HGSET545

relates to my T545 course this spring

not clear this will lose votes for her, given how many adults are into fantasy gaming. Shows how bizarre the political process has become

""For all intents and purposes, this is an economy that has activity equal to a small country in real life," Guðmundsson says. "There's nothing 'virtual' about this world.""

"Gaming will probably progress to the point where the player's mind will control and communicate with the gaming station. Perhaps transmitters will communicate back and generate gaming experiences in the player's mind without requiring a screen."

Nice article, with a reference to Foldit!

FYI: Rebroadcast of webinar with Carol Dweck for $49.00.

Interesting study on rewards and motivation: Some excerpts - Rewards worked much better if they were given to students before the test, not after. Researchers found students worked significantly harder to keep what they had than they did to win something new. But none of the incentives worked at any age if students knew they wouldn't get the reward for a month. "All motivating power of the incentives vanishes when rewards are handed out with a delay," the researchers concluded. "Especially among children, the difference between right now and tomorrow is a big difference," Ms. Sadoff said. "For all students it's important that the reward be immediate." That impatience creates a massive problem for incentive programs based on state test results, which can often take months to turn around.

Thanks for this Kasthuri! This gives additional strength to the immediacy of digital rewards and students having access to their own "stats" (both potentially available in games and simulations). The thought of actual green-back monetary rewards for study/learning gives me the heebie-jeebies. I appreciated Alexandra M. Usher's comment, that "it's really important to reward inputs, not outputs [and] to reward behavior that kids can control, rather than just telling them to get better grades."

What Khan Academy is... and what it is not. The author reminds us that Khan Academy is a resource, not a teacher.

States use simulations to assess science skills and students seemed to "enjoy playing with the computers and took quickly to the assessment." A costly option, but goals to have all students complete computer-based tasks as part of Common Core assessments by 2014. NOTE: This article just scratches the surface of actual results, but for more commentary about this year's results take a look at: "NAEP Reveals Shallow Grasp of Science" http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/06/19/36naep.h31.html?tkn=VLPFYOoO%2Fh6K0gBMoWRnkBNKB%2B3NDBvfmvWl&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1 It will be important to watch if/how computer simulations help students explain or justify their responses and apply concrete knowledge to real-life scientific scenarios.

"Initiatives seek to give students permanent online records for developing specific skills"

A quick overview of digital badges (including pros/cons re intrinsic/extrinsic motivation) and introduction of "Badge Economy" ["With support from the MacArthur Foundation, Mozilla has developed an Open Badge Infrastructure, or OBI, designed to become the underlying technical scaffolding for badges," where user can collect badges earned in a digital backpack.]

"The program ... pairs up teams of five high school-age girls with female technology entrepreneurs as mentors. In addition, the program brings in guest lecturers throughout the 10-week program to talk with the girls about opening their own businesses in the technology field". I love the idea of grooming high school girls in technology entrepreneurship.

An article about computer games in science education using "active prolonged engagement," as opposed to "planned discovery."

An excellent account of fostering engagement in students.

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.