How do i find educational gaming? Oh it was one hell of a good time! But did i learn something out of it? well.. i think, i think i maybe did.
Educational gaming has its trick- that is it 'teaches' you unconsciously, often you only realise when you turn back and reflect about it. Sometimes, it just changes your perception of things without warning. It affects one quietly and in a subtle manner such that it might just go unnoticed.
What a powerful teaching tool it is. Its not all fun to gaming. See, educational gaming is not 'good' or 'bad', its just a powerful tool that is so very useful if tapped on correctly and effectively. It teaches the 'hidden curriculum' that is to be taught in the daily lessons in school, maybe even more effectively.
For example, prosocial games may let students learn more about how to communicate with people appropriately and be more sociable. Other games could allow students to develop quick thinking and problem solving skills so that they may solve any problems which come their weay in real life. These are valuable lessons which could achieve results, even better ones, when the teaching is done via a game. Games are also a way to let the students handle setbacks in life, without the actual cruel scenarios. Losing the game or simply not able to achieve their goals are possible and real setbacks people face in life- losing and falling short.
But i guess what makes educational gaming eventually kind of dangerous is the level of diffculty to link the learning to the gaming, and how to clearly and effectively conduct a gaming session with the students- how to draw the line between learning while gaming and just plain playing for the fun of it. Students may just never realise how they link.
There were many researches about how powerful gaming could be, or facts about the actual outcomes of gaming. Yet indeed it is still rare to see game consoles in the classroom. Either a revolution in education is coming, or we are just too happy with covnentional education methods.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Educational Gaming
We started off with the Demonstrations- that of Hot potatoes, Softchalk and Youtube.
Well, i would say that the usage of such ICT tools are indeed useful especially in getting the attention and interest of our students. Hot potatoes to create useful worksheets online, and softchalk to double as a 'online web page' as well as the portal to create worksheets.( only that we have come to known that softchalk is indeed rather steep in price) However, i really do wonder if we( or should i say I) would eventually be the ones using these applications in school? Maybe i would, maybe i won't. There seem to be much to grasp to use these applications, and that is on top of the workload of an average teacher. Then again, should we not kick start the trend of using the ICT, we might well be out of touch with the students or with other more 'competent' teachers, or be labeled 'antiques'.
Youtube on the other hand, could be another source of ICT which is so commonly used around the globe, by all people from all woks of life and all ages. It is easy to use, and popular among students- what more can we ask for than not needing to teach the students another something they might need to know to facilitate the doing of the assignment. Indeed what i would prefer in an ICT tool- convenient and attractive. Lets take it that the students will use Youtube appropriately though.
Both this week and the last, the class was mainly revolving around educational gaming. It was all fun. But it did struck me, especially today , if we are indeed learning from the gaming, or from the reflection we do every time we think back about the game. For example, i was caught up with the excitement in not letting Dafur get caught by the militants. it was only till after the game, did i realize that this is actually a very real situation which may seem very far from us- That such 'excitement' might well be going on in other parts of the world. Just today we got our turn on the Wii where we 'performed' a surgery. Thrilled at this new gadget and the game itself, i think i tend to lose touch of what i can learn from this- instead, i was focusing on completing the task(game) or clearing the level in order to proceed. Then the reflection/realization sank in while we moved on to the other games.
Could it be that we had learned nothing from the gaming, but we gain a great deal from the reflection which follows?
Does addiction to gaming change the purpose of educational gaming, or is there really an addiction to learning?
Well, i would say that the usage of such ICT tools are indeed useful especially in getting the attention and interest of our students. Hot potatoes to create useful worksheets online, and softchalk to double as a 'online web page' as well as the portal to create worksheets.( only that we have come to known that softchalk is indeed rather steep in price) However, i really do wonder if we( or should i say I) would eventually be the ones using these applications in school? Maybe i would, maybe i won't. There seem to be much to grasp to use these applications, and that is on top of the workload of an average teacher. Then again, should we not kick start the trend of using the ICT, we might well be out of touch with the students or with other more 'competent' teachers, or be labeled 'antiques'.
Youtube on the other hand, could be another source of ICT which is so commonly used around the globe, by all people from all woks of life and all ages. It is easy to use, and popular among students- what more can we ask for than not needing to teach the students another something they might need to know to facilitate the doing of the assignment. Indeed what i would prefer in an ICT tool- convenient and attractive. Lets take it that the students will use Youtube appropriately though.
Both this week and the last, the class was mainly revolving around educational gaming. It was all fun. But it did struck me, especially today , if we are indeed learning from the gaming, or from the reflection we do every time we think back about the game. For example, i was caught up with the excitement in not letting Dafur get caught by the militants. it was only till after the game, did i realize that this is actually a very real situation which may seem very far from us- That such 'excitement' might well be going on in other parts of the world. Just today we got our turn on the Wii where we 'performed' a surgery. Thrilled at this new gadget and the game itself, i think i tend to lose touch of what i can learn from this- instead, i was focusing on completing the task(game) or clearing the level in order to proceed. Then the reflection/realization sank in while we moved on to the other games.
Could it be that we had learned nothing from the gaming, but we gain a great deal from the reflection which follows?
Does addiction to gaming change the purpose of educational gaming, or is there really an addiction to learning?
Monday, February 2, 2009
e-learning
Section 1: Implementation issues and strategies in a face-to-face environment
In a classroom setting, there are a few situations/ issues which can occur. Firstly, students may feel bored from the content of the lesson even though it might be different from normal school times; Hence they would not be motivated to carry out tasks allocated to them.
In this case, the teacher could engage the students more by allowing constant interaction and giving prompts. Provision of appropriate rewards is also a good way to motivate the students.
Secondly, the setting up of the various ICT tools may require time, which will create lag time during the lessons, thus making the lesson no longer tightly knit, but draggy and increases waiting time. This may cause the students to become impatient and it would become difficult to control the class.
A counteract may be that where the teacher set up the appropriate tools beforehand, or acquire the help of an IT professional to cut down on lesson lag time.
In a Computer Laboratory setting, students may face different difficulties in handling ICT in the Lab. Hence, time management on the teacher’s part may be a little tricky as some students may finish their task faster if they are more IT literate, while the other students may lose out in that aspect.
In this case, teachers could minimize the use of ICT on the students’ part( meaning bringing life to the classroom with the use of ICT as a form of visual), or enforce only the simple tools to enable a better and equal platform for all to learn and progress.
In addition, some students may tend to do irrelevant surfing on the net, and that will defeat the purpose of engaging them into the educational activity planned for them.
A possible way out is for the teacher in charge to use the main computer to monitor the various activities of the students. (Eg, the desktop detector/controller where the teacher has access to the screen of the students’ computers.)
Section 2: Implementation issues and strategies in an online environment.
Students at young age ( Primary school ) are often curious, yet clueless of the dangers on the cyber web. Inappropriate content like pornography, articles which encourage violence and illegal activities etc are not filtered. Hence, students may be exposed to such harmful contents and learn from them since they are still unable to judge for themselves what is appropriate, what not. There is thus a high possibility that the students, when exposed to such harmful contents, may get addicted to them unknowingly.
I think that teachers should teach the students how to carry out their own filtering of contents, and how to determine if the resource is inappropriate. They could structure a certain ‘formulae’ for such ‘filtering exercises’. ( Eg: Read, Feel, Think, Action ) Alternatively, teachers could also monitor the students’ use of ICT closely. Parents should also conduct regular checks to ensure that their children are using the ICT for a good purpose.
Netiquette refers to the rules of Internet courtesy. In this case, negative behaviours should be avoided. However, in some cases, students may use crude languages online, or even use the ICT to ‘invade’ the privacy of their classmates, or even defame their classmates based on what they say online. This causes serious inter-relational problems between the students. In some cases, it may even cause the breakdown of relationships and arouse hatred amongst the students.
Teachers should ensure that the students know what they should do and what they should not do. Instructions on the task should be clear, and punishments should be set before the task so that the students may better adhere to netiquette. Students should be taught why and how to responsible users of the internet. ( The appropriate language to be used; how to critique their peers’ work [Poo sandwich] etc.)
Students at young age are also more gullible to the internet threats and may believe in online scams. Thus, they may indulge important information about themselves or their family and friends and put others’ safety in jeopardy. Especially in the case of unknown file sharing and transfers, viruses or other harmful contents may be unknowingly shared.
Under such circumstances, teachers should brief the students properly regarding what the students may meet with online. By giving them a glance into the virtual world and its threats, it is no doubt a good way to warn them and prepare them for any kind of situation they may encounter. Then, teachers should also warn the students about the dangers of divulging their personal information and guide them on what they can give ( Email address) and what they should not ( home address ,passwords, IC numbers ).
In a classroom setting, there are a few situations/ issues which can occur. Firstly, students may feel bored from the content of the lesson even though it might be different from normal school times; Hence they would not be motivated to carry out tasks allocated to them.
In this case, the teacher could engage the students more by allowing constant interaction and giving prompts. Provision of appropriate rewards is also a good way to motivate the students.
Secondly, the setting up of the various ICT tools may require time, which will create lag time during the lessons, thus making the lesson no longer tightly knit, but draggy and increases waiting time. This may cause the students to become impatient and it would become difficult to control the class.
A counteract may be that where the teacher set up the appropriate tools beforehand, or acquire the help of an IT professional to cut down on lesson lag time.
In a Computer Laboratory setting, students may face different difficulties in handling ICT in the Lab. Hence, time management on the teacher’s part may be a little tricky as some students may finish their task faster if they are more IT literate, while the other students may lose out in that aspect.
In this case, teachers could minimize the use of ICT on the students’ part( meaning bringing life to the classroom with the use of ICT as a form of visual), or enforce only the simple tools to enable a better and equal platform for all to learn and progress.
In addition, some students may tend to do irrelevant surfing on the net, and that will defeat the purpose of engaging them into the educational activity planned for them.
A possible way out is for the teacher in charge to use the main computer to monitor the various activities of the students. (Eg, the desktop detector/controller where the teacher has access to the screen of the students’ computers.)
Section 2: Implementation issues and strategies in an online environment.
Students at young age ( Primary school ) are often curious, yet clueless of the dangers on the cyber web. Inappropriate content like pornography, articles which encourage violence and illegal activities etc are not filtered. Hence, students may be exposed to such harmful contents and learn from them since they are still unable to judge for themselves what is appropriate, what not. There is thus a high possibility that the students, when exposed to such harmful contents, may get addicted to them unknowingly.
I think that teachers should teach the students how to carry out their own filtering of contents, and how to determine if the resource is inappropriate. They could structure a certain ‘formulae’ for such ‘filtering exercises’. ( Eg: Read, Feel, Think, Action ) Alternatively, teachers could also monitor the students’ use of ICT closely. Parents should also conduct regular checks to ensure that their children are using the ICT for a good purpose.
Netiquette refers to the rules of Internet courtesy. In this case, negative behaviours should be avoided. However, in some cases, students may use crude languages online, or even use the ICT to ‘invade’ the privacy of their classmates, or even defame their classmates based on what they say online. This causes serious inter-relational problems between the students. In some cases, it may even cause the breakdown of relationships and arouse hatred amongst the students.
Teachers should ensure that the students know what they should do and what they should not do. Instructions on the task should be clear, and punishments should be set before the task so that the students may better adhere to netiquette. Students should be taught why and how to responsible users of the internet. ( The appropriate language to be used; how to critique their peers’ work [Poo sandwich] etc.)
Students at young age are also more gullible to the internet threats and may believe in online scams. Thus, they may indulge important information about themselves or their family and friends and put others’ safety in jeopardy. Especially in the case of unknown file sharing and transfers, viruses or other harmful contents may be unknowingly shared.
Under such circumstances, teachers should brief the students properly regarding what the students may meet with online. By giving them a glance into the virtual world and its threats, it is no doubt a good way to warn them and prepare them for any kind of situation they may encounter. Then, teachers should also warn the students about the dangers of divulging their personal information and guide them on what they can give ( Email address) and what they should not ( home address ,passwords, IC numbers ).
Pedagogical approaches
In lesson 3, we mainly talked about the several pedagogical approaches we may have encountered in our school days. Then we moved on to being introduced the 'professional' names of the approaches. Being part of the student body who crossed over from the 20th to the 21st century, we indeed have many experiences with some of the ICT tools, and the approaches our teachers used on us.
I've realised that all these approaches have a specific goal they want to achieve, and mainly encourages the on-going learning in students. Especially for the project based and problem based learning. I find that these 2 approaches are the most engaging yet intellectual, where the students may think and reflect. On another note, i did not realise that knowledge building was actually a kind of pedagogical approach. Talk about learning new things everyday. Indeed, this is almost an 'invisible" form of learning, which is often not identified as we use it.
These pedagogical approaches will indeed prove to be of very much use to me in future as i return to the classroom, this time as the teacher. Not only will it be helpful in my course to provide information and engage the students in learning, it would also aid in effective teaching...
I've realised that all these approaches have a specific goal they want to achieve, and mainly encourages the on-going learning in students. Especially for the project based and problem based learning. I find that these 2 approaches are the most engaging yet intellectual, where the students may think and reflect. On another note, i did not realise that knowledge building was actually a kind of pedagogical approach. Talk about learning new things everyday. Indeed, this is almost an 'invisible" form of learning, which is often not identified as we use it.
These pedagogical approaches will indeed prove to be of very much use to me in future as i return to the classroom, this time as the teacher. Not only will it be helpful in my course to provide information and engage the students in learning, it would also aid in effective teaching...
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