Gaming in Education

     When initially considering my thoughts on gaming in education I could not see how playing a Wii or Xbox in class could be beneficial. When I think of "gaming" I envision someone with headphones, a case of Mt. Dew, and Doritos playing for hours on end with fellow gamers online. I see students playing video games in Libraries on a college campus and consider it a waste of space and resources. Libraries are to read and study, not play Pokémon! When Jennifer LaGarde came to guest speak in one of my classes I got a new perspective on how gaming could be successfully implemented into education. She explained how they used a Nintendo Wii to help students understand math lessons such as mean, median, and mode by using a three point basketball shooting game. Students loved it, they got to play a game and directly relate it to education! Such a simple concept yet most people would have never thought to incorporate a gaming system into schools.
     I do not think I would personally use video games in my classroom as a Business and Marketing teacher but I do see how, if employed correctly, games could develop an atmosphere of fun in learning. It also gives students something to recall when thinking of how to apply things such as mean, median, and mode. I think the basketball game is a great example and can see how many other sports games could be incorporated as well. Using a game like Roller Coaster Tycoon could also be used to reinforce business and marketing classes. There continues to be emerging data that suggests that using games in education could be beneficial such as this website. Joel Levin is also using gaming in education by incorporating Minecraft into his 2nd grade classroom. I believe as more and more teachers develop ways to use games in their classrooms this will be a growing and positive trend.

Video Credit: DMLResearchhub via YouTube

Video Credit: iu via YouTube

Digital Assessment

Teachers enter the classroom daily ready to continue guiding, encouraging, and educating students as they grow and learn through the years. Students are given new content and concepts daily but it the teachers job is not just to teach but to assess learning and ensure that students are understanding and retaining the knowledge they are being taught. One way to do this is by using web 2.0 tools to teach and to asses learning. Niace.org says that digital Assessment looks at all the ways that learners, teachers and institutions use digital technology to understand how progress is being made in learning. It is made up of both initial and formative assessment, which informs the learning process, and summative assessment, which describes learners' achievements at the end of a period of study. Methods of assessment vary among content areas and thus one method can not be employed across the board. Project based learning (PBL) gives students a hands on approach to demonstrating their level of understanding and gives students a degree of freedom in developing their work. I like the use of PBL as a student but also feel that students need to be assessed in varying ways to ensure that we are developing students to be well rounded. Requiring students to write, think critically, even doing standard true false or multiple choice assessments all have their place and assess students at different levels. For technology based assessments it seems as if PBL assessments are best. It allows students to use the technology to learn, interact with, and present their project based on what they have learned. Rubric's have become a very helpful resource for students and teachers alike. For teachers it allows them to have a guide in assessing and grading assignments fairly and ensuring each students work is graded according to the same guidelines. It helps students by giving them a document to reference while completing their assignment to ensure they are covering all required aspects of the assignment. Students learn in many different ways and that also means as teachers we should find various ways to assess their learning.

photo credit: edutopia

 

                                                                                          Video Credit: Buck Institute for Education via youtube

 

 

 

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling allows everyday people to put their thoughts or experiences into motion by putting them into a short clip or digital presentation to share with others. It can range from a collaboration of still images presented in a slideshow put to music to a full motion video presentation. A lot of people are doing this everyday but do not realize they are. Youtube has become a way for people to put their stories and experiences out there for the world to see. While digital storytelling is being done to document many aspects of peoples lives we can also use it in education to allow students to experience the lessons and to show what they have learned in a new way. Doing so allows students to become more involved in the lessons and helps teachers to incorporate technology into the class in new ways. Students can map out their ideas ahead of time and review peers ideas before putting their ideas to work. Giving students new ways to experience and display their work allows teachers ways to evaluate student comprehension, lesson effectiveness, and gives students a sense of accomplishment when they have created their digital story for their teacher to see. There are resources available to help with development and places to see examples. Digital storytelling can help in opening and finishing lessons and can also be used within lessons to help increase students comprehension. This blog has links to multiple digital storytelling resources.

photo credit: dkapuler

 

 video credit: kvnblndng via youtube

Video in Education

     Using video in classrooms has been around since VHS tapes. They have been used as supplements to instruction to give students a different perspective of a lesson and to see the material in motion. This can be very useful when teaching a subject that requires in depth descriptions or complex material. Allowing students to visually see how things work and witness them happening can greatly increase their retention of the lessons. Video in the classroom has evolved since the times of VHS and now students are not only watching videos but they are creating and developing videos themselves to present to fellow students and teachers. This new use of videos allows students to reach higher levels of Blooms revised taxonomy.
     I think using already made videos can be a valuable resource and intend on using them in my classroom as long as I can find some that really drive home the point of the lesson or can help to facilitate learning of a lesson effectively. I do not think they are necessary for every lesson but do think for some lessons they can really help students to grasp some material. I would also like to allow students to create their own videos as a cap stone project to show how they bring all the material together into one final culminating point. There are resources available to teachers to help them integrate video production as a project. Below are some examples of ways that videos can be used in todays 21st century classroom.

Video Credit: Kristyna Maree via youtube

Video Credit: Cisco via youtube               

Web 2.0

 

Web 2.0 tools are continuing to gain popularity in todays classrooms. As teachers are introduced to the tools and sites available to them and ways to incorporate them classrooms are coming alive with student activity and contributions. Students are being introduced to new ways of being involved in the classroom and finding new ways to have their voice heard and potential seen in a new light. There are many resources out there for teachers to utilize to make a more interactive classroom.
In my limited use of web 2.0 tools, my favorite so far is linoit. I like that all students can post to it and can do so anonymously. I think this can be especially useful for those students that may be too shy to speak up in class. This tool can also allow a teacher to gauge student comprehension of a lesson and allow them to address any areas where they see a lack of understanding rather than just continuing to move on.

photo credit: gruetisabelle



 

Wikipedia

 

The page that I edited and monitored was the Marine Corps Wikipedia page. The username I used was michaelncsued. After viewing previous posts and edits it was apparent that there are many people dedicated to maintaining the sites integrity and ensuring the information presented is accurate. I like the joint effort of maintain the page. If I made a page I think I would like for others to contribute by adding pertinent information and helping to update it as needed. On the Marine site I only made a minor edit and at the time of writing this no one had changed or reverted it. I was not involved in any talk pages but did read through a few previous ones and they were very respectful and insightful. I think that I will continue to check the page that I updated because it is a useful resource. I don't think I will be checking to see if my changes were deleted or reverted. I do not think I will continue to edit pages in the future. I do not use the site enough and when I do I am usually seeking information and do not know enough about the topic to contribute to the page. I think I would use Wikipedia in my classroom in the future but only if I have viewed the specific page prior to class to ensure that the information is valid. It can also be used to find additional resources by viewing the works cited at the bottom of the page. I will not use the site as a main source of information for the purpose of education.

PLN's and Twitter

 

Personal Learning Networks (PLN) is the collection of people with whom you engage and share information with. These networks can consist of peers within your school as well as people that you interact with on social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook. It is important for teachers to be engaged in PLN's to be able to share and learn of new ideas pertaining to their profession, content area, and new strategies to best engage students and incorporate new activities into their classroom. Some new teachers may be unaware of how to become involved in PLN's outside of their local school. There are many resources such as this site that inform teachers of ways to become involved in PLN's. Twitter has become a very useful tool in staying connected to PLN's across the U.S. and around the globe. Just as twitter is useful to teachers, it can be useful to students both inside and outside the classroom if implemented correctly by teachers. Some of the ways that teachers can use twitter in the class is by creating a twitter chat during class to discuss a lesson or current topic with students tweeting their responses. Students can also tweet links to useful sites as resources for their fellow students to use. Students can also follow important people as they pertain to their class such as a Marketing executive or business CEO for business and marketing education. I personally have not had any teachers that have integrated twitter in my classes but have been introduced to methods and examples of how to implement them in a current class I am taking.

Being introduced to using twitter in education has also led to me taking part in my first twitter chat. I participated in #edtechchat. It was a very fast paced hour with a continuous flow of tweets. I did see a few good resources and thought provoking tweets but the chat was so fast that it was very difficult to keep up with all the tweets and retweets. Overall I think that particular chat was too full and flooded with tweets to be able to take anything worth while away from it as a whole.

As a teacher I do not think I would use twitter in my classroom. There are so many other tools available that are more student friendly and that do not require students to create accounts that can be linked to inappropriate content online. As far as developing PLN's I do see how twitter can be useful and can lead to more ways of connecting to PLN's in your local area as well as across the U.S.

 

Photo Credit: Warrick Mole via picasaweb

 

Video Credit: Skip Via via youtube

 

 

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/11/teacher-tutorial-on-creating-personal.html

 

http://education-teaching-careers.knoji.com/personal-learning-network-pln-for-teachers-start-building-your-pln/