Vas, István: Video games in the Education of History– An Analysis of a University
Lecture

The needs of reforming the current educational methodology is in the focus of research during the past few years both in international researchers (Prensky 2006; Gee 2012) and in Hungarian researchers (Fegyverneki 2016; Prievara 2015, 2018)
as well. According to the results the sphere of the current curriculum and methodology are extended with digital practices, meanwhile one has been trying to integrate videogames in the educational system (Squire 2003; Radetich 2005; Ellard
2012; Wainwright 2014). In Hungary, there is an undergoing research of using
video games in education since 2016 (Vas 2016, 2017, 2018). This article represents a research update, where according to the main concept, video games should be used in university education for the teacher training students to get acquainted
with the methodological possibilities in order to use them bravely in the future. As a pilot lecture for the further research a university course was kept in the second semester of 2017/2018 with the author’s supervisor in the University of Debrecen.
The article summarizes the experience of the lecture, the requirements and the syllabi of the course, and introduces the results of the three surveys, which were filled during the semester (N=82). The surveys investigated different approaches towards
video games like the gaming habits of the students, the platforms they use, their
opinions about the four categories based on using video games in History lessons
in high schools and how the students feel the lecture successful. The course was
taken by first- and second years students’, who use mainly laptops (52.4%), smart
phones (48.4%) and computers for playing video games. According to the different
styles of video games, they prefer mobile games (2.86); however, there are differences
between males and females. As for educational purposes, they would use grand strategic
video games (3.28) yet in terms of franchises, they would use the Assassin’s Creed-series
(3.69), while in classes they would use them in language sessions (26%).
According to the positive feedbacks of the lecture, using video games in the university f
or teacher training students is a motivational way of establishing a methodological
open-mindedness for their future profession.