Dr. Zhoa's podcosts really gave food for thought. Talk about a paradigm shift and changing the way we think, teach, evaulate and assess. I was struck at the idea of changing how we do things in education to meet the demands of today's digital world. The idea of connecting with teachers and students all over the world to work in a collaborative learning environment is intriguing.
Gaming as an instructional tool? I don't know enough about it but am currently reading a book about gaming called "Don't Bother Me Mom --I'm Learning" by Marc Prensky. It provides some interesting food for thought about gaming and how it could positively affect students in a learning environment. According to Mr. Prensky our kids are digital natives while we are digital immigrants - and when we try to teach them we have an accent :)
Like I have said before, there are so many different opportunities using technology in our classrooms. I always thought that it should be used to enhance what we are already doing - now I am thinking we need to look at the technology and find a way to use it to change how we have been doing business to meet the needs of our students and the world that they will living in.
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I was hesitant about the gaming as well. Of course, we are all used to gaming to reinforce prior learning but I thought his example of a game about traveling to China sounded innovative and authentic.
I think in many ways we have used games in education for years. Many people have used the progam "The Oregon Trail". Many Economics teachers use a stockmarket game. I don't think the idea is new, but the internet has opened up new ways of doing it. I have always thought that if I can use technology and the end result is the same as traditional methods or better than I should use the technology. At the very least my students will have gained another skill in the use of technology. If the end result is worse than the traditional method than I use the traditional method.
I agree this series of podcast really rocked my world! I was also struck by the thought of making global connections for learning and that the possibilities are endless as are the challenges to keep up as an educator. The financial and time factors seem monumental to me. I don't know much about gaming either I wonder if the book you are reading might not make for an interesting study group???
What a great idea! Wouldn't it be great to look into this further and maybe look at some of the games?
I will start initiating some comments with the powers to be!
Technology games build in so many motivators for our students: immediate gratification of results, and always the possibility of advancing to the next level. If the game effectively allows students to use concepts and skills from the curriculum to do some problem-solving, perhaps they help to build the "jungle" that Mr. Honeycutt spoke of in Lesson 9. I'll have to look for this book that Angela mentioned!
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