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"ames are infiltrating every aspect of daily life - and everyone's now a gamer, in one form or another. Early-on "gamification" involved adding simple game mechanics like points, badges and leaderboards to websites and apps. But that's not what makes games truly compelling. Good games take players on a journey, giving them something to learn, master and share. Gamification 2.0 is about creating game-like digital services that shape real-world behavior and deliver deep value to players, -- using a blend of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. In this talk, we'll do a teardown of the biggest and most influential social gaming services, and distill those lessons into these Seven Core Concepts for Smart Gamification. "

"Coding In The Classroom: 10 Tools Students Can Use To Design Apps & Video Games" gives some of the best sites where students can learn code for design work. This is a must skill for students who have an interest in computer programming and developing games/apps.

iCivics has just released its seventeenth educational game for students. The new game is called We The Jury. We The Jury puts students in the role of a juror for two trials. Looks like a great activity for students. I would also use it and have discussion groups. Those using an LMS with online discussions or Collaborize Classroom, this would be a great online activity for interactive discussions.

Aimed at high school and college students, "Operation ARIES! is an intelligent tutoring system that using principles from the science of learning and serious learning games. " The game covers 21 scientific concepts shared among psychology, sociology, biology, and chemistry. The storyline of Operation ARIES! involves an epic story of love, revenge, uncertainty, spies, aliens, political intrigue, suspense, surprises, and saving the world. The story elements are presented across the game to maintain engagement. Watch the introduction on the homepage to get a feel for it!

New templates for several new game formats. Definitely want to use some of these.

Easy to use online games for review, etc. - Jeopardy, Millionaire, & Speed Match

Interactive game on the 13 colonies and the rise to American Revolution. Meets CA 5th grade standards.

When TED launched its educational website for younger students last week, I think teachers everywhere realised they had to up their game. The 3-10 minute videos are designed to encourage curiosity and show how the world works using compelling animation and the audible explanations of a gifted teacher.  Even if you're not in high school, the videos are sometimes fascinating, sometimes kinda strange, but generally very cool. Here are some of the best videos that are designed to amaze and challenge your brain.

Socrative is a student response system that leverages the use of smartphones, laptops and tablets by having students respond to questions in various quiz and game formats. Almost instantaneously, student responses are populated and can be viewed by the entire class. No matter what format you use, Socrative is a fun and easy way for students to receive immediate feedback and for teachers to collect marks. Here is a nice tutorial:  http://youtu.be/EIn0FUzyDuE Here are some examples created by an English teacher you may want to import and try out:  SOC-256509 - Poetic Devices SOC-256496 - Types of Poems SOC-90777 - Short Story Terms #1 SOC-93415 - Short Story Terms #2 SOC-93503 - Short Story Terms #3

"How is it now that so many adults are reduced to tears when confronted by an unfamiliar technology?" One answer is that, "We have learned to become helpless; most likely by playing the traditional game of 'school'." Our evaluations through PD surveys, conversations, and focus groups indicate that teachers feel they don't use technology because they don't have enough training. Tom Whitby advises educators hesitant to use the modern tools of today, to stop relying on others and take ownership of their learning and suggests this can be done through developing a personal learning network.

Current events are a powerful medium to engage students and their thinking in so many different ways. Here are 50 to get you started!