Group items tagged

"Study suggests new video gamers face immediate drop in reading, writing skills at school"

OK read, great pics!

Two ways to read about Wharton professor Jonah Berger's take on how game mechanics can be engineered to promote social currency. Do you agree with Berger's perspective? Here's the link to the academic paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1836457

Some questions-driven tips on dissecting an academic article.

I've been doing a ton of reading on visitor engagement and learning in museums for work, and I think this framework is a nice lens for beginning to think about the how, the what, and the why. It's a little shallow, but a good initial conversation starter. "Most people believe that digital media can benefit their organisations, but when it comes to using these tools, even the biggest, tech savy museums and galleries can struggle to know where to start. The Digital Engagement Framework was developed by Jasper Visser and myself as a simple to use roadmap to help the sector to approach digital media in a more strategic manner."

Hi Maria! Thanks for this posting! It was really interesting to read. I totally agree--it's important to give our girls the same praises that we give our boys in the classroom so that they both feel empowered and capable. This is also an interesting site to check out--- http://www.forbes.com/sites/deniserestauri/2013/05/01/why-the-ripple-effect-for-change-starts-with-educating-girls/

What happens when everything can be made engaging, instantly?

I read the UMass study that it references (average time to wait for a page to load is ~2 sec) when it came out and initially found it surprising, but after paying closer attention to my internet habits, I realized that I, too, am quite impatient!!

I do feel media can be viewed as a reward because of the high levels of enjoyment and engagement when one consumes media. That is why it is so 'gratifying' and we end up constantly yearning for it unless we train ourselves to observe our media consumption patterns. It is important to monitor these patterns.

This is a great clip summarizing the main points of Dan Pink's 'Drive'. It challenges some myths we have about what motivates us and provides some interesting experiments to back up the conclusions.

fabulous, video. Matthew. Touches directly on course topics and readings

This article explores the educational game Minecraft and provides ideas for lessons and projects.  The interdisciplinary game has the potential to enhance math skills, social studies/history learning, and reading comprehension.  

This article is fairly old, but I thought its topic resonated with our discussion in class last Monday--particularly the pink box of pink Legos.

Those "friendship adventure" games for girls don't sound like much fun - and I wonder if there's any replay value? I read through the game flow and it seems like something the kid finishes in an hour and doesn't touch again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockett's_New_School However, it looks like the game (and sequels) were actually quite popular. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,63511,00.html

Teacher David Suarez has developed a three-tiered approach to teaching math in which student choose how much of a challenge they want in class. Especially interesting because it's one of the first time I've seen a classroom teacher discussing how they support and manage a differentiated classroom.

I came upon this resource last December and I agree that this is a well documented effort for how to differentiate and create commitment. I have encouraged as many teachers as possible to try it out since I don't have a class right now to practice with it. It has so many elements from our readings and the video of his classes is an excellent way to help teachers understand what differentiation looks like in practice. Thanks for sharing.

One Laptop per Child- results are still unconvincing.

Hey Guys, this is an Atlantic article a friend sent me awhile ago and I thought some of you might think it's interesting. It's about Jonathan Blow a video game designer with a unique taste. He's in the process of creating The Witness a game that is more artistic, contemplative, and zen-like than FPS type games. This is a long article and to be honest I didn't read all of it, but if you're interested there's a video half way down that gives you an idea of what The Witness will look like. He says users will really have to observe, pay attention and think in order to play the game. Seems interesting to me!

Really cool!

I agree! It really makes me want to play Braid and keep an eye out for The Witness (which rings a bell--I wonder where else I heard about it...). This article paints a vivid picture of the game designer and the type of art he makes. Thanks for sharing!

Game on!

Definition of "digital games" probably too broad... but three video case studies of teachers using "games" referenced in article worth watching: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA3C69D48D4FFE87E

Agreed about the definition. However, "Almost all the teachers surveyed who said they used games reported that they used ones specifically designed for education, and the games most often corresponded with literacy and reading (50%) and math (35%).", which is encouraging. Kurt Squire is correct in that the data may include a good number of 'trivial games', but that is probably to be expected since the biggest barriers seems to be cost (50% respondents) and technology (46%).

My thoughts on reading on this article was that if we designed interesting educational games that required physical movement (using Kinect, Move, VR etc), we can tackle engagement and exercise in one stroke.

Kony 2012 is an online campaign created by "invisible children" to call for a stop to the atrocities by the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. That so many children were engaged in this activity, wherein they used technology to create and spread a socially good message is worth reading about.....

The book is available for a free download. The author is the post of the article below. I have not read the book.

An article from the popular press that I think is worth reading. It mentions the increasing importance of virtual worlds and simulations, a topic we will be covering next week !

Everything in moderation, but this article helps people see how well-developed, age-appropriate video games are a positive.