The need for digital game-making education for pre-service and in-service teachers: a review

Digital games offer opportunities for students and teachers through designing, coding, and playing. The maker movement via digital games in education has become popular. Although the maker movement is challenging to accomplish in the classroom environment, digital game-making, which is digital game development under the maker movement approach, produced favorable results among students in formal education. This paper reviews digital games, learning through digital games, digital game-making, theories behind game-making, what digital game-making is for, the importance of helping teachers to get ready for making, and digital game-making in class practices. Digital game-making is for (a) supporting various identity developments, (b) increasing digital literacy, and (c) embracing object-to-think-with. Preparing teachers for digital game-making integration enables teachers to (a) use game-making as a means for Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge, (b) get more confident and empowered, and (c) form learning communities. Teachers’ roles while digital game-making in classrooms are a) managing collaboration and communication, (b) assessing learning, and (c) scaffolding.