The Four Best DS Games for Classroom Use

Image by Havok

If, like me, you enjoy the idea of using more games in your classroom, you may be wondering how to get started. And while there are some really fantastic games out there for iPads and mobile devices, sometimes you get the most bang for your buck with traditional games on traditional systems.

A system like the Nintendo DS is designed primarily for games, and games are created to engage a user for an extended period of time. Sure, you can buy something like Personal Trainer: Math for the Nintendo DS, but it's not really a lot of fun, and it's not really what the DS was designed for. Ultimately, the DS is all about games. Learning is incidental.

Fortunately, incidental learning is my very favorite kind. When students (kids or adults) are having fun with what they're doing, they're far more likely to absorb and recall the information than if they learn it another way. With that in mind, I do like to use Nintendo DS systems in my classroom. This is a really good time to ask for donations from your students -- lots of them will be getting the 3DS and have no use for their old systems. But failing donations, just get them to loan their systems to the class.

Great Games to Start With

If you're looking for a few fantastic games to start with, here are my favorites.

 Professor Layton and the Curious Village

I've mentioned this one before, and with good reason: it's an all around fantastic games. Think of it as a novel study with a hundred difficult math word problems mixed in. The difference is that the kids actually ENJOY playing this game. They are intrigued by the concept and love the puzzles. They do require occasional hints and reminders to actually READ the text (which is the only reason I include comprehension questions with the game).

Either way, this is an awesome end of year activity to pull your language arts and math units together.


Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

If you've never played the Ace Attorney games, you're missing out. They are funny, well written/translated, entertaining, and engaging. They aren't appropriate for very young children as they do contain references to murder (very unbloody, and not at all graphic), and the occasional strange character (if you've played the game you'll know what I mean... if not, well, just check out the perky gentleman below.

It doesn't get much worse than that, though, and these games have a lot to recommend them in terms of story, logical thinking, deductive reasoning, and crime scene investigation, if that happens to pertain to your science curriculum (oh look -- it does to mine!).

SimCity DS

This is a great one for introducing concepts of taxation, municipal government, and services. Students control a city and have to balance their taxes and expenditures. If taxes are too high, people move out; if they're too low, they don't make enough to maintain services, and people move out anyway. It's not the most user friendly game in the world and takes a bit of explanation, but the students really learn a lot playing it. And it's a lot cheaper on the DS than the PC. The iPad version, by the way, is not nearly as complex and doesn't give as much of a challenge, which makes for less learning.

Super Scribblenauts

Super Scribblenauts and its predecessor, Scribblenauts, are both awesome ways for students to explore problem solving, creative learning, and even spelling. The game has students faced with problematic situations. To solve them, they write down what they want to appear. For example, write "T Rex" and you get a massive dinosaur that devours everything in sight. Only problem -- it might eat you, too. You get bonus points if you can get through levels without using violence. More engaging and educational than it sounds!

These are the four games in frequent use in my classroom. Hopefully they'll find a place in yours, too

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Getting By Without One to One

Alternatives to Reality

Digital Citizenship and Social Networking

image by deleket

My students average 11-12 years of age, and after talking to them this week about digital citizenship, I've realized some very interesting facts:

1. Every single one of them has an iPod or iPhone, even those from less wealthy families. 

2. Every single one of them is using some form of social networking. The most popular seem to be Instagram and Facebook. 

3. They are communicating mainly through texting and FaceTime, mostly where their parents can't see/hear them. One thing I learned this year is that if you have wifi you can text with an iPod. I skipped straight to iPhone without ever having an iPod, and no one I know owns an iPod (again, it's all iPhones), so this caught me off guard. 

4. Students ARE aware of privacy issues online. By and large, they know better than to give out personal information and are aware of how to use privacy settings. But by the same token...

5. They have no conception that a friend could ever betray them - say, by taking a photo and copying it or the like. Their trust in their friends is absolute. 

6. They know not everyone online is who they claim to be, but are overwhelmingly convinced that everyone THEY meet is honest and genuine. 

7. They are measuring popularity, at least in part, by the number of followers they have on social networking sites.

8. They are unaware that they can betray their identity through photographs they post. For example, they know better than to post their full name, but have no problem posting a pic of their school with the caption "my school."

Of these, numbers 4-8 are the biggest concerns to me. It seems like we, as teachers and a society, have done a good job communicating about online safety to our children, but there are some issues that still desperately need addressing. To me, the big ones are:

1. Teachers and parents need to stay informed about new social networking phenomena. We need to join them, understand them, and know which ones kids are using. 

2. Somehow, we need to make kids understand that just because someone is your friend or boy/girlfriend doesn't mean they can't forward or copy information. They need to know what a screenshot is and how easy it is to grab one. 

3. We need to make them more aware of how easily they can communicate personal information. They already know not to do it directly. The problem is that they're doing it indirectly. 

4. We need a way to show them that of their 300 Instagram followers, chances are that several are not who they seem. 

We've done a good job teaching online safety, or digital citizenship or whatever you want to call it. But now it needs to become personal. 

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Genius Time and Self Directed Inquiry



Journeys in Assessment



Genius Time and Self Directed Inquiry

Image by deeplifequotes

This summer, I read Daniel Pink's book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us . In it, he talked about Google 20% time as it's used in both businesses and classrooms. I became interested in the idea but only partially implemented it during a team teaching time with my principal. (Fortunately, our admin not only allows but supports such initiatives -- I have heard of teachers running into problems with some administrators when they try to bring in this sort of learning).

For those not familiar with this concept, it's something that Google came up with: allotting employees 20% of their time to pursue individual projects and interests. Almost half of Google's projects originate with this 20% time. And while Google gets a lot of credit for this idea, other companies have been doing similar things successfully since the 1950s. 

In today's society, ideas are as important or more important than skills and knowledge. Now, I'm not advocating abandoning all teaching in favour of individual exploration. There are some skills and pieces of information our students need, and school is where they acquire them. But time for individual exploration allows students to explore, to gain skills in presentation and reflection, to work collaboratively, to analyze ideas, and to develop a love of learning. 

To me, that's worth making time for in a crowded schedule. And that's what our principal though, too, so we decided to use our team teaching time as opportunities for individual projects and explorations.

Anyway, we didn't do much research -- just leaped into it. And it went pretty well. But since then I've done some more research and wanted to compile some of the things and resources I've discovered. 

Resources and Ideas for 20% Time

One of the best resources is the "Education is my Life" blog. You should definitely check it out if you're looking for practical tips for implementing classroom 20% time. AJ Juliani emphasizes five key aspects of genius time: specific schedules, avoiding grading, using peers to keep students accountable, encouraging reflection, and presentation. 

Here is another awesome website that clearly outlines one way of approaching this type of project. It has helpful student guidelines, examples, and a great starting point for anyone interested in this type of education.

PBS' Design Squad is another interesting resource for those looking for individual projects. It has some great resources for guiding kids in choosing and building their own projects.

And then of course, there's the 20% Academy, which is beginning a MOOC this summer. As many of you know, I love online learning, and MOOCs are an awesome way to get involved whether you're a beginner or a pro. I definitely plan to take the MOOC, so hopefully I'll see lots of you there!

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Teaching Spelling for a Modern World

Lapbooking

Getting By Without One to One

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Lately I've been reading a lot of blog posts from teachers in one-to-one classrooms: situations where each student in the room/school has constant access to a laptop computer or iPad.

I've been pretty jealous of those teachers. We're in a good situation: my classroom has seven netbook computers, plus my teacher laptop and iPad. We also have a cart with a class set of netbooks, and another with a class set of iPads, that can be booked by any classroom in the school.

Unfortunately, though, that's a far cry from each student having access to computers or technology all day, every day. I love the ideas people have come up with in one-to-one settings and I wish I could implement them. And someday, I'll be able to -- I really do believe that at some point in the near future, a laptop computer or, more likely, tablet will be part of our school supply list.

Until then, I'll work with what I have. And here are some of the ways I do it.

Getting By Without One to One (and Still Using Technology in the Classroom)

Some tricks I've developed over the years...

1. Harrass other teachers

Most of our classrooms have 4-7 netbooks. When necessary, I can assemble a class set of netbooks from the other grade 4, 5, and 6 classrooms if those teachers aren't currently using them. Of course, that means interrupting their classes to borrow computers, so it may not make you Ms Popularity.

2. Alternate days

My students are divided into four groups. Each day alternates (day 1, day 2, etc.) up to day 4. If it's the same number day as your group number, you get first dibs on both computers and the "comfy" chairs scattered around the classroom. That way, it's not always the same people getting to use technology. If there are leftover computers after the group of the day gets a chance, others can grab them or go look for free technologly around the school.

3. Explore alternate technology

My students can't type an essay on their iPods or a Nintendo DS, but there are plenty of great educational games and activities they CAN do. Why tie up the entire netbook cart when 90% of my students are carrying iPods capable of playing the same game? Similarly, a digital camera takes a video just as (well, almost as) well as an iPad.

4. Provide different levels of assignments

Some of my assignments require technology, and some don't. I try to design them flexibly so that if a student says "Well, I need a computer to finish my story," I can say, "There aren't any available. Could you work on your essay plan/poster/diagram right now, and finish your story tomorrow?"

5. Encourage collaboration

Teams and collaborative groups are the way of the future, anyway, so why not encourage students to work in pairs or groups whenever practical? If there's only one computer available, three kids can share it. And if they're sharing it, they may as well work together. I rarely force kids to work in groups (well, sometimes I do), but I do like to provide the option.

With these steps, I've been able to largely adjust to allow for our limited technological resources -- and I know that they aren't so limited compared to others!

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Autism Awareness and the iPad

Lapbooks

A colleague of mine recently turned me onto the idea of lap books. If you're not familiar with them, this is an excellent resource well worth checking out. In brief, though, lapbooks replace traditional note taking with creating mini books and foldables with pertinent information and organizing them in a file folder refolded to make a sort of book.

My colleague uses lap books for social studies as a more interesting way of compiling information and taking notes. As she pointed out, one major benefit of lap books is that kids wind up with a product they're proud of, eliminating lost pages or loose leaf carelessly tossed aside.

This came at a really good time for me because I was just looking for a way to revamp layer one of my social units. I enjoy using layered curriculums because I find them more interesting and effective than lecturing and note taking, but while I can make the second, third, and fourth layers compelling and, at least to an extent, fun, that first layer remains about gathering information.

I can't and don't want to eliminate that layer - it's an important skill, and you can't use information you don't have. But I have been looking for a more interesting way to organize that information than answering textbook questions, half of which wind up in recycling no matter what I say on the subject.

Some students will doubtless find the cutting, colouring, and pasting a waste of time, so for them I will leave the questions option intact. Hey, some kids actually like that stuff - who am I to judge? But I think providing a lap book option will really help a number of my students.

If you want to give it a try...

Here's my advice!

1. Read up on lap books and google images of examples. (Remember when google was a noun?) Get an idea of what you're dealing with.

2. Grab some free templates for different types of foldable books. Here are some good places to start:

http://www.squidoo.com/minibooks

http://www.waywardgirlscrafts.com/2011/04/two-quick-and-easy-mothers-day-cards.html

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/flipbook/ (this one allows you to make the book online, then print it)

http://library.thinkquest.org/J001156/makingbooks/makeown.htm?tqskip1=1&tqtime=0715

3. Choose a unit to lapbook (and now I've made that a verb...)

4. List the primary things you need your students to learn, grouping them when possible.

5. Choose a type of foldable or book for each objective, trying to vary them.

6. Create templates for each.

7. Grab a file folder. Lay it open. Fold one side in so the lower flat edge (the part not raised for a label) meets the centreline. Repeat on the other side. The flaps should neatly intersect.

8. Arrange your foldables so they all fit on the folder. I like to include a title and a trivia section.

9. When they all fit, glue them in place to create an example.

And you've made your first lapbook!

Because I want my students to create these independently, I added a few steps, such as providing instructions on each page with guidance on how to fold the book as well as hints on where the information cam be found. I also created a "map" for the lapbook so students know where to glue things without having to crowd around my example.

Lapbooks may not be games, but they are a fun way to organize information!

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Journeys in Assessment



How Video Games Inspire Creativity

Journeys in Assessment

Assessment is the bane of many a teacher's existence. Certainly, it presents a lot of problems. Just a few of the issues with assessing and evaluating our students:

-it's incredibly time consuming, and the time could arguably be much better spent

-most of the assessment we do does not provide meaningful information. So student A got 75 on a test and student B got 80. What does that really tell me about how well they understand the topic?

-much of our assessment is subjective. At least in a subject like math, two different teachers would probably come up with the aforementioned 75 and 80 pretty reliably. But what about on an essay or poster? Subjective assessment arguably says more about the teacher than the student.

-it's reductive, minimizing learning and teaching to a number

Having said that, I know we will never totally abandon assessment -- and really, we shouldn't. Without some form of evaluation, how can you tell what students have learned and still need to know? But the motivation behind and approach to assessment is in desperate need of an overhaul.

With this in mind, I've been thinking a lot about how and why we assess, and I wanted to share some of the results.

Some Interesting Assessment Ideas

1. Outcomes Based Assessment

This is not totally different from what we do in our district right now. Our report cards have us choose a number of the official outcomes and put them under each subject area, and assess them on a four point scale.

Of course, while a significant improvement over a single general mark for all of, say, language arts, this still only reflects a small portion of what is being done in class. As an aside, I'm noticing this more and more -- people go away for 1 or 2 weeks on holiday, and they want you to "send homework with the kids." Unfortunately, we don't really do a lot of worksheets and "sit and work" assignments anymore, so that's almost impossible to do. In some parents' eyes, I suspect that translates as "it doesn't really matter if we miss -- they obviously aren't doing much this week anyway."

This is one reason I'm really interested in Active Grade, an online grade book that allows students, teachers, and parents constant access to what students are achieving. In their own words: 

In Sue's Language Arts class this semester she is learning how to write a research paper. Under the old model, Sue would likely write this paper, turn the assignment in, and receive a grade for how well the paper was written--end of story.

With the ActiveGrade approach, her teacher has defined the goals for writing a research paper which include things like “creating an extended outline,” “writing a cohesive conclusion,” and “citing references.” As Sue works on her paper, her teacher reviews the work in progress and gives feedback to Sue in the different goals areas, recording the results in ActiveGrade. As the project progresses, this allows Sue and her parents to check in and see what research paper writing skills Sue needs to sharpen to show that she has learned how to write a research paper.

By focusing on the knowledge needed to write a research paper, Sue, her teacher, her parents, and her school get an accurate representation of what she has learned in her Language Arts class, not simply how she scored on an assignment.

This is an interesting concept to me and, at $5 a month, not insurmountably costly.

2. SOLO

SOLO is complicated, and I'm still learning about it. This has been my primary resource: http://pamhook.com/2012/07/10/hooked-solo-self-assessment-tool, a website provided by the inestimable Alice Leung, who writes all kinds of interesting stuff and who you should definitely check out.

As near as I can figure out at this point, SOLO is based on the idea that, instead of achievement and lack of achievement, there are three levels of achievement. Most SOLO assignments provide options for students at all three levels, with students responsible for deciding where they're at and working towards the next level. I love how this provides for all levels of learners, doesn't neglect students who have already achieved objectives (the ever elusive group working just above grade level), and provides options for everyone without stigmatizing "lower" (for lack of a better word) levels of achievement and understanding.

In other words, it allows for growth as a positive thing with constant room to change and learn.

These are the two most interesting assessment topics I've explored this week. Please let me know if you have other moments of genius to share.

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Using Game Design in the Classroom

Felicia Day: Teach My Class!

Alternatives to Reality

Image by Electric Images

I've spent a lot of time this year thinking about alternate reality games, and since the idea came up over at the games MOOC, it seemed like a good time to share.

I learned a lot about the potential for ARGs from Kev over at Classroom 2.0. He posted a lot of information about his own forays into alternate realities and was extremely helpful when I emailed him, providing me with a lot of information.

I previously commented on my own idea of the steps to creating an ARG, but now that I've actually done so, I have some more in depth suggestions to share. Please keep in mind that I'm a beginner posting advice for other beginners!

As for my game itself, I'm reluctant to post too much information lest my students stumble across it. However,if you're interested, please feel free to email me for details!

Steps to creating a classroom ARG

1. Consider Your Time Frame

Are you going to try to integrate your ARG over a single subject, or your entire curriculum? Will it be an ongoing, year long event? A three day extravaganza? Cover a single unit? These are important things to know before you get started.

2. Look at Your Curriculum

Now that you have an idea of what material you plan to cover, start to think about a basic storyline that fits in. If you're teaching history, time travel is an obvious concept. If you're teaching language arts, you may have a literary character desperate for help restoring their world to normal (a la The Eyre Affair, one of Jasper Fforde's brilliant Thursday Next novels). If you're teaching math, code breaking comes to mind. Find a general concept that fits with what you're teaching.

3. Conceive a Story

The heart of every ARG is a mystery or puzzle, so start there. What is the one thing your players are working towards discovering? The identity of a traitor? A secret (magical?) item? A doorway that lets them rewrite the classics? Know your end game before you start!

4. Create Characters

For any ARG to succeed, you will need NPCs (non player characters). You can be one of them! The NPCs will direct your players in the game. Search public domain images for people whose pictures you can use, or ask friends and family to use theirs. (Added bonus: they can make "appearances" in your room through recorded messages). Don't include too many NPCs. One or two will do, and more than 3 gets confusing.

5. Decide Your Goals

What do you need your students to know by the end of the game? You will need to work these objectives into the gameplay, so make sure you have a clear list.

6. Work Goals into Challenges

Take your goals and make them fun. For example, learning about algebraic equations could be a precursor to decoding a message that takes students to a special clue towards their objective.

7. Decide on a Plotline

With the challenges and end game in place, the plotline should be relatively easy to establish. Make sure there are enough big events to keep students interested for the length of the game.

8. Decide on Implementation

You want a way to wow your students when you start your game. If you can use multimedia, all the better -- anything that will surprise them and catch their attention!

Once you have all this in place, the rest is sitting back and keeping things moving until you find a glitch or it's time to start again.

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Autism Awareness and the iPad

April is Autism Awareness Month, which seems like a good time to reflect on technology and how it can help people with disabilities.

For those of you unfamiliar with Autism, you can do some background reading over on Wikipedia -- but it's not really a substitution for dealing with Autistic people. The problem with Autism is that it takes hundreds of different forms, and diagnosing it is mostly a process of eliminating everything else.

Autism is something I'm very familiar with because my sister was diagnosed with severe Autism at the age of five. This was after three years of doctors' appointments, hearing tests, and general chaos. I've met many Autistic people in my life, and that's why I feel quite assured in telling you that no two are the same or exhibit the same symptoms.

There are, however, some traits that most Autistic people share:

• Symptoms become apparent in very early childhood
• Symptoms include impaired social awareness and communication abilities
• Focus on routine and repetition with resistance to change
• Fixation on objects or certain sounds, textures, sensations, etc.

Life With My Sister

 This is my sister, Kim. She's on the right, if you're curious. That's me beside her at my bridal shower :) She was helping me open all the presents, because that's what she does.

Kim is 28 now. She still lives with my parents and will always need to live with someone. When she was young (like six or seven), she was almost completely nonverbal. She communicated, when prompted, through pointing at pictures in a small notebook she carried with her. Other times, she communicated through temper tantrums.

Kim talks now. Like, a lot. A LOT. Kind of non stop. And if you don't respond to every thing she says, she becomes very upset. Temper tantrums are annoying when a kid's 6. They're another story when she's 28. Kim is never aggressive towards other people, but in the course of her tantrums she can hurt herself and she has caused a lot of property damage in her time. Right now her  things is tearing clothing to pieces. She's kind of like the Incredible Hulk, minus the green skin.

I'm staying with my sister for a week right now so my parents can take a bit of a holiday. We're actually having a fantastic week. I should make one thing clear: I love my sister beyond belief. She's my best pal. But she can drive me, and everyone around her, crazy. I've been lucky this week: she's been pretty darn happy, with only a few little meltdowns. Of course, most of the week has been me taking her places and buying her stuff, so...

Kim and the iPad

I've been trying to convince my parents for a while that Kim should have an iPad. They're understandably reluctant, given her unfortunate habit of hucking stuff across the room when she gets too angry. But over this week, I thought I'd bring home my iPad and see if she would get into it. I should add that it's very difficult to predict what Kim will enjoy. For example, her favorite toy in the world is bubble wrap. Okay, so she likes textiles. I spent a fortune buying her a special weighted blanket for Autistic people, and she won't touch the thing -- or any of the other sensory stuff I get her.

Except for dollar store balls. She likes those.

Anyway, the iPad. Like I said, it's impossible to predict what Kim will like, so I just downloaded about 20 different educational type apps. I did notice that they now have a lot of apps that would be extremely useful to her in her everyday life, including an electronic version of the communication booklet she used to carry, but I didn't want to pay for anything since she'll only have the iPad for this week.

As I predicted, some of the apps I thought she'd like, she didn't. But it was a good week for Apps Gone Free (and if you haven't downloaded that app, go do it right now. I'll wait) since, with April being Autism Awareness Month, they had a lot of appropriate apps on.

So to my surprise, what does the kid fixate on? A series of apps from www.kindergarten.com that show a series of four pictures and say things like "show me the musical instrument." Then you press the musical instrument and it cheers. Periodically it plays classical music at her and tells her she's so smart (which I keep thinking is in direct violation of the growth mindset... oh well!).

She has, no exaggeration, been playing this game for two hours without a break. Every time I suggest she may want to try something else, she gets mad and tells me to go away. I'm surprised she's so fixated on this thing. I'm also surprised that she found it so easy to get used to the mechanics themselves, because my sister isn't known for her patience or learning curve. She does tend to press too hard on the screen, but she already understands the home key, how to slide the lock to activate the iPad, and how to recognize and open her new favorite app. This is honestly more than I thought she'd accomplish.

Reflections on Technology and Autism

So other than keeping her out of my hair for a few hours, I think the app is good for her -- most of it is stuff she already knows, but there have been a few new terms, and she seems to be getting them on the second and third go. In other words, she's learning something, which she doesn't get to do very often, sadly, since leaving high school.

I couldn't have predicted that Kim would love this specific app, and I'm sure there are others out there she would enjoy, too. The iPad is something that could be really beneficial for her. I really want her to try Skyping, too, since she won't talk to me (or anyone) on the phone -- something about the feel of it on her ear, I think, along with a lack of association between the voice on the phone and the person she's talking to.

This means that, for my sister, the iPad has the potential to:

• Continue her education, at least to a small degree
• Entertain her (which is no small thing, because she is frequently bored)
• Help her communicate with others

Those are three things that I could never have imagined a single device doing a few years ago. I teach in a mainstream classroom, which means I don't work closely with children with severe special needs. By severe, by the way, I mean students incapable of functioning without direct, constant one-on-one supervision, which describes my sister perfectly. That means I don't see a lot of how they're using the technology, although I'm aware that they are.

Spending this week with Kim and watching her use the iPad has been really illuminating, and has reminded me that -- for all its problems -- technology really has the power to make amazing changes in people's lives.

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How to Use Game Design in the Classroom

I was hugely disappointed this week to learn that the annual Teacher 2 Teacher  Technology Conference in Bow Island has been cancelled. They had low enrolment this year, and following the Alberta government's decision to cut funding to AISI for professional development, another eight teachers had to drop out of the conference, rendering it impractical to hold it at all.

I'm disappointed for a number of reasons. First of all, I've attended this conference for several years, and it is without question the best PD I get each year. I have never come back without at least one, and usually far more, idea that I could immediately implement in my classroom with great success. It's really a tragedy to see such an incredible professional development opportunity vanish.

On a more personal note, I was annoyed because I'd already put time into developing the two presentations that I planned to conduct at the conference, one on student film making and one on using game design in the classroom. So to keep it from being a total waste of my time, I thought I'd share it here!

Using Game Design for Beginners and Non Gamers

Whether you're a hardcore triple A gamer or someone who hasn't touched a joystick since Pac-Man, you can use game design in the classroom. The presentation below focuses on Kodu and Gamestar Mechanic, two incredibly simple and user friendly (oh, and free -- did I mention free?) ways that any teacher can immediately implement game design in almost any class. If your kids can read, they can design a game.

More to the point, they love doing it. With Gamestar Mechanic, I did find that they need some coaching on how to make the game have a point (sometimes they tell me they've made a game illustrating how to turn a bill into a law, and all it is is a guy fighting his way through a horde, which they explain represents the bill fighting to become a law. Yeah, no. Back to the drawing board). What I usually tell them is that if they can have a younger friend or sibling play it and understand the concept (in this case, bill to law) without any further explanation, they've created a successful game.

Anyway, hopefully this will be useful to some of you. Enjoy!

Class games from missrithenay

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Interconnectivity and the Magic of MOOCS

Photo by deflam

Hooray - the games MOOC is back!! Better still, this round's topic of consideration involves ARGs, which, regular followers will know, have been a topic of considerable interest for me this year.

MOOCs really are incredible things. If you're at all interested in games based learning, I strongly encourage you to head over and check things out. The community is very welcoming, and absolutely open to participation on any level, whether lurking (silently observing) or hardcore, badge-chasing, achievement-unlocking frenzy.

I really love MOOCs, Twitter, blogs, Pinterest... The whole shebang. Many school districts, including ours, are really big on the idea of professional learning communities. And that's great - when you either live in a huge area, or when everyone shares the same interests. If not, though, a professional learning community, while still valuable, won't have the same profound effect.

For example, in our district the hot topic is The Daily Five. That's great. I have no problems with Daily Five and have actually picked up valuable ideas from other teachers. But it's not my primary area of interest, and since few if any local teachers are strongly interested in games based learning, that leaves me somewhat isolated.

Enter the interwebs. Through things like Coursera, the Games MOOC, blogs, and online communities, I've been able to make connections, have in-depth conversations, discover games and apps, and basically just learn about a hundred times more than I could ever have managed on my own.

So while technology definitely has both its ups and downs, interconnectivity is a huge up for me - maybe even THE up. The information at my fingertips would have been unimaginable only a few years ago, and I can't begin to predict what's next.

The moral of the story? Come join the Games MOOC -- or at least something like it!

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