October 28, 2007

Mini Tech Review-#3

Second Life is a Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE) created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has recently become one of the cutting-edge virtual classrooms for major colleges and universities. Second Life allows educators to host lectures and projects online via islands that have been purchased for educational use. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another.

My review will focus on four criteria established in Chapter 9 of The Design and Use of Simulation Computer Games in Education


Teacher Prep
Teacher training is very important when incorporating any type of technology into a classroom. We have just completed renovations at our high school, which has incorporated hundreds of thousands of dollars into technology capabilities in the classroom. Part of my day is spent trying to guide teachers on how to use the equipment itself and help them create curriculum that uses the new technology. If the teacher does not feel comfortable with using technology, then making it into a workable curriculum will be difficult. When discussing games/simulation/MUVE, getting educators (especially secondary teachers) out of their comfort zone of lecturing would be the largest hurdle to overcome. Many teachers also have the misconception that using any type of technology tool means that they will have to spend too much time learning it themselves. There is an extremely helpful blog that discusses a wide range of topics that are specific to Second Life and its educational value/purpose. I think the best training for teachers would be to "play around" with the MUVE itself.


Class Size
I really do not think the size of a class would be an issue with using Second Life. The size or location does not have an affect on what you are trying to accomplish with this MUVE, that's the benefit of using it. If the class is too large, then it can be broken into smaller groups that have their own agenda or project to complete. Guidance systems are not available, but if you wanted to purchase an island that would allow for a smaller area of focus instead of the entire realm that can be done.


Learner Engagement
In my own personal experience as a teacher, I believe any time you can incorporate the use of technology into your curriculum you have "sparked" students interest. Teenagers, in general, are much better at communicating electronically, instead of face-to-face. I have students who will text message one another instead of walking across the room to have an actual conversation. So, to integrate Second Life or MUVEs like it into the classroom would motivate more of them to participate in class when you compare it to lack of participation in most classrooms today.


Infrastructure
The only equipment you need to use Second Life is a computer and Internet access. There is not software to purchase or licensing issues to deal with. Factors that would have an affect when trying to incorporate any type of game/simulation/MUVE is whether there are enough computers available at your school or in your classroom for students to use and whether they have a computer and the Internet at home if they are required to work on it outside of class.

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October 18, 2007

Mini Tech Review-#2

Our group previewed the Youda Games Simulation Website. The website can be found at here. We looked specifically at Kindergarten and Konnectors. We focused on the essential criteria on pages 109-110 from the book The Design and Use of Simulation Computer Games in Education and wanted to specifically address the questions "How can online simulation games be used at the Elementary grade level?" and "Which games would be appropriate to use in classrooms and which ones are for entertainment purposes."

The Kindergarten simulation is centered around operating your own day-care center. It allows the user to make all of the daily decisions regarding the babies in their care and business activities. This simulation is interactive and allows the user to make choices and adapt to the needs of the babies, employees, building maintenance, etc. It also mimics real-world processes. I think this would be a great educational game in a middle school or high school family and consumer science class, since the focus is a day care center. Many schools have the "babies" that the students have to take care of over a weekend, then the teacher can extract the data from the "babies". This game could be on going and give a better assessment for the long term. I also think it would be appropriate to use in an entrepreneurship class as well, since the general purpose of the game is to run your own business and earn a profit. Two other games from this site that would be appropriate in an entrepreneurship class would be Coffee Tycoon and Snowy Lunch Rush. Both simulations are centered around operating your own business.

The Konnectors game builds a road linking the starting point to the end point. It sounds easy, but the user has obsticles like buildings, animals, and trees. The other key element of the game is that when you begin a new section of the road, it has options such as straight, turn right, turn left etc. When the user makes a change to the road, points are deducted. Planning out your course before you actually start building the road is key. This game I have struggled making an educational connection. It requires activity and provides an environment that contains rules, but I'm not sure what type of class or lesson you could fit this into. A stretch of imagination would take me to justifying its use to help with decision making or planning processes (especially in the engineering field).

While previewing games from the Youda site, I thought one of the major benefits for young children would be hand-eye coordination. Playing these simulations would also help elementary aged children to sit still and focus on one task. Simulation/games that are puzzles would give many students the opportunity to practice spelling or match colors, shapes, even do basic math.

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October 14, 2007

Mini Tech Review-#1

How can we rethink our approach to design and development, that is, how can we create games that will merge with instructional design to create learning environments that are authentic and engaging as well as make our students engage in critical thinking?

The education system in general needs to understand that the criterial for which they determine what is the appropriate approach to school structure and student success needs to change. The time to restructure our educational system is now. Students no longer fit into the same mold of that of their grandparents. When one looks at all of the technological advances that we have witness in the past twenty years and how much that has shifted our economy, one would think that our educational system would have shifted as well. Unfortunately, when we look at schools from fifty years ago to now, we really would not see many core changes. Sure the envirnonment has changed and there is technology in classrooms, but is that technology really being used appropriately or at all?

In development creating learning environments the key element is to get teacher input and teacher "buy-in". Educators have to feel that none of the key elements, or more importantly the state standards, are incorporated and that students are still engaged and learning. Advertising games/simulations in education as being "fun" can be a real turn-off for teachers. There has to be a core set of guidelines that educators would feel comfortable with in the design of simulations/games. Once a simulation/game is created, before it can be implemented teachers have to be trained on how to use the simulation/game and how to incorporate it in to their curriculum. Without properly training teachers will not use the simulation/game.

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