filled with facts.
Instructionist methods often neglect the hands-on practical experience that constructionist methods stress, and constructionist methods stress de-contextualised doing with little or no intervention of fundamental material. They view education as a bitter medicine that needs the sugar-coating of entertainment to become palatable. They provide entertainment as a reward if you are willing to suffer a little education. New edutainment companies try to provide you with both. Some educators prefer to focus on “play” and “learning” rather than “entertainment” and “education”. Ultimately the challenge for teachers is to provide a high level of engagement as well as entertainment.
(The author is Dr Prasanna Sivanandam, assistant director, ITM Chennai)