Gaming: The New Silver Bullet

Have we lost relevancy in instruction? If students don’t know why the content matters, why should they care?

Although traditional practices do not associate teaching with gaming, new developments and strategies of video games are proving otherwise.

I finally got around to reading the feature story of Educational Horizon’s April/May 2013 issue: “Games for Learning”.

The article explained the significance of learning through experiences offered in video games. It makes sense: Listening to facts and information in the classroom for hours on end is not only boring, but also does not prove to have purpose. Students will become more invested in our instruction if they know the why and how.

Why?

Any teacher who has gone through the credential program has completed numerous unit and lesson plans. During my program, my professors drilled into my head to explain to them through my lesson why they should care. It’s a good question, why am I taking up your time right now reading this blog posting? Why would I need to explain the difference between writing a research paper from a journal entry? Games are centered around completing a purpose and students understand what their mission is to complete the game. Not only should teachers take advantage of the use of video games for teaching, but teachers should also adapt this feature of video games into their classroom instruction by making it clear to students what their purpose is within the lesson.

How?

Experience. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts about the value of work experience, you can’t exemplify your skill or knowledge without proving it through application. Our students need to apply the information we are giving them into practice. This means getting students out of their chairs and letting them experience the purpose of the lesson. Gaming gives students the experience of trial and error, which challenges the student to use their knowledge to make decisions and creatively fulfill their mission. Students also learn patterns through gaming and retaining facts when they have experience using the information.

In the video above, Robert Torres explains the advantages and features of educational games that can be used within the classroom. It is amazing how many of our students are using games and dropping out of school within urban areas. I appreciated his research that revealed integrating games into the classroom can actually save students from dropping out, in addition to demonstrating students’ knowledge through an enjoyable application assignment.

Despite our students’ repetitive yawning and eye rolling, they want to succeed and learn. If they are able to pass a level of Angry Birds, they’re going to keep playing that game to beat their friends. With video games, students will have to a reason to play, which will challenge them to apply and perfect their knowledge and understanding.

 

Tweet with Purpose

When I found out that my classroom would be requiring frequent “tweets” I thought that it would be the simplest assignment. Little did I know that tweeting requires endurance and purpose. At first, every time I brought up my Twitter page I was intimidated by the people I was following.  The glorified ed tech masters of Twitter were  using hashtags and news articles I couldn’t think of on my feet. It wasn’t just that they were coming up with great material, but they were tweeting great material all day. All I could think of was, “How am I going to compete? How am I going to manage? How am I going to be relevant?” It took a while until I finally realized that my fear and intimidation were the only things that would get in my way. The great thing about Twitter is that you can type any quick 140 characters that came to mind that you wanted to share. The key is having a purpose and tweeting according to your purpose. My purpose in tweeting about education was making myself and others aware of the changes that affect the success of our students. I believe that it is also key to maintain your Twitter site with constant effort or else eventually you will slip out of the game.

The most valuable aspect I gained from this experience was creating a Twitter and Facebook account for my office. Our classroom was always discussing the importance of staying ahead and I knew that social media needed to be included in our office. I tweet almost daily on information that is relevant for our students to know about financial aid and how to borrow responsibly.

Now as a Twitter user of three accounts, you can see the way I execute all three different purposes:

Personal Life: https://twitter.com/arootlesstree

Education: https://twitter.com/_Stilyagi_

Financial Aid: https://twitter.com/APUGraduateSFS

{Original post date April 5, 2013}

Experience vs Education

Like many mornings, I listened to a podcast called Quit! (produced by 5×5) that talks about how and when to quit your “corporate stooge” job. The host, Dan Benjamin, talks about issues relevant to tech workplaces but also throws in other topics related to employees from any line of work. Today he mentioned the value of education without any work experience. As a prospective educator who is passionate about the impact of a good education, I am also a firm believer that educated people need work experience to succeed. So many times in my job as an Account Counselor at a university, I see students who struggle to find work after earning their BA & MA. They either borrowed financial aid to supplement the cost of their personal expenses or received financial assistance from Mom and Dad.

Without trying to shine a glow from heaven onto the top of my head, I have worked since the age of 15. Although “Summer Day Camp Counselor” is not something to brag about, I had to learn at a young age that I had a responsibility to do things I didn’t want to do, like take out the trash after lunch and wake-up at 5 am for work while everyone from my high school class was sleeping in because it was summer vacation. Next, I worked part-time through college and full-time through the Summers and I learned more about my skills and the art of discipline. Sure I missed out on some beach days and stressed about scheduling homework and research papers in between, but I wouldn’t take any of it back. I took my work experience into my very first interview out of college and was able to convince the employers that they wouldn’t have to “take a chance” on me because I have proven myself to be a good and consistent worker.

Dan testified to this fact as well that as a young employee he worked and learned the discipline it takes to go into work everyday and do less than desirable work. I believe that employers value education but I believe that your work experience validates your distinctive quality as a worker. Many of the students I speak to that don’t have work experience want the job that they believe they deserve without working their way up. Personally, I believe that if you have taken out the trash, bleached floors or woken up before sunrise for a job then you have exemplified the characteristics of a worker that will do whatever it takes to get the job done well.

As educators, we need to guide our students to success and although our prime goal is to educate them, I believe that we should reveal the success of gaining experience and lead them to opportunities. I know that schools have internship and career counseling resources, but I think that that there is a way for teachers to implement the value of work experience into our lesson plans. For Language Arts, the teacher can assign writing resume and cover letter assignments, as well as practice their interview skills by assigning a persuasion speech. These are just a few of my thoughts from this morning.

 

{Original post date March 27, 2013}

How Does Twitter Fit into the Classroom?

I was asked the other day by one of my co-workers about the class I am currently enrolled in. Although the course name slipped my mind at the time, I was able to explain to her the kind assignments and lectures the class covers. The moment that I said, “Most of our work surrounds using Twitter”, her face scrunched into a confused look. She asked, “What in the word does Twitter have to do with education?”

Before I started EDUC 515, I was clueless too on how to meld the two together. I hardly used my own personal Twitter account and couldn’t understand how or why a busy educator would use it to be more productive. I believe that this article posted on the NEA (National Education Association) website can help bring some light to the confusion on how education and Twitter can benefit the classroom.

One great use of Twitter is networking. As a teacher who spends all day around the same students and teachers, your ideas and drive can seem limited without  like-minded educators with the desire to be inspired. Twitter opens up a community for teachers to collaborate, influence and connect with one another to improve their curriculum and instruction for students. With technology constantly updating, it is useful to have a consistent ticker informing teachers of the newest and latest in education. Teachers who may be the “go to” person for tech or gadgets may find their “go to” person by connecting with another teacher on Twitter that may live across the country.

Twitter also offers another communication method between the student and teacher. With so many younger Twitter account holders out there, teachers could use Twitter to bring up questions or ideas for students to consider outside of the classroom. Students may prefer Twitter as a communication method as it is a space they visit probably more frequently then their own email account.

Finally, the NEA article brought to mind the most important attribute you must bring into any education area: FUN.

“Twitter won’t change your life, but it might make your job more fun and a little easier”

Why Do So Many Students Fail to Graduate?

 

I listened to an interesting podcast by To The Point aired on KCRW. The topic “Why Do So Many Students Fail to Graduate?” is related to two issues that I am greatly invested in: financial aid and higher education. I highley recommend listening to this episode to hear the different ideas as to why college students don’t graduate and what universities and students can do to resolve this issue.

Here are three highlights that offered great insight:

• Balance: Students will succeed in decreasing their debt and increasing their academic standing by balancing how they pay for school. Students who receive little to no federal or state aid will most likely have to borrow a student loan, but that doesn’t mean that they should borrow the maximum available amount. Working a part-time job to supplement the cost for academic expenses will decrease the student’s borrowed loan debt. However, the student needs to balance their hours spent working with the amount of the time they should be spending in class or working on assignments. To graduate with lower debt and satisfactory grades, the student should contribute their working income towards academic expenses, borrow to a reasonable amount and achieve satisfactory grades.
• Rush to the Finish Line: Universities and students waste government funding by trying to graduate students as quick as possible. In my opinion, tuition cost is great factor to this problem. The rising cost of tuition rushes students to get in and out as quick as possible, which leads to receiving poor grades and not getting your monies worth.
• Obsession: Universities have an obsession with completion rate rather than quality. It is time for universities to begin focusing on the quality of their academics instead of attempting to raise their completion rate, which is experiencing a decline.

What are your opinions? Do you agree or disagree?

{Original post date March 12, 2013}

Cool = Coding

Not only did this video make the point that offering coding classes in schools would offer a brighter future for students, but it also made the coding profession seem cool. The description of this generation’s “popular” student may include being able to build their own website and create a strong Twitter following. What may have seemed nerdy 10 years ago is now becoming something that establishes popularity and desired job opportunities. In the video, you see the workplace and services that talented tech experts receive at companies such as, Facebook. Imagine being able to say you work at Facebook and create the content that millions of people use everyday. Clips from the video show employees sitting in modern work spaces and being accommodated with food and other services. If we want to create more opportunities for our students and expand their knowledge on advancing technology then our schools must offer coding and other tech based classes.

{Original post date March 12, 2013}

Educational Technology in 2013

ISTE Connects tweeted a link to an Innovation Excellence blog post on “15 Education Technologies to Check Out in 2013”

15 Education Technologies To Check Out in 2013

It was exciting to read some of the upcoming classroom technology coming in 2013. While some ideas seemed relevant and obvious, such as Study Blue, I felt that one idea seemed to be enabling students to learn on their terms. Celly is a text-messaging network that be created anywhere for whatever purposes. Teachers have used Celly for classroom purposes so that student can share their ideas in a communicating method they prefer. One comment that made me wonder if we’re going too far with the use of technology was that an observation taken by teachers was that students who don’t usually speak-up were messaging their responses using Celly. Although I acknowledge the benefits of a student finding their voice in any method, I wonder if students may supplement classroom participation with only online conversations; this may lead to students disregarding their time spent in the classroom. I don’t want to be a negative Nancy, but I do ask myself “When are we enabling and when are we helping the student to learn?”

{Original post date March 11, 2013}

WebQuest Progress

I’m working on my QuestGarden page, in which I challenge students to make their voices heard by using technology and the internet to influence their community. I decided on this assignment because technology is making it easier for all of us to share our opinions and discuss important issues. Within blogs, chat rooms, and social media, people can come together to share their ideas and collaborate on how to bring them to the attention of others. Our youth should understand that their opinons matter and should build on their passion to make a difference. This project should build students into becoming influential individuals using the internet and technology to bring forth their cause.

My progress so far has been marginal. I experienced frustration, but celebrated in my success. I was so frustrated with the design functions of Quest Garden and I nearly pulled out my hair. I had so much trouble trying to change the color of the original font and background of the blog. I also experienced trouble with uploading photos. The pictures kept being saved as the same file name and would show up on every page. Luckily, I was able to play around on the site a little more and figured out how to brighten my page with colors and various photos on each page. I was very proud to embed a video and implement a hyperlink, which was must easier than expected.

I still want to spice up my page so that teachers and students will feel invited. I also would like to research further and add additional references for my References page.

I imagine that Quest Garden becomes easier to use after multiple attempts, but I wish that it was more “new user” friendly and consisted of a more modern look.

Digital Natives

As a Graduate Student Account Counselor, we request students to complete 85%-100% of their financial aid application items online and on the computer. Our graduate students vary in ages from early twenties to late seventies and are challenged by the financial aid process in different ways. This article was perfect for me in my job right now to understand why some students struggled in one area but would succeed in another.

With our Digital Immigrant students, we often receive the “Did you receive my email?” phone call,  like Marc Prensky mentioned in his article. Digital Immigrant students often find difficulty in navigating on websites and moving from site to site. However, they do very well in reading the detailed letters that explain the process and terms of the loan.

My Digital Native students are able to work independently in completing their requested items and usually can navigate through out the websites to complete the items we have requested. However, their weakness lies in not reading the IMPORTANT information regarding the loan policies and terms. We mail letters and emails detailing the ins and outs of loans, but I still get multiple calls and emails asking a question clearly explained in writing.

The article pointed out many strong and blunt arguments for the Digital Immigrant teacher, which was to put aside stubborn and traditional ways because the Digital Native students were not turning back. We have to remember in the classroom that our purpose as teachers is not to present what we think the best form of teaching is, but to present teaching that is best for our students. It’s similar to our credential course about teaching in multicultural classrooms and how you have to adapt your lessons on the cultures of your students. We can’t change a cultural that is growing rapidly and we have to adjust to the needs of the Digital Native generation.

I did disagree with the authors’ light concern for the decreased amount of books and textbooks being read by the Digital Natives. I’m even guilty in this area and can barely make it through reading the assigned 40 pages in previous courses. When my students call asking a question that was explained in the letter we just mailed to them, I blame it on the fact that nobody reads anymore. People would rather just receive the information they want instantly instead of sitting down to read the two paged letter. I think the articles needed to dig deeper into how to improve this area as I predict it becoming a very large problem in the future.

Copyright

First shock is my embarrassing low score of 52% on the quiz. I learned from taking the quiz that the rules on copyright issues are not simple. Many of the regulations include “unless”; for example, recorded videos cannot stay on the shelves for an extended amount of time, UNLESS the video is made by an educational distributor. It was a bit confusing when taking the quiz of whether I should be conservative or liberal when deciphering what is right and wrong in educational copyright regulation because the strict guidelines come with lenient ways to get around the regulations.

I was surprised by the answer in Hall Davidson’s response from “The Educators’ Lean and Mean No FAT Guide to Fair Use”, which explained further into the reasoning of educational copyright regulations: “It doesn’t matter whether or not what you did involved money. What matters more is whether or not it had to do with instruction“… I don’t buy that entirely. I wish he could have used an example or something to back this reasoning. To be honest I think it is about money and giving credit where credit is due. If Davidson or another individual could provide an example to help me to understand this point of view then I would be more than willing to believe this reasoning. At this point, it seems that copyright regulations are placed for money and credit purposes, which is why I may not be comprehending the guidelines of educational copyright fully.