Archive for March, 2008
Response to MMORPGs in Schools: The Shift Ahead
Last night, Mark Wagner posted part of his dissertation in his blog, Educational Technology and Life. He’s asked for comments from readers and here are excerpts of my responses to MMORPGs in Schools: The Shift Ahead. Wagner writes:
I think it’s a good point that the learning theories that align and will likely rise out of video game experiences run counter in an era of standardized testing. However, I think it also runs counter to currently accepted pedagogies, which are based in part on behaviorism (Skinner’s pecking pigeons) and information-scarce landscapes. In learning environments based on biology (brain-research) and information-abundant information landscapes, video games may likely prevail and become a dominant mode of formal learning.
Author: David Warlick, 2cent Worth Blog, 31st March 2008
Full article available here.
Digital Inclusion at Futurelab Research Day
The Futurelab Research Day was hard work, and all the better for it. The sessions shared experiences of projects, discussion papers and research reviews, and posed difficult questions to an audience more than prepared to offer their perspectives from a wide range of different communities. The day was thought-provoking, and I went away with ideas, not only about the topics addressed, but also about what we might need to do to prepare ourselves adequately for the tasks of planning for the future of education. I was reminded of Ted Wragg’s call for ‘intelligent action’.
Author: Avril Loveless, Flux Blog, 30th March 2008
Full article available here.
links for 2008-03-31 from Wagner
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This is exciting, and very un-Adobe. It’s an online photo editing application with all the bells and whistles of a web 2.0 application. I look forward to really playing with it.(tags: images)
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This article describes “a pilot curriculum built around a commercially available video game.” Students are playing Restaurant Empire in Middle School. I hope to see more and more of this.(tags: edugames)
Author: Mark Wagner, Educational Technology and Life Blog, 31st March 2008
Full article available here.
MMORPGs in Schools: The Shift Ahead
One of my dissertation committee members asked that I address in Chapter 5 the paradigm shift necessary to implement MMORPGs in schools. I’ve chosen to include this in the concluding statement. I’ve just now finished a complete draft of the dissertation and finished composing the concluding statement. I plan to send it off to my committee soon, but I’m also dying to know what some of you might think. I’d appreciate any feedback you can offer on this concluding statement:
Shaffer, Squire, and Gee (2003) wrote that “videogames have the potential to change the landscape of education as we know it” (p. 111). They urged that games be designed with “sound theories of learning and socially conscious educational practices” (p. 111). However, they also noted that the theories of learning embedded in videogames as a medium run counter to the presiding theories of learning in schools. Squire and Gee (2003) explained that games may be viewed as suspect in an era when the value of instruction is measured by standardized tests (p. 30).
Author: Mark Wagner, Educational Technology and Life Blog, 30th March 2008
Full article available here.
Canadian university faces off with digital generation
A Canadian university has instilled a culture of fear by threatening to expel a student for cheating because he set up an online study group on Facebook, critics said this week. Toronto’s Ryerson University threatened to expel first-year computer engineering student Chris Avenir last week, arguing that his study group on the Facebook networking site might encourage cheating.
Ryerson decided to lift the expulsion threat on Tuesday, but Avenir will get zero credits for the course work discussed on the Facebook forum last autumn, and the university has put a disciplinary notice on his record.
Canadian media analyst Jesse Hirsh said Ryerson’s actions send the wrong message to students, most of whom spend a lot of their time on the Internet.
Author: Reuters, cnet news.com, 20th March 2008
Full article available here.
Plaudits and concern over Byron
The Byron Review aims to improve the ratings system
The games industry has welcomed the recommendations of the Byron Review but concerns have been raised that ratings still need to be future proofed.
Dr Tanya Byron has recommended that the role of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) be expanded.
BBFC director David Cooke said the body was well placed to deal with task of rating all games for ages 12 plus.
But leading industry figures have said the self-regulatory system Pegi should have been given more emphasis.
Pegi is a pan-European self-regulatory system used by developers and publishers.
There has also been concern expressed about how the online and offline gaming ratings will mesh.
Dr Byron has said that Pegi should classify online games but many titles now have both an online and offline component.
“Our key concern is that we really want a future proofed system,” said Paul Jackson, director general of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association. “As our industry is going online so rapidly, it’s critical for us that the system works for on the shelf and online.”
Author: Darren Waters, Technology editor, BBC News, 27th March 2008
Full article available here.
How To Spark Remote Learning
“Second Life,” the online world that brings players together from across the globe to socialize, shop and even fly, is developing a second career as a hot spot for learning English as a second language (ESL).
It’s a classic innovation–a novel way to use a tool created for an entirely different purpose, namely to have a good time. That’s still the reason why most players come to “Second Life,” but English-language instructors who spend time with students there say they’re combining fun and learning–and getting excellent results.
Author: Bonnie Ruberg, Forbes Innovations, 19th March 2008
Full article available here.
Technology Immersion Turns Around Texas Middle School
Take a Title I urban school with fewer than 50 computers for some 850 students and a staff that wasn’t strong in technology. Add an ambitious plan to roll out a new technology program that gave a laptop to every teacher and student. Sound like a recipe for problems? Actually, it wasn’t.
The school, Marvin Baker Middle School, part of the Corpus Christi Independent School District in Texas, faces challenges familiar to many urban schools. The student population is diverse; the mobility rate is rising; and 80 percent of students receive a free lunch. However, Baker also houses the district’s Athena Program for gifted and talented students; about a third of the school’s students are part of that program.
Author: Linda L. Briggs, T.H.E. Journal, 27th March 2008
Full article available here.
11 Suggestions for (Social) Networking Heaven – 10
10) Identity Verification System
I would like to have an icon that says “identity verified” that you could get. They would have high standards of verification, like ssn, drivers license, etc. (Kind of like getting a Verisign ID) and then verify that your page is who you say you are. (Akin to the voluntary system being implemented in Second Life.)
So, if I went to a page of someone, I could see that it had been verified that that person is who they say they are. Then, we could teach people that if they don’t see such a sign, to know that it may or may not be that real person.
Online impersonations are a problem and there needs to be a way to combat it without limited freedom of speech, parody sites, etc. Some people just don’t know to have that instant skepticism and harm has come in some situations.
Author:
[More to come soon.]
Full article available here.
11 Suggestions for (Social) Networking Heaven – 9
9) Name Notification System
When you create your “name” and location, I believe that if another person sets up a profile with the same name and location and other information, that you should be notified. This would help with impersonation and would get people to go ahead and get a myspace or facebook if only to “hold onto” and claim their identity.
Author: Vicki Davis, TechLearning, 7th December 2007
[More to come soon.]
Full article available here.
Gaming & Learning 