HGSET545

An article for those of us interested in technology in higher education. According to the article, "The question is, what should leaders of today's colleges and universities know about technology in order to manage the inevitable change that disruptive technology will bring?"

This guide includes world of warcraft in school and other games like The World Peace Game..

Rather interesting (and humorous) blog post on the "rockstar" motivation to create Apps. According to the author, "Back then peoples heroes were the likes of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant or Bob Dylan. Today it's Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, or Reid Hoffman. An entirely different breed." Maybe he's right?

Please feel free to join in this dialogue, which is an attempt to shape national policy.

This article examines k-8 schools vs gr6-8 middle schools. Middle schoolers possibly struggle with the relatedness aspect of motivation when they lack leadership roles for younger students. ". We do, however, find suggestive evidence that the overall climate for student learning is worse in middle schools than in schools that serve students from elementary school through the 8th grade. This suggests a final potential interpretation of our results that is directly related to the choice of grade configuration: students may benefit from being among the oldest students in a school setting that includes very young students, perhaps because they have greater opportunity to take on leadership roles."

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.

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

Kosslyn's definitive text on mental imagery. Shaped my views on the subject. Please "Like" this!

Chronicle of Higher Education Q&A with researchers from Georgia Tech's Center for 21st Century Universities. Highlighted are many of the more recent technologies, as well as their effects on higher education's future.

Good overview of mental imagery as a supplement to Gee.

A new Facebook game aims to motivate low-income high school students to apply to college and provide them with the necessary tools to gain admission.

I came across this great question posted in Quora. One of the responders, Anne Halsall listed structured narratives, diverse hand- drawn animation, more difficult puzzles (less hints), and a single-player experience as hallmarks of 90s adventures games. The highlights of these adventure games are a stark contrast to the conditions, at least according to Gee, that make video games useful learning tools (e.g.,open-ended, immediate feedback, opportunities for socialization). This lead me to wonder, are the trends in contemporary game design driving engagement theory, or is the research driving game design?

Close to home here at the Ed School...sounds like Moneyball for the education set.

Where should ATT place its bets? Is engagement the key to stemming dropouts? Can VI be used to design richly affective environments that promote social efficacy (a spoon full of sugar) while succeeding at skill development and knowledge transfer (the medicine)?

Managing engagement in the classroom;

Is the content intrinsically integrated ? How do they use rewards ? Do share your thoughts if you watch this webinar.

A look at how the iPad--and some specific apps--can help students with learning disabilities stay organized and focused.

The benefits of playing video games (in moderation).

Etherpad is a hosted web service that allows really real-time document collaboration for groups of users. Etherpad is open source; you can host your own Etherpad by downloading the source code or try Etherpad for free on one of the Public Sites.

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.....