The Teachers' Attitude towards the Use of Video Games in Teaching Process

Nowadays, in Serbia, in all public spheres, there is a generally positive atmosphere towards the use of new digital technologies, while digital technology and user training for ICT industries are set as one of the national priorities of economic development. The City of Novi Sad already has a centralized position in national IT industry and particularly important data points for present research are two facts: the first one, practical, is that the largest Serbian companies specializing in the production of video games are set up in Novi Sad, and the second one, academic, is that the Academy of Arts, as a part of the University of Novi Sad, established The Video games design program - the first-ever study program of its kind in the Western Balkan region. For a while, video games had stopped being viewed as entertainment for children and teenagers only, but are instead also used in different public spheres. A new academic discipline - games studies - is using the term "serious games", which describes video games intended for education, military training, medical treatment, political, religious and corporate propaganda, and according to some authors, it also describes artistic video games. The focus of this research is in the field of educational video games, so-called edutainment - the concept of education through fun activities, and in this particular case through the use of video games in the educational process. At the point when a new method is about to be introduced in the education process, it is teachers attitude towards the change that will impact the success of this novelty. Therefore, this study should be considered as a probing study which deals with the conditions and possibilities of implementing a video games as a new tool in teaching. The main aim of our study was to explore the teachers' attitude towards the use of the serious game-based learning (ASGBL). Also included was a relationship between teachers' ASGBL with employment length, the use of the computer in teaching and playing digital games. The research included 182 teachers from elementary and secondary schools in Novi Sad, 86,3% females, aged between 25 and 63 years. For attitude towards the use of the serious game-based learning assessment, we used 25 items questionnaire. The results show that teachers don't have extremely positive or extremely negative attitude towards the use of serious game-based learning. We found no differences between employment length and ASGBL. There are differences between teachers who use the computer in teaching and teachers who do not - teachers who already use the computer in classes have a more positive attitude than those who don't use it. Also, there were no differences in ASGBL between teachers playing games in their leisure times and teachers who do not. In conclusion, elementary and secondary school teachers in Novi Sad have a slightly positive attitude towards the use of the serious game-based learning.