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Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) January 24, 2012 SMALLab Learning LLC has launched a new embodied learning environment and multiple lessons for the learning environment called Flow. Flow brings embodied learning to any existing Interactive Whiteboard or projection surface using a single motion-capture camera, similar to the Xbox Kinect™.

game advocates are finally realizing the same criteria apply to games as to other types of learning environments

http://www.thersa.org/events/rsaanimate/animate/rsa-animate-drive This RSA animate featuring Daniel Pink focuses on motivation. Although not Pink's thesis, to me it provides the explanation for why bonus pay to teachers (or students) for student achievement, particularly on tests is wrong-headed and damaging to educators and schools as professional environments in the long run. You can't pay people to care but you can organize school environments in which meaningful learning can be achieved. Teachers generally want to succeed and simply need a well-managed opportunity.

Thanks Uche for sharing this talk. I found Dan's insights interesting especially when he said that management is a technology that cannot lead to engagement. It struck me that it was a delicate balance between managing from the outside and developing self-management from inside.

This is a webinar chat that I sat in on today (A few questions I posed are featured in the Q&A at the end.) With the new SimCity release, they have also partnered with a company called GlassLab that has designed a teacher resource hub and also modified game that enables teachers to easily use the game in classrooms. There will be specific inquiry based challenges that allow students to interact in the game environment to investigate community issues (ranging from water shortages, power outages, labor disputes, earthquakes, budget concerns, etc.) and work with citizens and government to solve the issues. There is also an exciting multiplayer format where neighboring cities are controlled by other students and they must work together to solve problems. Glass Lab is partnering with EA Games, Gates Foundation, and ETS to build the teacher hub where educators can design and share best practices, lesson plans, etc. In addition, they will be doing a long term study to measure educational outcomes. It appears as though they are using this game as a pilot opportunity to build the framework for larger commercial game integration into the classroom.

Article focusing on emerging technology in the realm of facial recognition that may be able to bolster the non-cognitive abilities of adaptive learning environments, by recognizing a student's reaction to content by analyzing body language.

Using open source Virtual World software to intentionally disrupt an education system. A bold vision and I think an opportunity for bold research.

An interesting post on games in education that links to many examples for learning to code and mentions some other online educational environments that use gamification.

Hi Stephanie - This article also seems to highlight the extrinsic rewards of points and badges -- calling it "gamification." And given our last conversation in class, I wonder if all the points and badges will kill the intrinsic desire to play the games. Interestingly, there was a comment with a link to another article http://www.hideandseek.net/2010/10/06/cant-play-wont-play/ where the writer notes that some games just use "pointification," and that the best games are the ones that have rich cognitive, emotional and social aspects, with choice and skill... but not dependent on points/badges. In light of our "motivation" conversations, it will be interesting to watch how gaming in the classroom plays out if they are largely point/badges driven.

The Obama administration is looking at video games to improve citizens' understanding of health, civic engagement and the environment.

Thinking of the peripheral implications of technology in school. Architecture and interior design need to be really smart.

This article discusses play in virtual worlds (focusing on World of Warcraft) with an emphasis both on the learning that takes place and the engagement. You'll have to log in with your Harvard ID to get the article, FYI. "Our observation showed that players are motivated by the game's scope, rules, and scenario to create and participate in virtual communities, and share their knowledge with others, while newcomers are encouraged to engage in collective actions, and develop their skill base. We also found that although current MMORPGs have not been designed as instructional tools, they provide an excellent fantasy environment for intrinsically motivating learning, where players can experience the elements of challenge, curiosity, and control [30]." "People engage in pervasive games that use the best of two worlds, the virtual and the physical, in order to offer to its players the sense of maximum enjoyment."

Research paper on "recreational learning objects" in this case a math-based computer game, which was shown to increase motivation in Mexican high schoolers.

Children who cannot pick up context and facial cues from peers more likely to face social isolation. I wonder if social gaming environments using avatars as virtual selves help or hinder a child's ability to pick up such social cues.

This is an interesting article that speaks to the result of over-engagement. I wonder if this problem is specific to Korea and less so in other countries (if so, what is it about that environment that makes video games so addictive) or if it's only been studied in Korea but could be a similar problem in other parts of the world.

"The new study runs counter to the conventional idea that success in an unfamiliar, changing environment comes from a mixture of innovation and copying others."

Back to the basics: "Studies show that positive feelings can enhance students' attention and higher-order thinking skills, as well as encouraging perseverance."

An interesting talk about how chance favors the connected mind. How do we create such spaces in the classroom, school or perhaps out of formal learning environments?

Interesting look at MOOCs

I like how the author provides honest feedback about how difficult it is for the teacher to deliver courses online. It democratizes education and allows for huge scaling, but it requires Intense preparation, lack of immediate feedback from students, lack of immersive environment for students.