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.

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.