Sunday, March 27, 2011

Quest to Learn school

The Quest to Learn school:

What is it: 
Quest to Learn (Q2L) is a school designed around the “principles of games to create academically challenging, immersive, game-like learning experiences for students.”    Using games to focus and create an environment that exploits the values benefits found within gaming platforms.  The curriculum is based on missions broken into smaller portions so students can work their way through the curriculum in parts that are interconnected.  This allows for students to build on information given and create a formalized understanding of the material and key concepts.  The uniqueness to the approach of teaching and instruction provides for students to become highly motivated in the learning process and become increasing involved.  With this concept in mind students help to create a structured learning program based on their personal interest. 
My reaction:
This form of holistic learning is the mode to which all forms of education can be based.  It allows for students to learn from multiple areas simultaneously allowing for greater instruction.  This also allows for increased learner interaction with material presented.  The only drawback to the lesson format would be the lack of physical and personal face to face interaction.   

scenario: PTA meeting & TED talk videos help

The TED video I would use for a PTA conference on the use of games as a medium for classroom learning:
I would choose to present Jane McGonigal’s video to introduce the topic at the PTA meeting because in her video she focuses the entire conversation on the value of games and their positive relationship to real world and to education.  With the parallel drawn between the amount of time gaming and the plausibility for positive outcomes during a PTA meeting you can draw upon this to show the positive value of students increasing their study time from minimal to double of what they are now getting.  Furthermore, it can be used to show how it can be used as a supplement to the classroom learning for a student who is apsent or missing from a class.
  
Summary of Jane McGonigal:  Explains in a rational way how to solve problems through the use of gaming.  The only drawback is the size and scope used is too big to use in an individual school PTA meeting.
Summary of Will Wright: Shows the value of Spore (game) as a mode to developing and learning how the process of evolution works and how long term dynamics affect use.  Showing how students can learn from a game to see the long term affects of our actions.  It also demonstrates a way to instruct long term thinking through a game and through short real life experiences that can relate to the students schema.
Summary of Tom Chatfield:  Shows the positive information that can be found from the users of games.  Showing how the principles developed from gamers can benefit the real world.


The main points I would use for why games can be a valuable learning tool in PTA meeting would be:
·         Motivation: students who are motivated enjoy learning
·         Authenticity: real life examples give students greater understanding and connections to what is being taught.
·         Social skills: skills of being able to act in a social environment
·         Cultural skills: able function in a global community
·         Negotiation skills: skills to negotiate with others
·         Problem solving skills: skills to work through problems and create critical thinking
·         Paper and material cost saver: the cost of new books and material decreased through reprogrammable game systems
Increased learning and interaction time: more time spent learning gives more learning and greater student benefits 

TED talks & my reactions to each

Jane says that games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. Then she wonders what if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems.  Watch the video and then post your reaction on your blog
My reaction to Jane McGonigal is that she does have a good idea of using games to create a better environment.  The idea of taking mass interest and mass intelligences and use them to create a solutions.  However, the only problem I found with this video is the lack of explaining how information or ideas to combine the problems found in the real world into the games. 

Will Wright, the inventor of SimCity demonstrates his newest game, Spore, which challenges the player to design a creature and help it survive.  He compares the concepts behind playing with this type of game to the type of playing that Maria Montessori advocated to promote learning.
My reaction to Will Wright is that he does draw a good parallel to Maria Montessori.  With playing the game Spore the one is able to see and learn from the game.  A player of the game can learn about the possibility of what can/could happen in the galaxy environment.  This shows the possibility of learning from gaming.

Tom Chatfield talks about games and how we might harness our innate desire for rewards to change the way we learn
My reaction to Tom Chatfield is that he draws a great parallel found in games to how it affects human gamers and how it can be used to cover main and realistic problems.  This shows the benefits that can be gained from studying and learning from the users of games.

My view on "Using the Technology of Today"

         by Eric Kloper, Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff and Jason Haas
Reasoning behind the use of games by Ross (7th grade subject area teacher)
·         “education through meaningful realworld play and exploration.”
o   Authenticity, gives motivation
·         teaches students about the skill of negotiation”
o   Students gain interaction scenarios not available in live classrooms
·          “teaches students how to solve problems collaboratively”
o   Builds up social skills while giving problem solving skills
·         teaches students to be mindful of their actions/impact on others
o   Leads to cultural understanding and social implications
Reasoning behind the use of games by Hal& Kali (12th grade Physics teachers)
·         “students gain conceptual understanding of these challenging concepts”
o   Visual scaffolding of environmental understanding in Physics
·         “creative“
o   Self created solutions make for individualism and creativity
·         “problem-solvers”
o   simulations provide areas to work through problems for solution, can be considered the next best thing to using realia
·         schema based education
o   “demonstrate mastery of the concepts by altering the simulation based upon their understanding of how it works”
·         Motivation
o   “great synergy that elevated both of their instructional practices”
As a parent or fellow teacher I would support the inclusion of games for teaching
            Because: Motivation of a students’ can lead to greater retention of information being instructed by the teacher.  One of the greatest time consumer in a student’s life is games and online networking programs.  If an instructor can bridge the gap of education and entertainment the instruction time increase, motivation increases, and competition for time decreases. 
            Just think now, “Children are establishing a relationship to knowledge gathering which is alien to their parents and teachers” (Green and Hannon, 2007, p. 38) while this is something that we will see transform over the next few years to become a ‘relationship to knowledge gathering which is understood by their parents and teachers’ because their P & T where exposed to the same forms of experiences.  The transformations have serious positive implications for us in the space of education, with students becoming highly motivated with learning, while becoming critical of finding new ways to learn while entertaining; just as one can become critical of commercialization.
            The advent of creating a student who is socially, culturally, and directionally sound can be programmed into a game.  The social skills and leadership task can be designed into every corner.  The transformation of gaming has changed from, click and go, games to games that give detail to information while education becomes interest; just as Kloper, Osterweil, Groff, and Haas described in their article with describing CIVILIZATION and WOW.  Students can be crafted and educated will they are being entertained. 
            This is can be done in the same way documentaries on wild life made their way from the magazine to the classrooms and then into the home during prime time.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Top ten ways podcasting can benefit L2 learners

  1. Interactive
    • Students can become involved in work/learning
  2. Motivational
    • Flexibility leads to individualized lessons that motivate students
  3. Cheap
    • Time and cost (easy set up and free internet tools)
  4. Creative
    • Allows for students to put their personal touch on what is create
  5. Increased talk time
    • Talking in target language improves learning
  6. Increased feedback
    • Students work can receive private classroom feedback and open internet feedback
  7. Personalized feedback
    • Teachers can give individualized feedback on each lesson
  8. Self assessment programs
    • Students can use programs to critique themselves (i.e. Speech Recognition)
  9. Reflective learning
    • Record and listen to what and how they said it then compare it to a prerecorded native speaker
  10. Peer learning & Peer feedback
    • Interaction in corrective learning

BENEFITS OF CLASSROOM PODCASTING

1.      Podcasting is cheap
a.       The cost is low only if school/students have open access to computers with internet access.  (not always the case everywhere in the world)
b.      Software and programs are online based
c.       Motivational and add on tools available (i.e. Feedburner)
2.      The global motivation
a.       Motivational power of the almost open world internet (students can communicate with almost anywhere in the world)
b.      The access to open door class-rooming is a great motivation. 
                                                              i.      Not only can parents see into the class so can principles/board members/ news/ext
c.       Interactive experiences
d.      Creative works (personal and public)
e.       Games, fun, and more (careful lesson creations can be fun)
3.      Straight to work
a.       The ability to control the content level and information provide to the students.
b.      Focus the students to the task / worry free teaching
c.       Simple work can remove the stress and sidetracking of students
4.      Pod casts counteracts commercialism
a.       The effects of media out in the open, teachers can develop programs to teach students to become more conscious consumers
b.      Students can create their own form of media criticism to from new global understanding
c.       Creates critical awareness of news/media/culture/ext
5.      Privacy
a.       Focus on understanding and permission before exposing undeveloped students to the effects of internet exposure.  (be careful of personal identities)
                                                              i.      This leads to lessons on identity and the internet lessons
                                                            ii.      Personal and individual expression lessons
                                                          iii.      Inappropriate / etiquette lessons
                                                          iv.      Plagiarism lessons
                                                            v.      Safe content lessons
                                                          vi.      Copyrights and legal issues – lessons
References: