Abstract

There are numerous claims that playing computer and video games may be educationally beneficial, but there has been little formal investigation into whether or not the frequency of exposure to such games actually affects academic performance. This paper explores the issue by analysing the relationships between gaming frequency--measured as the amount of time undergraduate students spend playing games in their free time--and their academic performance as measured by their examination marks. Using a sample of 713 students, correlation analyses between gaming frequency and examination performance were conducted for students of varying gaming frequency, study discipline, gender, and general attitudes towards gaming and study. The results reveal that examination marks are in fact negatively correlated with gaming frequency--.e. frequent gamers generally achieve lower marks than less frequent gamers. (Contains 12 tables and 3 figures.)

Citation

Ip, B., Jacobs, G. & Watkins, A. (2008). Gaming Frequency and Academic Performance. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(4), 355-373. Retrieved August 13, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/73222/.

This record was imported from ERIC on April 19, 2013. [Original Record]

ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.

Copyright for this record is held by the content creator. For more details see ERIC's copyright policy.

Keywords

• academic achievement
• computers
• Foreign Countries
• games
• higher education
• information technology
• Program Effectiveness
• role playing
• student attitudes
• undergraduate students
• video games