One highlight of my Grade 3 life was dying from dysentery at the hands of a video game. I was ahead on schoolwork, and allowed to use the classroom computer to pioneer a family across America in the game The Oregon Trail.

It was odd that I played this in a Canadian school — rather than exploring something like the challenges of long-haul trucking in the game Crosscountry Canada.

But with players still joking about Oregon Trail memes today, it’s clear the game made its mark.

When we look at educational video games, many struggle to make a similar impact. The reason is a mix of challenges for teachers and difficulties in game design.

Educational gaming market

Educational games are a big industry, pulling in an US$11.24 billion market in the United States.

While Canada’s market is a bit smaller (the overall video game market contributes 5.5 billion to our GDP), educational games and companies continue to pop up. Now after a pandemic boom in industry growth, we can expect more educational games to appear in classrooms.

But more doesn’t mean better.

While the number of educational games available is growing, according to a 2019 report by Common Sense Media, “the gap between the edtech products teachers use and what they say is effective is real and cuts across subjects.”

The change in landscape

From earliest days, games for learning were typically small endeavours built from passion or interest, like Grade 4 teacher Mabel Addis’s 1960s creation of one of the first-ever video games to teach economics to her students.

Early games like The Oregon Trail and Crosscountry Canada were products of the time when designers and technology were exploring what was possible. The newness of games garnered attention in and out of the classroom. However, as the industry grew, educational initiatives struggled to keep up.

Games like Fortnite boast player bases above 80 million and possess graphics, gameplay and budgets that no educational game can rival.

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