To say I love gaming would be an understatement. I can never get enough of it and I always feel when I talk about it or present information about gaming to a class, I never quite say enough. The teacher in me always searches for ways to connect my love for games to anything in the curriculum and therefore when I approach a game, even when it’s for fun or relaxation, my mind attacks it as an educator. Quests become strategic ways of getting students to think about a goal. Game controllers are really ways students can improve visual and motor skills. Leveling characters or environments become ways for students to experience success, develop persistence and understand ‘ownership’.
When I see statistics in battlegrounds, I see math. When I see simulations, I think PBL. When I experience MMORPG, I think of Social Constructivism and scaffolding. Good games take the best educational pedagogy and weave them into environments where kids become active participants in their own learning. When I think back to Monopoly and Stratego and the archaic board games I played as a child, I think about the things I learned. And I learned so much more in those situations than I did in the classroom.
I’d like to think that as educators in the 21st century, we can enhance the learning environments of our students by tapping into their worlds. Not all games are classroom worthy but some are screaming for attention by the educational community. Monopoly gave me a better understanding of basic economics than any book or teacher ever did. Games provide the missing link of providing a meaningful learning environment that all teachers struggle with because of state standards relating to testing and the absence of enough time in the day.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Pet peeves
This week’s posting focuses on my question about proper use of the computer lab. As we discussed and defined pedagogy in last week’s class, I am always haunted by the image of the computer lab teacher using modules like Reader Rabbit or Learning First as the keystone of their curriculums.
Computer labs should be used as an extension or a tool of the classroom and not a drop off point for mindless activities with no connection to the whole school curriculum. I cringe at the thought when I hear computer teachers say they simply put primary students on Reader Rabbit or ‘teach’ powerpoint without a connection to the classroom or information literacy.
Labs cannot exist in a vacuum and only computer teachers can stop that from happening. It involves stepping out of the lab and connecting with the rest of the faculty, knowing what they can do, want to do and encouraging their collaborative spirits. This process does not happen overnight but with time, structure and planning, a good technology curriculum can be developed throughout the school.
How does this connect with pedagogy? I’m a firm believer in Social Constructivism and placing a child in front of a module without some guidance is neglectful to say the least. We as technology leaders have to take an active role in our students’ engaged learning, guiding them through exploration and discovery. We cannot be a drop off point. It’s just unaccetptable.
Computer labs should be used as an extension or a tool of the classroom and not a drop off point for mindless activities with no connection to the whole school curriculum. I cringe at the thought when I hear computer teachers say they simply put primary students on Reader Rabbit or ‘teach’ powerpoint without a connection to the classroom or information literacy.
Labs cannot exist in a vacuum and only computer teachers can stop that from happening. It involves stepping out of the lab and connecting with the rest of the faculty, knowing what they can do, want to do and encouraging their collaborative spirits. This process does not happen overnight but with time, structure and planning, a good technology curriculum can be developed throughout the school.
How does this connect with pedagogy? I’m a firm believer in Social Constructivism and placing a child in front of a module without some guidance is neglectful to say the least. We as technology leaders have to take an active role in our students’ engaged learning, guiding them through exploration and discovery. We cannot be a drop off point. It’s just unaccetptable.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Meaningful Learning
My reflection this week pertains to our discussion on “meaningful learning” last week. As we analyzed and tried to define what ‘meaningful learning’ is, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of us actually practice it. How many teachers actually create environments that contain all the prerequisites we listed that defined meaningful learning?
I can count on one hand with fingers left over, how many teachers actually created that environment for me in my long academic career. Yet those two wonderful teachers made such a difference in my life that 30 years later, I remember and reflect. The hallmarks of meaningful learning create such a profound influence on the student that to provide anything less in the classroom is negligent. Think about the incredible effect we as educators could have on a generation of learners by creating meaningful learning environments. If I just had two, what would the achievement implications indicate if a student had 20 or 30 throughout their lifetimes?
Let’s not fall back on excuses either. I hear teachers complain about their students constantly. ‘This generation is lazy, disrespectful and apathetic…’ These comments were made about my generation and probably about the last one as well. Adolescents are adolescents and it’s our job as adults and educators to fine tune our way into their culture, plug into their interests and synthesize our creative energies into a modern curriculum. Ipods and video games are not the problems, just like rock n’roll and roller skating parties weren’t the problems plaguing my generation. Mark Twain had relevance and profound wisdom in a high school Lit class in 1983 because of a teacher who created a meaningful learning environment to a group of ‘lazy, disrespectful and apathetic’ teenage girls by tapping into what was important to us.
Whether we teach in a self-contained classroom, or a departmental specialty subject, the use of technology is a way to connect and make this generations’ learning meaningful and unforgettable.
I can count on one hand with fingers left over, how many teachers actually created that environment for me in my long academic career. Yet those two wonderful teachers made such a difference in my life that 30 years later, I remember and reflect. The hallmarks of meaningful learning create such a profound influence on the student that to provide anything less in the classroom is negligent. Think about the incredible effect we as educators could have on a generation of learners by creating meaningful learning environments. If I just had two, what would the achievement implications indicate if a student had 20 or 30 throughout their lifetimes?
Let’s not fall back on excuses either. I hear teachers complain about their students constantly. ‘This generation is lazy, disrespectful and apathetic…’ These comments were made about my generation and probably about the last one as well. Adolescents are adolescents and it’s our job as adults and educators to fine tune our way into their culture, plug into their interests and synthesize our creative energies into a modern curriculum. Ipods and video games are not the problems, just like rock n’roll and roller skating parties weren’t the problems plaguing my generation. Mark Twain had relevance and profound wisdom in a high school Lit class in 1983 because of a teacher who created a meaningful learning environment to a group of ‘lazy, disrespectful and apathetic’ teenage girls by tapping into what was important to us.
Whether we teach in a self-contained classroom, or a departmental specialty subject, the use of technology is a way to connect and make this generations’ learning meaningful and unforgettable.
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