Social Network Platforms and Digital Games for Refugee Students in Transit



Abstract Views
378

Downloads
274

Citations

Share

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##

Submitted Aug 5, 2023
Published Nov 1, 2023
10.24018/ejedu.2023.4.6.733

Abstract viewed = 378 times

Table of Contents

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

The article is based on ethnographic research carried out in Eleonas refugee camps in Athens, Greece, from February 2019 to March 2020. Based on in-depth interviews with fifteen male and female Syrian refugee parents, the article studies the use of smartphone devices, network applications, and the digital games “Feed the Monster” and “Antura and the Letters” as essential tools of an informal educational process. Digital mobile devices dominate the everyday life of Syrian students in the camp, redefining the way they keep and reform family ties at a distance. They share experiences, comments, and photos. At the same time, digital games on smartphones are a powerful educational tool by providing children with multiple opportunities to have access to knowledge and acquire skills from different learning areas, such as language, mathematics, and science. Additionally, they encourage children to determine issues of the world around them as they share and negotiate different social and cultural experiences through their play. The interaction between play and learning is of primary importance for preschool and early school students since it contributes to the highest level of learning with the greatest degree of assimilative capacity. In this complex and ever-changing context, the article attempts to raise further questions regarding the use of digital games as part of a daily ritual play, an informal educational process, and a linguistic interaction within the family context.

Keywords: Digital games Informal education Refugee students Smartphones

References

  1. Ally, M., Balaji, V., Abdelbaki, A., & Cheng, R. (2017). Use of tablet computers to improve access to education in a remote location. Journal of Learning for Development, 4, 221–228.
     Google Scholar
  2. Alencar, A. (2017). Refugee integration and social media: A local and experiential perspective. Information, Communication and Society.1, 16
     Google Scholar
  3. Avgitidou, S. (2001). Game: Contemporary research and teaching approaches. Athens: Dardanos.
     Google Scholar
  4. Beheshti, J. (2012). Virtual environments for children and teens. In C. Eichenberg (Ed.), Virtual reality in psychological, medical and pedagogical applications (pp. 271-286). Croatia: InTech.
     Google Scholar
  5. Connolly, T. M., Boyle, E. A., MacArthur, E., Hainey, T., & Boyle, J. M. (2012). A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games. Computers & Education, 59(2), 661-686.
     Google Scholar
  6. Coffman, T., & Klinger, M. B. (2007). Utilizing virtual worlds in education: The implications for practice. International Journal of Social Sciences, 2(1), 29-33.
     Google Scholar
  7. Daskalaki, I., Tsioli, S., & Androulakis, G. (2017). Project PRESS: ethnographic approaches to refugee education in Greece. International Conference on Open and Distance Education 9: 19-33.
     Google Scholar
  8. de Freitas, S. (2006). Learning in immersive worlds: A review of game-based learning. Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) E-Learning Programme 1–74. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearninginnovation/gamingr eport_v3.pdf. Bristol, UK.
     Google Scholar
  9. Drolia, M., Papadakis, S., Sifaki, E., & Kalogiannakis, M. (2022). Mobile learning applications for refugees: A systematic literature review. Education Science 12(2), 96.
     Google Scholar
  10. Dondlinger, M. J. (2007). Educational video game design: A review of the literature. Journal of Applied Educational Technology, 4(1), 21–31.
     Google Scholar
  11. Elias, N., & Lemish, D. (2009). Spinning the web of identity: the roles of the internet in the lives of immigrant adolescents. New Media & Society, 11(4), 533-551.
     Google Scholar
  12. Fuchs, M., Fizek, S., Ruffino, P,. & Schrape, N. (Eds.) (2014). Rethinking gamification. Lueneburg: Meson Press.
     Google Scholar
  13. Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
     Google Scholar
  14. Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated language and learning: A critique of traditional schooling. New York and London: Routledge.
     Google Scholar
  15. Gillespie, M., Ampofo, L., Cheesman, M., Faith, B., Iliadou, E., Issa, A., Osseiran, S., & Skleparis, D. (2016). Mapping refugee media journeys: Smartphones and social media networks (Research Report). The Open University/France Medias Monde. https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/file_store/production/259734/B10ABC43-B969-41E5-A53B-AB553958E6F8.pdf.
     Google Scholar
  16. Jagoda, P. (2013). Gamification and other forms of play. Boundary 2, 40(2), 113–144.
     Google Scholar
  17. Konstantinou, I. (2023). Migrant and refugee students in new experiences of family ties: Media, surveillance and sociability. European Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(3), 81-87.
     Google Scholar
  18. Koval-Saifi, N., & Plass, J. (2018). Feed the monster: Impact and technical evaluation. World Vision and Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development. Washington, DC, USA.
     Google Scholar
  19. Madianou, M. (2014). Smartphones as Polymedia. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(3), 667-680.
     Google Scholar
  20. Madianou, M. (2017). Doing family at a distance: Transnational family practices in polymedia environments. In L. Hjorth, H. Horst, A. Galloway, & G. Bell (Eds.), The Routledge companion to digital ethnography (pp. 102-112). London: Routledge.
     Google Scholar
  21. Madianou, M., & Miller, D. (2012). Migration and new media: Transnational families and polymedia. London: Routledge.
     Google Scholar
  22. Musawi, A. (2011). Redefining technology role in education. Creative Education, 2(2), 130‐135.
     Google Scholar
  23. Ponzanesi, S., & Leurs, K. (2014). On digital crossings in Europe. Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture, 5(1), 3-22.
     Google Scholar
  24. Portes, A., & Zhou, M. (1993). The new second generation: Segmented assimilation and its variants. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 530(1), 74-96.
     Google Scholar
  25. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.
     Google Scholar
  26. Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching digital natives: Partnering for real learning. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.
     Google Scholar
  27. Prensky, M. (2012). Digital natives to digital wisdom: Hopeful essays for 21st century learning. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.
     Google Scholar
  28. Salazar Parreñas, R. (2001). Mothering from a distance: Emotions, gender, and intergenerational relations in Filipino transnational families. Feminist Studies, 27(2), 361-390.
     Google Scholar
  29. Salazar Parreñas, R. (2008). Transnational fathering: Gendered conflicts, distant disciplining and emotional gaps. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(7), 1057-1072.
     Google Scholar
  30. Shaffer, W., Squire, R., Havelson, R., & Gee, P. (2005). Video games and the future of learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 87, 104‐111.
     Google Scholar
  31. Smets, K. (2018). The way Syrian refugees in Turkey use media: Understanding "connected refugees" through a non-media-centric and local approach. Communications, 43(1), 113-123.
     Google Scholar
  32. Taftaf, R., & Williams, C. (2020). Supporting refugee distance education: A review of the literature. American Journal of Distance Education, 34(1), 5-18.
     Google Scholar
  33. Willoughby, T. (2008). A short-term longitudinal study of Internet and computer game use by adolescent boys and girls: Prevalence, frequency of use, and psychosocial predictors. Developmental Psychology, 44(1), 195-204.
     Google Scholar
  34. UNESCO. (2017). Protecting the right to education for refugees (Report). http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0025/002510/251076E.pdf.
     Google Scholar