Group items tagged

Games: Six engagement elements, examples and applications. Community, Competition, Completion, Creativity, Puzzle-solving, Narrative EDTEC700: What elements make sense for YOUR 3-D learning design? Any of them? Something other?

3d learning environment and activity principles for engaged and effective learning in a virtual 3d environment

Let-Us-Learn is an international project that aims to investigate the potential of a 3D virtual learning environment (3DVLE) designed to engage learners in collaborative, creative problem solving activities in which numeracy, literacy, life skills and creative activities are embedded in a motivating game-like environment.   Australia/South Africa

This is a fun, interactive site which teaches students about the play Oedipus Rex and about conventions of ancient Greek theater, culture and politics. It uses a game show format and contemporary tone to get students engaged. The drawback is that it is text dense. Students simply click on what they think is the right answer. The right answer takes them to the next part of the narrative. The wrong answer takes them to a long paragraph of explanation. There are hot links within the text, though, which open other cool sites with pictures, maps, etc. This is a very specific site intended to enhance a person's study of Oedipus Rex.

This is a comprehensive site with thousands of online resources to use to develop critical thinking in any discipline. The argument mapping tutorials, for example, use various articles to demonstrate the annotation, questioning, and thought process one should use to evaluate the logic of an argument. One of the first tutorials uses an article which claims the moon landing was a hoax, which is a very engaging topic. Many of the other topics are also very timely and engaging. The only drawback is that most of the activities are more traditional activities which rely mostly on reading and writing (sometimes on discussing with others) and which don't incorporate much hands-on activity. However, it is still a very rich site of resources and activities for college and high school teachers and students.

An avatar is a graphical representation of one's self, personality or alter-ego while engaging in online communication.  Avatars can range from simple, static 2D graphics to complex, animated 3D forms controlled by the user. First of a great series on avatars. Clear, concise.

Great example of middle school student created projects on Teen Second Life. Note how sixth graders hire 8th graders using Lindens and project manage collaborative problem solving. Doable, highly engaging and tied to core content.

"The Education Arcade explores games that promote learning through authentic and engaging play. TEA's research and development projects focus both on the learning that naturally occurs in popular commercial games, and on the design of games that more vigorously address the educational needs of players." I joined this community and hope to learn a lot!

A great video with awesome flow and experiential rationale in its explanations. Emphasizes the engagement factor related to students' technical skills. Discusses enhancement and role playing. Check out "smoodle" segment... around 4:10. It showcases the value of SL through locations, tools, and more.

This site is helpful because it guides you to sites that have been explored by others to show their effectiveness in collaborating, engagements with learning and activities done on each site in SL. This is from a student's perspective as well I believe so that makes it even more interesting to see what they think.