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From DSC:
For those of us in more traditional institutions of higher education, if this is where things are heading — or even if pieces of Anya’s presentation come to fruition — what is our response? Strategy?
On 03/21/2011,
in assessment, motivation,
by Daniel Christian
Why badges work better than grades — from Learning, Freedom and the Web by Cathy Davidson
On 03/14/2011,
in educational games / serious games, instructional design, learning theories, motivation, play,
by Daniel Christian
Game levels and scaffolding–they’re related — from Kaplan EduNeering by Karl Kapp
On 03/11/2011,
in analytics, collaboration, digital learning, elearning, emerging technologies, flipping -- inverted learning, motivation, online learning, online media, pedagogy, student-related, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education — March 2011
Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script — give students video lectures to watch at home, and do “homework” in the classroom with the teacher available to help.
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From DSC:
Before rushing to a quick take/judgment on this, hear him out. Turning over more control to the students during the relaying of the information makes sense to me. They can pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. They can re-listen to the lecture again and again, without affecting the flow of a typical face-to-face classroom. Then they come into class and can get help on their homework, instantly and when they need the assistance.
- Flipped Model of Learning: A Podcast with Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams — from November Learning
On 03/04/2011,
in change, education reform, engagement / engaging students, K-12 related, motivation, passions,
by Daniel Christian
@GOOD Asks: How can we lower high school drop out rates?
We’ve covered the drop out epidemic before. In the United States, a kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. Over the course of a year, that adds up to 1.2 million students. How can we lower this number?
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From DSC:
This is unbelievable! Again, I’m reminded of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion — spilling out valuable resources that are going untapped. What a waste of God-given gifts!
- 40 million American adults did not complete high school.
- The high school graduate, on average, earns $500,000 more in a lifetime as compared to an individual who did not complete high school.
- Most high school dropouts (70%) have the intellectual ability to complete the courses needed for high school graduation.
- Most high school dropouts do not feel a connection between high school courses and future employment.
- 75% of high school dropouts stated that if they could relive the experience, they would have stayed in high school.
- 81% of dropouts expressed a need for schooling that connected academics and employment.
Addendum 4/5/11:
On 03/04/2011,
in educational games / serious games, instructional design, learning, motivation, play,
by Daniel Christian
What makes a good learning game? Going beyond edutainment — from e-Learning Magazine by Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen
After developing more than 30 learning games I can safely say that it is definitely not an easy task. Developing good learning games requires constant attention to opposing factors, which only through creativity can truly be made to smoothly work together.
Since the inception of computer games, there has been learning games. In the early years, games were used to demonstrate the potential benefits of computers. Although learning games date back to at least the 1960s, it is still a discipline fraught with challenges [1]. One of the fundamental questions that remain unanswered is: What really makes a good learning game? This simple question is far from trivial as it might be seem upon first sight. The question relates to what we define as a good game and what we define as good learning—none of which have been fully answered.
This article is not be a quick-guide for “how to design” learning games with ideas like points, leveling, power-ups and clear goals. Rather it will present a helicopter view on what often happens when you apply these principles and ignore the fundamental structure of games. You may very well create a learning game that is motivating, and uses level and feedback in some ways, but still fail miserable. This often happens because designers are not conscious of how games are fundamentally structured. They forget games are about “what you do” and not “what you see.” Instructional designers apply game principles but forget to step back and see whether these principles distort the learning experience. Often this happens by failing to integrate game and learning goals, losing sight of the difference between seeing and doing, and accidentally derailing the player away from learning in favor of pure fun. When you use very simple principles from games in your e-learning applications the risk of distortion is less, unlike when designing more complex, game-based learning applications.
On 02/08/2011,
in K-12 related, learning, love of learning, motivation, passions,
by Daniel Christian
On 01/13/2011,
in blended learning, change, curriculum, engagement / engaging students, hybrid learning, instructional design, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Michigan, motivation, online learning, strategy,
by Daniel Christian
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The 19,100-student Grand Rapids school district in Michigan launched blended-learning classes this past fall. The district has started with high school social studies and math classes.
“There was some initial resistance from the public—concerned parents with the perception that kids are just going to be stuck in computer labs—but that’s absolutely contrary to what [this] is,” said John Helmholdt, the director of communications for the district. “When you say blended, people don’t understand what that means. It took months of really trying to educate and raise awareness of really what it was we were trying to do.”
Moving to a blended model actually made teacher-student ratios better, according to Mr. Helmholdt, by layering on support-staff members to circulate when the students were completing work online.
In Grand Rapids, the blended classes go through a three-day rotation of face-to-face and online instruction. During the first day, students receive a traditional lecture-based class in a regular classroom where a new concept is introduced. On the second day, the class starts by going over the concept again and then beginning to use some of the online software and support tools that reinforce the concept. On the third day, the students work solely with digital resources. [Rest of article here.]
From DSC:
I am very glad that the Grand Rapids school system is moving in this direction! It is a huge step in the right direction and I congratulate the district’s leadership for their vision and patience while this plane gets off the runway. This endeavor will help the students begin to build digital/information literacy. It will open their minds up to numerous creative possibilities — as well as career opportunities and goals. They are beginning to have “the world as their school“.
On 11/30/2010,
in creativity, digital learning, educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, global / globalization, motivation, social learning / networks,
by Daniel Christian
On 11/01/2010,
in creativity, engagement / engaging students, innovation, motivation, multimedia, presentations, social learning / networks,
by Daniel Christian
On 11/01/2010,
in educational games / serious games, engagement / engaging students, motivation,
by Daniel Christian
How games engage the brain — from NspireD2 by Chris Clark
In a TED video released today, Tom Chatfield presents seven ways in which games engage the brain. Chatfield is a game theorist and author of the new book, Fun, Inc., about the gaming industry and how it is altering our society.
Chatfield’s seven talking points are
- Experience bars measuring progress
- Multiple long and short-term aims
- Rewards for effort
- Rapid, frequent, clear feedback
- An element of uncertainty
- Windows of enhanced engagement
- Other people
Of course, that list doesn’t mean much unless you watch the video.
Ask the Expert | James Paul Gee on video games and learning — from the NY Times Learning Network by Katherine Schulten
In this week’s New York Times Magazine article about video games in the classroom, Sara Corbett asks:
What if teachers gave up the vestiges of their educational past, threw away the worksheets, burned the canon and reconfigured the foundation upon which a century of learning has been built? What if we blurred the lines between academic subjects and reimagined the typical American classroom so that, at least in theory, it came to resemble a typical American living room or a child’s bedroom or even a child’s pocket, circa 2010 — if, in other words, the slipstream of broadband and always-on technology that fuels our world became the source and organizing principle of our children’s learning? What if, instead of seeing school the way we’ve known it, we saw it for what our children dreamed it might be: a big, delicious video game?
We’ve invited James Paul Gee, an expert on how video games fit within an overall theory of learning and literacy (and how they can help us in thinking about school reform), to take readers’ questions this week.
From DSC:
Be sure to check out the comments as well.
On 09/10/2010,
in education, education reform, education technology, future, motivation, student-related,
by Daniel Christian
