'Game theory'

An article published in the Guardian today explores 'what we can learn about learning from video games'. Click here to read the article.

Keith Stuart poses the question, are all games about education? On the surface, things like Brain Training and Big Brain Academy on the Nintendo DS sell themselves as educational learning tools. Stuart explains that games such as SimCity are 'quietly didactic experiences', yet he asks whether we are overlooking the educational value of all games. Stuart explains,

"At the GameCity festival in Nottingham, Jonathan Smith, head of production at UK publisher TT Games, spoke about how he sees games as supportive learning environments."

This is all well and good, however i believe it is up to us, as teachers and/or parents to investigate this further. If indeed the claim is true, then fantastic news. I am sure there is nothing an eight year old boy would love more than to come home from school and settle into his homewrok task of playing videogames for 30 minutes. He would probably willingly play for longer. And what a success, children actively wanting to be part of that supportive learning environment. What skills is he really learning though?

"In a report published by the Primary Review [...] children describe what makes a good teacher, saying that one "explains things clearly", "turns teaching into problem-solving rather than just giving information" and "makes sure it's not too big steps". Smith realises that every point applies to good game design as much as good teaching."

So are games a learning environment in which children are simply taught about games? Or are they in fact a valuable educational resource that have been somewhat overlooked up until now? Smith suggests "that all games, like schools, can teach us about our place in the world, but only by providing a supportive framework to creativity and fun." So then, video games will not as such make children better at numeracy or literacy, but he kind of education they do provide is also valuable. There is little time in the Curriculum for teaching children extensively about their place in the world, so perhaps this is a way around that?

I am sceptical. Not about the value video games can have in a child's learning, but about what learning really goes on when they are engaged in something such as Mario Cart.


References

1. 'What we can learn about learning from video games' by Keith Stuart in The Guardian Thursday 13th November 2008

IWB

Click here. Something slightly cheesy, but perhaps a worthwhile read on the benefits of the IWB.

From my own perspective, here is a short list of my initial thoughts on the benefits of IWBs.

For the teacher:

1. Resources are easily accessed -- once a resource has been created on Smartboard software is is easily to access and transport as it is all electronic.
2. Resources are easily adapted -- once a resource has been made it can be kept, tweaked and changed to use again.
3. Resources can be shared easily amongst colleagues -- teachers can share their ideas and presentations and they can be used again and again by whoever you wish to share them with.
4. Smartboard presentations can be easily changed within lessons -- giving you and your class freedom for interpretation and adaptation within your lesson. These adaptations can then be saved for reviewing or re-using.
   

For the pupil:

1. Interactivity - learning is two sided and it is two way -- it gives children an instant result or output to their work.
   
2. Interesting learning -- when the IWB is not overused.
   
3. It brings learning, teachers and the classroom into the 21st century. It is something technological that children can relate to and it brings the teacher who can use the IWB (successfully) to a place where he or she will be considered modern (to an extent, perhaps).
4. Children can put their own work onto the IWB thus giving them an easy way to share things they are proud.
   

This is a short reflection on my first thoughts of the IWB which I will return to...

15/12/2008

An Guardian article, dated 2005 explains the cautions that should be taken with the use if IWBs. I think it is interesting to compare what we now know.

The article describes how IWBs will be used for teaching ICT, as a 'glorified power point'. What I have seen in classrooms tell a different story. In core curriculum subjects alone, IWBs have been used to enhance children's learning. The learning is interactive, it is within their reach -- they can come up to the front of the classroom and touch it. The children are handed back some of the control.

It is quoted that 'integrating ICT into the curriculum should be a full-time responsibility for an expert member of staff.' If, in 2005 this was not the case, it certainly is now. The majority of teachers, I would suggest, are aware of the benefits that ICT can have in creative an effective learning environment, and they are trained to provide this sort of learning. I do think that three years on, a relatively long period of time in technology terms, some teachers are not reaping the benefits.

I cannot name a single classroom where I have not seen the IWB in full use, to the benefit of the learners. The are a great resource to teachers, and I think we have come a long way, as teachers and users of ICT since that 2005 article. It shows, the older generation are becoming integrated in a digital society, slowly, but nevertheless, surely.

To blog or not to blog?

See video about a blog.

'And so to blogging', he says as my fingers curl up with the fear of revealing the inner-most workings of my brain to the world wide web. Fair enough, it is something I plod on with for means of assessment and published reflection, but what does it mean for a class, for my class? How will, or could, this impact them. How can it help?

As I drive to my first meeting with my new class, the school appears behind an imposing, run down block of flats, graffitied, with a number of boarded up windows. It seems as though my class will not have much experience with blogging It may sound stereotypical, but as it turns out, very few of the children have computer access at home. This goes against everything I seem to have heard so far regarding today's children and ICT.

Blogging, it seems, will not have entered the consciousness of many of these children. How do you then introduce blogging to the class, and how do you tackle the inevitable feedback from parents who cannot provide access to these blogs at home?

"In 1997 Jorn Barger coined the phrase Weblog to describe a site that combined links, commentaries, and personal thoughts and essays from the perspective of the Weblog author." (Blogs: A Disruptive Technology Coming of Age? 9/26/2002, By Phillip D. Long)

Blogging is a way of sharing news and information with a whole range of people. A class blog would be a fantastic way of sharing news from the class with parents, carers and other teachers, but how do I enable parents to see it without computer or internet access at home? The class can access the blog during their limited use of the ICT suite, yet the question still remains, to blog, or not to blog?

The media suggests that blogging is in my favour. I can share ideas, news, view responses all in one place, which does sound like a good idea. But can the children use this kind of medium effectively? They can type, yes, but they are so used to forming ideas on paper before even sitting at a computer that I feel they would struggle with using a blog as a learning tool., to begin with at least. I know that many children in the class own a games console of some shape or description, proving that they can adapt and learn in a new way, if only they practice it enough. Linking, very usefully to the reflections on Prensky and the Digital Natives Part II (see below), in which he discusses how a persons brain can change and adapt in different circumstances.
Therefore if I can begin to model how blogging works, and the ways in which it benefits its users, surely a class on 24 children can take it on board and will soon enough become effective bloggers themselves.

I am delighted when I hear that the school will be opening up its new ICT suite to parents and children at the end of each school day, turning the idea of a class blog into something that is possible and worthwhile.


The answer it seems is to blog. Lets see how it works in reality shall we?



References

1. Blogs: A Disruptive Technology Coming of Age? 9/26/2002, By Phillip D. Long at http://campustechnology.com/articles/39247_1/
2. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently? By Marc Prensky at http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf