Gaming as an Educational Resource

A friend and classmate of mine, Brian Stottlemyer,  has been recently blogging about gaming in schools and how it can be an effective educational resource.  As we know games in schools have been around for a long time.  The first that I can remember playing is The Oregon Trail, the game that has you blazing a trail to the Wild West.  It was fun, but pretty basic, as the graphics were simple, but again we were talking twenty or more years ago.   

Now gaming in general has exploded into personal systems from companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.   Millions of children to adults own these systems and spend hours a day playing and interacting with them.  Most of them now even have an on-line component where they can link to their internet browser through a cable modem and be connected to their neighbors or complete strangers in another country.  Even the military has jumped on board with the virtual gaming component, as they simulate war tactics and maneuvers through the use of video games.

So why hasn’t gaming become a more important part of education if so many are interested?  Kids complain about school being boring and therefore lack the motivation to learn.  So why not use what interests them to help them learn? 

The first concern schools will have is the money issue.  Schools have barely enough money to fund food for their students, so how are they going to fund gaming systems for classrooms?  I know this sounds simple, but I see Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, as a real proponent of this idea.  He  gives millions of dollars a year to charities so why not direct his efforts toward education by having him donate some of his XBox 360’s to schools. 

Schools would then argue there are no games for specific curriculum needs.   Gaming companies create games based on the market they are targeting and the need of those customers. Why would they not want to target a market, such as a whole state that needs gaming systems and games, you are talking about thousands of systems and games needed.  This would be a financial “no brainer” for theses gaming companies.    Brian references a game called “Cranium Kabookii” which is a trivia question game that is based on the board game “Cranium.”  You could easily adapt a game like this to the grade level of your choosing to fit their needs. 

Unfortunately, I don’t actually see any of this happening because the teachers don’t drive the curriculum.  People who haven’t been in the classroom do and they would never see this as time well spent.  It would take a very innovative proponent of gaming education to make this come to life.  You can never say never, so who knows maybe in ten years we will see our students playing the latest Nintendo system in the classroom.

Thinkport, A Great Resource!

Most of the teachers at my school have never even heard of Thinkport, more or less went on their site and explored.  Thinkport is a great resource for teachers because it is a specific site for teachers that work in Maryland.  All of the content on the site is built around the Maryland Content Standards on the varying levels of students. 

You can find lessons that have been posted and shared by teachers.  There is a portion of the site that is dedicated to technology and the many resources that Maryland offers to its teachers to help integrate technology into the classroom.  There is also a page that is for the family and community.  Finally, there is a page that supports teacher’s professional development. 

I have used the site to find lessons, specifically with math, to help with my teaching.  My favorite part is you can scan the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum and find lesson’s that match those standards.  I have found great science lessons as well that way.  The site also contains on-line videos that can be downloaded and viewed, as well as, on-line field trips.  I found a great one for St. Mary’s City that my teammates and I used last year.

So, if you have the time and interest I fully recommend Thinkport to all Maryland teachers.  You will definitely see a benefit to your teaching.

Wikipedia’s Administrators, What is their role?

I just a read an interesting blog by Andy Carvin, an author and educational technology expert, on “Identifying Best Practices for Student Wikipedia Projects.”  I am not going to sit here and write about what those are, I will let you read about them on his blog, however, what I found interesting is how Wikipedia handles new entries onto its site.

He basically discussed a presentation that was given by Martha Groom, a professor from the University of Washington-Bothell, about how she created a class project in which her students worked in collaborative groups to create a Wikipedia entry.  In the end her students found the assignment very rewarding, however, as I read Mr. Carvin’s blog he stated that “It didn’t take long for some Wikipedians to take issue with the students’ research. One article was deleted within 24 hours, while another four posts were removed after some debate on the website.” 

This bothered me as my graduate class was asked a few weeks ago to do some research about wikis in general, which meant to explore some articles about Wikipedia.  One article, in particular, from the NY Times  focused on how Wikipedia has had to change its policy on open-editing. 

The article describes how there are administrators who are volunteers, who are supposed to be editing content that is incorrect or abusive to the site.  However, the more I have researched the more I am finding that Wikipedia has become a small cult of know-it-alls that seem to jump at the chance to show off their intelligence and put down others for their efforts. 

According to Carvin, “Wikipedians occasionally responded rudely to students, and one debate escalated to the point that it required intervention by site moderators.”  He went on to say that he wasn’t surprised that the administrators responded rudely and that “Wikipedia  is a quirky place, and if you dig into it, you’ll soon find yourself surrounded by its politics, personalities and intellectual turf wars.” 

Now, I understand that there are people that put things on Wikipedia that are profane and inappropriate just for the fun of it, and there does need to be some watchful eyes otherwise the sites intention will be compromised.  But I think there needs to be some protocol for how things are edited and who decides what stays and what goes.  If there is, it seems then their way of handling the situation is also inappropriate and could be adjusted. 

As Professor Groom’s project seemed like a success, from a teacher’s point of view, I would be disgruntled if I were promoting a website in my class and then have the administrators of that site scold my students for what they think is useful information.  Not a very good publicity move from Wikipedia’s perspective in my humble opinion. 

Del.icio.us, The Web’s Most Tasty Word!

Del.icio.us is a great site that I had no idea about until my grad class.  It basically works like your “Favorites” on your web browser, however it does a more and doesn’t confine you into a list, but works for you.  The site is considered a “Social Bookmarking” site that allows friends, family, or even strangers to share websites that interest them.  You can bookmark articles, music, blogs, anything that has a web address on your del.icio.us account.

Tags” are used to label your webpages that you assign to your account.  As you share your tags” with the community they become bold, highlighted, and change in size as more people share the same site.  This shows the user how important a site may be or how often it is visited which may indicate it is a popular site. 

You can use your del.icio.us account to help with research for a project.  You can use it to bookmark your favorite podcasts.  You can turn it into your personalized cookbook if that interests you.  It really has a lot of possibilities depending how much you like to surf the net and find the next best website. 

The best part of del.icio.us is that the site is non-hierarchical as the tags just fall into place as you add them.  You can add as many as you like as you go, or delete them as you need to.  There are no restrictions and the best part us that the site is completely free.  So take some time and explore del.icio.us and see what the tasty talk is all about. 

Think.com, A Better Option?

I was recently reading MisterTeacher’s Blog and he had mentioned he had stopped using Blogs in his classroom because of the inappropriate pop-up ads that were coming on to the students pages.  His solution was a new site created by Oracle called Think.com.

“Think.com connects schools, teachers, and students from around the world to collaborate on projects, share experiences, and build knowledge together,” as stated on their site.  So I decided to explore a little to find out more about this site.  The most important and beneficial thing from the teacher perspective I found is Think is FREE and password protected to avoid outside forces getting into students pages. 

You do have to complete an application which is reviewed by the Oracle Foundation, but it seems it is just a formality to prevent unwanted users.  Your school needs to be accredited, which most public schools are. 

The site allows students to create webpages, speak with other members from around the world, and really get hands-on experience with educational technology.  You can have a free trial, but again you need to complete an application.  I am in that process now and hope to hear by next week so I can start exploring.

I think the most important thing to learn from MisterTeacher and usable technology is to do your research before initializing such a venture into your classroom.  Technology is great but not perfect, and there are some safety issues that need to be researched, discovered, and avoided if possible.  Remember you need to have your students safety in mind at all times when using technology in your classroom.

Photo Story

I learn some thing new every time I show up to my grad class.  We recently just did a short project using Photo Story 3 for Windows.  This application allows you to upload pictures from your hard drive and create a story with them.  You can add narration, text and different slide transitions.  It seems to be a much simpler application than Moviemaker, but I haven’t had much experience with that yet. 

We are currently working with Magnets and Motors as part of our science unit and I have been taking digital photographs of the different experiments my students have been performing.  Now I am thinking about uploading those pictures and letting my students create a demonstration of one of their projects by using Photo Story.  I think this would be something we could do fairly easily, even if I only do it with one or two of the groups, it will be good experience for them.  Plus, I might be able to get my media specialist to post our projects on the schools web page for the parents to see.  Check back to see finished products!

Excel Graphs vs. Graph Club

I work in an elementary school in Montgomery County Public Schools and our PCs come with a program called Graph Club which is created by Tom Snyder Productions through the Scholastic Company.  It is a very easy program that allows you to create bar graphs, circle graphs, line graphs and make them very colorful and kid-friendly.  The program even has a tutorial for the students so they can easily complete a graph step by step. 

I like the program and it gives the students a very good introduction on graphing, but since I teach 5th grade I want my students to be exposed to Excel.  I know this is a preference but I want my students technologically experienced, and to use the Windows package to its fullest.  The Graphing Wizard in MS Excel is also very easy to use and you can have a graph created in four steps. 

Obviously the Graph Club program is much more kid friendly with characters that look like they are right out of “Arthur.”  However it is the experiences and opportunities that I am trying to give to my students that I want.  The more they know about these programs and use them the better off they will be as they move on into higher level education.  As teachers we need to be thinking about our students future goals and opportunities so we need to give them those experiences.

Teacher Tube-ular

Most people that own a computer have ventured onto YouTube at some point and viewed something, whether it be the Rosie vs. Elizabeth showdown, or OJ being arrested….again.  Anyway, YouTube has become pretty popular because it allows people to upload any type of video at anytime.

Well the creators of YouTube also created a site called “Teacher Tube.”  This site has been created for the benefit of teachers.  It has a crazy amount of videos for teachers on different subjects.  Some are postings of students work by teachers and others are demonstrations by teachers on different concepts. 

I have found that by finding another way to explain a concept to my students is extremely beneficial.  They love taking a few minutes to watch a video and most are fairly short.  The site allows teachers to search by content and age appropriateness.   I have only begun to explore what Teacher Tube has to offer but I am looking forward to searching for more that will help in my instruction.

Everything is Podcastic!

Until my current graduate class I had no exposure to podcasts before because I didn’t think they would be beneficial to my teaching.  However, the little time I have worked with them they are extremely effective.  Since my professor demoed a podcast and I viewed some educational podcasts that other teachers had done this medium sparked my interest.

So I have decided to venture into this world and see if my students would be able to handle this type of project.  My students are writing “October Stories,” okay I know its November but these projects take time.  I have basically had my class writing a short story that has a Fall theme, some are scary and some are not.  I didn’t put a parameter on what the story had to be about, but we are focusing on Ideas and Word Choice as part of the 6+1 Traits of Writing.  The story also had to have a problem, a solution, and at least three events. 

Now, I am having the students take their finished stories and create a podcast.  They are getting experience with Audacity, an open source software for recording and editing sounds.  They are learning the true art of storytelling by adding sounds, reading, and showing expression.  They are using the experiences of stories being read to them to now go and put their own spin on how a story should be told.  It has been very interesting to watch them and see the motivation and excitement that has gone into their work.  I hope to blog again in a few weeks and upload some finished products so you can hear for yourself.

Why Are You Waiting to Wiki?

Haven’t you heard there is free wiki space out there for you? Wikispaces.com is giving the first 100K teachers a free wiki space with no strings attached.  Teachers listen to me, that means free!!!  Do you hear the bells and whistles, free.  We teachers live by this word.  We have nothing and usually have less time for anything, so when something is free we must at least make an inquiry.  So I am imploring you to do that with wiki spaces.  Even if you have no interest at this point of using a wiki, SIGN UP NOW!  There are less than 50k spaces left and I know that may sound like a lot, but it is free so why wait, and they won’t be there forever.

OK, so you might be asking why or how you would use a wiki?  A wiki is a place where you can post student work on-line and have others read, edit, or comment on their work.  You can create a private wiki just for your class, where they can only edit, but allow their parents to view their work at home.  Just think no more sending home papers…..Am I tempting you a little more?  Wikis can be used in a variety of ways to motivate your students and isn’t that one of the more difficult things to do as a teacher.  So I am giving you a free motivational resource.  I’ll show you how later. 

So what are you waiting for go now! 

http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers100K