Blog Post 4 Synopsis of the Course
Wow, I will say that I did learn a lot during OLTD 508 – Mobile Technologies and GBL. I will try to touch on a few of the things that stood out for me. A couple of things I will be discussing are; the differences between educational games and COTS games and the challenges I foresee in using games in the classroom.
I guess the biggest eye-opener for me was the difference between Serious Games and COTS games. I thought that there were games for fun and boring educational games. I will say, however, that I do find that even though there are more Serious Games that are becoming more like the “fun” games there is, in my opinion, a bit of a ways to go to make some games as fun as most COTS games. When I compared Wolfquest and Zoo Tycoon for example, I came to the realization that even though there are great educational games out there, they sometimes fall a little short in the creativity or “ownership” aspects of the game. For example, there are great things going on in Wolfquest about getting a feel of what it is like to “be” a wolf, but that is as far as it goes. On the other hand, as with Zoo Tycoon, there is more to the game than just caring for animals. There is designing your own zoo as well. I think that, as far as these two games, and other similar games, that educational games need to have more of the creative/ownership capabilities that COTS games seem to have. I came across 3Dhive, where teachers can develop their own educational games. What a great tool for teachers to have access to. I will be looking further into this when I have time to investigate. I also think that we need to have games that students can utilize across curricular areas, such as building games like Minecraft and virtual worlds where students can put their own “touches” and content into whatever they are constructing. Virtual worlds such as Active Worlds where students can construct anything they want and include content within their constructions would be a huge benefit in education. This type of application can be widely used across many curricular areas instead of one game one content area. Don’t get me wrong, I do see benefits of content specific games, but I see them more for reinforcement. I don’t see any real difference between reinforcement with games as opposed to the “old fashioned” way other than using games for reinforcement may be more engaging than the more traditional methods of reinforcement. We want children to become critical thinkers and have the ability to collaborate. I think we are headed in the right direction, but we need more interactive games where students are able to collaborate and problem solve together.
Some of the barriers I see with being able to use games in the classroom are, unfortunately, a lot. Having a stable Wifi, access to computers, and understanding and support from parents are the main factors that can hugely impact the use of games at school. Our Wifi has been down since before Christmas, so I have had to improvise by using my own Wifi connection and having parents set up their Shaw Go Wifi, if they have it. The other frustrating thing is getting access to the computer lab. Each class only has one day per week in the computer lab. It is also difficult to get students, especially younger students to bring their own devices to school, so I have tried to supplement with bringing quite a few of my own devices for my students to use. I found that it is quite time consuming to make sure that permission slips for using online based programs and games are informative enough for parents. It is not the same as writing a permission slip for going swimming. Swimming is a known entity, computer games are not as well known for many parents.
Overall, I found that I learned a lot during this course. I have a much better understanding of the differences between Serious Games and COTS games. I also really did enjoy the Minecraft part, even though I was extremely frustrated when it wouldn’t load properly, and I found a great site for keeping up with what is happening in the world of games and education through Tech & Learning: Ideas and Tools for Ed Tech Leaders. I am also excited about trying out 3DHive.
References:
Teaching & learning: Ideas and tools for ed tech leaders. (2014, 04). Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/section/magazine/0007
3DHive – retrieved from: http://3dhive.net
Active Worlds – retrieved from: http://activeworlds.com
Minecraft – retrieved from: www.minecraft.com
Wolfquest – retrieved from: http://www.wolfquest.org
Zoo Tycoon – retrieved from: http://zoo-tycoon.en.softonic.com
Infographics:
Games vs School - retrieved from: www.games-based-learning.com
Technology + Education - www.lucyandthemoon.com
Wow, I will say that I did learn a lot during OLTD 508 – Mobile Technologies and GBL. I will try to touch on a few of the things that stood out for me. A couple of things I will be discussing are; the differences between educational games and COTS games and the challenges I foresee in using games in the classroom.
I guess the biggest eye-opener for me was the difference between Serious Games and COTS games. I thought that there were games for fun and boring educational games. I will say, however, that I do find that even though there are more Serious Games that are becoming more like the “fun” games there is, in my opinion, a bit of a ways to go to make some games as fun as most COTS games. When I compared Wolfquest and Zoo Tycoon for example, I came to the realization that even though there are great educational games out there, they sometimes fall a little short in the creativity or “ownership” aspects of the game. For example, there are great things going on in Wolfquest about getting a feel of what it is like to “be” a wolf, but that is as far as it goes. On the other hand, as with Zoo Tycoon, there is more to the game than just caring for animals. There is designing your own zoo as well. I think that, as far as these two games, and other similar games, that educational games need to have more of the creative/ownership capabilities that COTS games seem to have. I came across 3Dhive, where teachers can develop their own educational games. What a great tool for teachers to have access to. I will be looking further into this when I have time to investigate. I also think that we need to have games that students can utilize across curricular areas, such as building games like Minecraft and virtual worlds where students can put their own “touches” and content into whatever they are constructing. Virtual worlds such as Active Worlds where students can construct anything they want and include content within their constructions would be a huge benefit in education. This type of application can be widely used across many curricular areas instead of one game one content area. Don’t get me wrong, I do see benefits of content specific games, but I see them more for reinforcement. I don’t see any real difference between reinforcement with games as opposed to the “old fashioned” way other than using games for reinforcement may be more engaging than the more traditional methods of reinforcement. We want children to become critical thinkers and have the ability to collaborate. I think we are headed in the right direction, but we need more interactive games where students are able to collaborate and problem solve together.
Some of the barriers I see with being able to use games in the classroom are, unfortunately, a lot. Having a stable Wifi, access to computers, and understanding and support from parents are the main factors that can hugely impact the use of games at school. Our Wifi has been down since before Christmas, so I have had to improvise by using my own Wifi connection and having parents set up their Shaw Go Wifi, if they have it. The other frustrating thing is getting access to the computer lab. Each class only has one day per week in the computer lab. It is also difficult to get students, especially younger students to bring their own devices to school, so I have tried to supplement with bringing quite a few of my own devices for my students to use. I found that it is quite time consuming to make sure that permission slips for using online based programs and games are informative enough for parents. It is not the same as writing a permission slip for going swimming. Swimming is a known entity, computer games are not as well known for many parents.
Overall, I found that I learned a lot during this course. I have a much better understanding of the differences between Serious Games and COTS games. I also really did enjoy the Minecraft part, even though I was extremely frustrated when it wouldn’t load properly, and I found a great site for keeping up with what is happening in the world of games and education through Tech & Learning: Ideas and Tools for Ed Tech Leaders. I am also excited about trying out 3DHive.
References:
Teaching & learning: Ideas and tools for ed tech leaders. (2014, 04). Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/section/magazine/0007
3DHive – retrieved from: http://3dhive.net
Active Worlds – retrieved from: http://activeworlds.com
Minecraft – retrieved from: www.minecraft.com
Wolfquest – retrieved from: http://www.wolfquest.org
Zoo Tycoon – retrieved from: http://zoo-tycoon.en.softonic.com
Infographics:
Games vs School - retrieved from: www.games-based-learning.com
Technology + Education - www.lucyandthemoon.com