Group items tagged

This article discusses trends in technology use in higher ed institutions, including a growing role of blended learning and technology-integrated meetings.

This article describes Virginia State Univ Business School new partnership with GoingOn Network to increase engagement at the school. Do you believe they will accomplish their goal?

An interesting article about how to create a great educational game.  

You probably received an email from Drew Faust about edX. Here's an article written after the announcement.

Can we get some of the $60 M to revamp iSites? :-)

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%).

This article suggests lessons that other teachers can learn from jazz teachers in motivating students and talks about the social, constructivist, and personal aspects of jazz that make it a passion for students who may otherwise be uninterested in school. "Students need to be doing something every day to demonstrate their learning."

Interesting NYTimes article - an elementary school organizes regular field trips to provide students with basic experiences that many low-income kids don't get to have (i.e. an auto repair shop so they get a chance to experience sitting in a car) and connects these to academic work.

Great article! It seems like there is a growing movement to bring "play" back into childhood learning.

Chris Dede chimes in -- quoted in this article!

This article explains why twitter is increasing in appeal among teens. Quite interesting. I thought I posted this article awhile ago, but just realized I never shared it with this group! Sorry guys

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.

A look at the commercial kids game space. The article indicates the development of kids games is moving to tablets because of the gesture format, low cost of titles and ability to play short games. Disadvantage with tablets highlighted is the lack co-play features (unlike consoles where it's easy for several people to play simultaneously). Games cited in article: Once Upon a Monster, Where's My Water, Niko, Habbo Hotel.

With bluetooth and WiFi features available, I wonder why there is not much thought about incorporating co-play in mobile games? I think using the gyroscopic features in iPhones and iPads can lead to creative multi-player games.

An article about what we can learn from the Finish education reform - we need to raise the standards for entry into the teaching profession, and future teachers should have intensive professional and academic preparation. Finnish teachers are driven by a sense of intrinsic motivation, not by the hope of a bonus or the fear of being fired. Intrinsic motivation is also what they seek to instill in their students.

Related to our discussion of attention and flow, this article talks about external and internal causes of distraction and what to do about them.

An interesting article on "fun failure" and how failure can be powerful motivator for learning.

This article examines how to best create flow experiences in video games. The author argues for 1) including a variety of gameplay activities, 2) allowing players to play at their own paces, and 3) letting players make choices.

For the data analysts among us... This article mentions the Stanford University online course where every mouse click of 20,000 students is tracked in real time. "If 5,000 people had the same wrong answer, it's obvious a concept is not getting through, and you have a clear path that shows where students went wrong."

This longer gamasutra article talks about Macro Flow and Micro Flow, complete with Csikszentmihalyi's flow diagrams. "Macro flow is the constant rise in difficulty to compete with the player's increasing skill level, maintaining the balance between boredom and anxiety. Macro flow refers to the entire gameplay experience from the beginning of the game until the end, and having a good macro flow will likely result in constant interest and intrinsic motivation on the part of the player throughout the course of the game." "Micro flow is short intense periods of flow that happen frequently, as well as the constant adaptation of the game's challenges to the player's increase in skill level. It is perpetuated by repeated successes in rapid succession, which provides positive emotional and tangible feedback encouraging the player to continue in the micro flow; this is known as a virtuous cycle."

Thanks for posting, Stephanie. I wonder if these instances of "micro flow' interfere with a gamer's chances of experiencing macro flow. I'm imagining instances of micro flow to be like interesting pit stops along a road trip, while macro flow would be equivalent to the exhilaration of cruising down an open road without any interruption. Not sure if that's the right way to think about it though...

Is computational thinking a fundamental skill that should be added to every student's analytical ability?

As I read this article, I thought about how many friends I have that are in non-technical professions, but who have been asked to take on technical tasks as part of their roles (managing databases, building organization websites, etc.) They've all been able to figure out how to do these things, but have found it very challenging to do so on their own and without any prior experience/contextual knowledge. So while I'm not sure that it's an absolute necessity, I do think that an increasingly broad range of vocations expect some level of technological fluency that could be built upon a computational thinking foundation. (There was a nice quote from a librarian in a NY Times article posted by Tom Keffer that illustrates this as well - the librarian says that all librarians rely upon software now, and that it's up to them to become technically empowered if there is something IT-related that their library needs.)

Thoughtful reflection by 8th grade teacher... enjoys experimenting with technology, but stresses the importance of questioning the pedagogical value of integrating tech in classrooms

Hi Leslie, Thanks for sharing. The article not only talks about the effectiveness of social media tools but a range ot technology which I found useful.