Game-Based Learning to Teach and Assess 21st Century Skills. Game-Based Learning, and particularly serious games that teach content, are fast becoming utilized in the classroom.
Frequent success stories are appearing, from Minecraft in the elementary classroom to games that teach civics. There is curriculum that pairs World of Warcraft with language arts standards, and many other variations where the gaming focus is on content. What about 21st-century skills? Yes, games can be used to teach and assess 21st-century skills! As the conversation in education reform moves forward, and educators are increasingly leveraging 21st-century skills, we need to consider how to couple games with reform. Collaboration MMOs are hugely popular. Communication All of the games above, which require collaboration, also require communication.
Critical Thinking/Problem-Solving We must find time for students to play these games in and out of the class to teach content and 21st-century skills. Game-Based Learning: How to Delight and Instruct in the 21st Century. © 2004 Joel Foreman, James Paul Gee, J.
C. Herz, Randy Hinrichs, Marc Prensky, and Ben Sawyer. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 50–66. Joel Foreman Joel Foreman is an Associate Professor in the English Department at George Mason University. Not long after he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, Mike Van Lent used his interest in videogames and artificial intelligence to land a research professorship at the University of Southern California (USC). 5 Top Game Based Learning Links: GBL Digest 2. On Education, Badges and Scouting. There is a growing amount of discussion about the use of “badges” in education.
I’ve been following a few strands of discussion on the topic and this morning something clicked for me and I began tweeting a little about the stream of thought I had on the subject. Some people on Twitter thought it might merit a blog post, so what follows is my thoughts and ideas for the use of badges. Photo by rocket ship - I am a second-generation Eagle Scout (yes, my dad is an Eagle Scout, too). If you are wholly unfamiliar with how Boy Scouts works, let’s just say that statistically only one out of every hundred scouts ever becomes an Eagle Scout. There are many people who are starting to pick up on the idea of badges for education, and there are many perspectives grounded in their experiences. The Boy Scout model for badges worked as part of a larger strategic design for a whole person with a certain stance at the end of their experience. On Education, Badges and Scouting.
3 Reasons NOT to Gamify Education. Gamifying education is all the rage right now.
Applying game mechanics skillfully is almost a fail-proof way to engage students and incentivize learning. Students sit quietly in their spots for the Super Student Badge; they line up when the bell rings to get 5 points; they see their Star Bank growing with each answer they get correct in an online educational app. We even hosted a whole session on gamification at our SF Edutech Meetup as members clamored to discuss the promising yet entirely intriguing topic. I’ve been a student and a teacher, and there’s no doubt in my mind that infusing school with competitive gaming antics can boost test scores and set the tone for perfect classroom management, but in some ways, I agree with Professor and Video Game enthusiast, Ian Bogost, that “gamification is B.S.” and here’s why… 3 Things to Consider.
Adding Social To Learning Games. Should Classrooms Be More Like Video Games? The following post is by Terry Heick of TeachThought.com . Be sure to check out his previous post ‘ The Gamification and Socialization of Learning “ So recently this idea of “gamification[1]” has been jumping around in my head. There’s something simultaneously immature and brilliant about it, but I haven’t been sure exactly what. The Role of Video Games First, the easy part. As with all media forms, video games have long lived in isolation. Like a great book, if it was really cool, one might talk to others about the experience, but the game—and the gamer’s performance–was in a quiet bubble.
Interdependent Video Games Then progressive video game developers–Hideo Kojima, for one–got really fancy and started having games communicate with one another. Gamification In The Classroom: How (And Why) One Teacher Did It. New Web App Gamifies Your Classroom With Text Messages. When you hear the term ‘texting’ you probably cringe a bit. Or you think about texting while driving. Or maybe even how students will sneak texting in below their desks while a teacher isn’t looking.
That’s not the case for 8th graders at Roosevelt Middle School in Bridgeport CT. They actually encourage texting. They’re using a new web app called StudentPositive that lets teachers use smartphones, tablets, and computers to notifiy students about when they’re doing a great job or not. Each positive behavior earns the students points, but they can also lose points for inappropriate behavior like talking out of turn or neglecting their school work.