Addressing the Interplay between Gaming Culture Practices and School Education: Didactics, Challenges and Potentials

Despite their societal relevance and popularity among young people, gaming culture practices are rarely addressed in school education, and the topic is under-researched. While the literature primarily explores the pedagogical value of games or the use of games in teaching, academic studies that explore how gaming culture practices – beyond the act of gaming itself – can enrich (school) education are still rare. This dissertation addresses this research gap by exploring the possible interplay between gaming culture practices and school education in Austria, focusing on the popular cultural practices of let’s play video creation, esports and cosplay. The key research questions of this dissertation relate to the relevance of gaming culture practices for educational practices in lower secondary schools in Austria and the development of innovative and sustainable teaching strategies. The dissertation comprises four phases: 1) To explore the current state of research on the gaming culture practices of esports, let’s play video creation and cosplay in education as well as related literacies, a systematic literature review as well as expert interviews will be conducted. 2) Based on these findings, lesson plans (use cases) will be developed and evaluated in lower secondary schools in Austria, including the perspectives of teachers, pupils, and parents. The lesson plans focus on the school subject “Digitale Grundbildung” and cross-curricular possibilities. 3) The findings of this field test will be discussed with experts and decision makers in the education sector, focussing on the didactic models, potentials and challenges for teaching and learning, the possible alignment with the school curriculum and solutions for a sustainable integration of gaming culture-based education in lower secondary schools in Austria. 4) The last phase the findings will be incorporated into recommendations and guidelines for a “gaming-culture-based school education” as the central output of this dissertation.