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. 

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!

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

Is Google Trying to Rule the World?

Google will be the most powerful company in the world in the very near future.  I have no basis for this opinion other than a few articles I have read and my own experiences with the website, but think about it.   Google is purchasing more companies in an effort to move into every technological avenue possible just so they are part of the next big thing.

Paul Allen, another Blogger, came up with seven reasons why Google will rule the world.  His two main ideas are that Google’s top decision makers are unmatched.  Their owners and developers jump at the chance at investing, purchasing, or creating new ways to get their advertisements out there for everyone to see.  However, the most important reason Allen gave why Google will succeed is the way they run their own company.  They allow their own workers to dedicate 20% of their work week to pet projects on company time.  The owners feel that their own workers ideas and inventions will lead them to greater success.

This is an ingenious idea as most workers only focus on their day to day duties, then come home and freelance their ideas to other companies.  Google feels why compete against their own when they have great minds working for them already.  A truly innovative philosophy that more companies should incorporate into their own business models. 

If you haven’t noticed Google is everywhere and is only growing.  I would not be surprised if one day there is a class taught in high school and college on how to use Google to its fullest extent, because we are just scratvching the surface with its capabilities.  The future is going to be very kind to Google.

All This Technology, What Do We Do With It?

I am a 5th grade teacher in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  This is my second year at the school and we have just gone through a “technology modification” in which the whole school was wired with a local intranet system and each classroom was given three personal computers to use at the teachers leisure.  Not to mention tons of programs and resources that most technology literate teachers would jump at, however, barely any of it is being used.

I was lucky enough to come from a school where we had this “tech mod” situation occur and be familiar with a lot of the programs already, however most of my colleagues are not and have never used any of it.  I know some teachers who don’t even turn their computers on every day.  This is crazy!!!  The county I work for has spent millions of dollars investing in the latest technology to be used in the classroom and it is not happening, but I don’t really blame the teachers.  OK, maybe I do a little, but it is like giving a computer science major the keys to NASA.  He or she has so much they don’t know what to do with all of it?

Teachers are asked to do so much in a given day and things have to be prioritized, unfortunately technology seems to fall way down on the list.  There are two major problems I see with the technology we have and how we are asked to deal with it.  The first is time, and the second is knowledge. 

Time, as they say, is of the essence, and a teachers time is very valuable.  Teachers barely have enough time to use the restroom more or less sit down and self-teach themselves a new computer program that they then have to try to find time to fit into their curriculum.  However, unless you are properly trained, time is what you need to give and make technology a priority.  But how?  You should at least try to give thirty minutes a week to include some form of technology into your instruction.  It doesn’t have to be anything sophisticated, just allow the students to turn the computer on and explore.  Let the students do the work for you.  Have them choose a program and write a description about it, as they would a story summary.  What is the purpose of the site?  What are its capabilities? What contents would be best suited?  And so on.  This will get your students interested and give them experience on a computer that they may not receive at home.

The second problem I see with the technology comes from the teacher’s knowledge.  Teachers instruct about and with what they are comfortable and that comes from their own experiences.  The last thing teachers want to do is sound foolish while teaching, therefore they avoid content matter that they are unsure of.  Trainings are given at the school but they are very few and far between and can’t be relied on to make a teacher feel confident about implementing something they just skimmed over in a few short hours, if that.  Again it is now up to the teachers to take the initiative to learn something that they have zero confidence in and no time to do it.

Unfortunately, the only way I see technology becoming more apart of the classroom is by forcing teachers to take technology classes in order to be re-certified to receive their state certificate.  Technology applications are part of everyday life and some jobs now require applicants to have some technological skill.  This training is falling more and more on the teachers to provide and we need to be prepared to give it.  States already require teachers to take so many credits of reading every so many years so they are up on the latest trends in that area.  Why shouldn’t teachers also be mandated to take a basic technology applications course?  Technology literacy is becoming necessary for all students to be successful in society, so again we as teachers need to be literate as well.