Games Can Make the World Better

What an interesting video! I have yet a new perspective for gaming. This type of gaming goes beyond learning in the classroom, these are games that could help solve real world problems! I have never been a gamer or very good at games, but this idea intrigues me. I find it interesting with "the world saving games" that have been developed. I will try to share the "world without oil" game with my coworker who teaches environmental science.

One thing that I am guilty of as an educator is not giving my students the adequate feedback after assignments have been given. With games, this feedback is given immediately which is extremely important in the learning process. Can games merge with learning? I think they can, but it is much easier to think than see. I have seen the effects of simple games in my classroom, but I feel as if my games make students board after long periods of time. With games that have purpose, like the world saving games, I believe the issue of interests wouldn't be a problem in this case.

Urgent Optimism, Social Fabric, Blissful Productivity, Epic Meaning

In the video below you can find Jane McGonigal's thoughts and hopes of making games the way we solve world problems. The Urgent Optimism gives us hope on how games make us optimistic we can solve difficult problems. Social Fabric was described as how gamers can play with each other and develop such an interesting relationship and have a strong bond of trust. Blissful Productivity describes users spending countless hours trying to solve problems and investing their time in their virtual achievements. Finally Epic Meaning gives gamers some satisfaction and want to keep coming back to continue to raise the bar.

With all of the points that Jane has, I think it is extremely important to take gaming seriously. It makes so much sense that we could harness the use of gaming into real world problems to make the world a better place. I have questions about this technique though. What about more complex issues such as cancer research or AIDS research? Would we only target people who are experts in the area, or anyone in the world?

Click on the picture below to go to the video!

Traditional Designed VS Virtual Designed Classroom Instruction

After reading the two articles Social Learning Theory in Second Life by Michele Smith and Zane L. Berge, and Different spaces but same places: Possibilities, pitfalls and persistent practices in SecondLife by Julie Willems, I can see how my perspective of SecondLife for education is changing. In this post I want to reflect on my ideas of use of SecondLife in education after reading these two articles.

Traditional Learning

When I think about traditional teaching and learning, I think back to my days in high school. I can remember only being presented with facts and ideas and no real in-depth learning was taking place. Our school was in a very poor district with limited technologies. I rarely had a presentation by powerpoint and most of my classes still had chalkboards. If I were to go to a classroom 100 years ago, I would see almost the same thing. So, traditional learning has definitely made an impact on my life and how I view education. 

I feel that students can effectively participate in class if they are engaged, the material is relevant, and students are applying that skill or showing they can meet that objective. With traditional learning, many of these aspects are very difficult to accomplish. As a student, it didn't take much effort by a teacher to keep me motivated. That has continued with me as a college student and now a graduate student. I believe traditional learning is needed at times in the classroom, but for the 21st Century learner, traditional learning is a thing of the past.

Virtual Learning

This is a topic that I have some knowledge of, but only because of my recent assignments from FNDS 6223. Virtual learning is something that I had not imagined could be used in an educational sense. I see virtual worlds as a place for people to escape into their own land and dive into their interests. Both articles show benefits to using virtual learning with students, but we see that there is a need for more theory development and more study. Virtual learning can take you to places traditional learning cannot: vritual field trips, scavenger hunts, visiting virtual museums, and so much more. Is traditional learning effective in a virtual learning world?

From some of the pit falls found in Different spaces but same places: Possibilities, pitfalls and persistent practices in SecondLife . we can see some of the reasons why traditional instruction is not a fit. From students flying around during a lecture to others chatting back and forth, we can find the same distractions of traditional learning in the virtual world also. So, from these findings we can see there is more need for studies and instructional strategy related to virtual learning in virtual worlds. I plan to really think about how virtual worlds could be used in my biology classroom. I think Genome Island will be a great place to start!

SecondLife: Vist to Edtech Island

In this quest, I was able to invite my wife to help me. In this quest, I was able to visit Edtech Island. I really enjoyed the island and explored it before my wife arrived. I really think the gaming museum was the most interesting. I couldn't read all the signs because of my internet issues, but I saw many different games that have been used in education over the years.

Again, I am so amazed at how creative some of the users are to be able to create these islands and the components of the island. I built my box with no trouble at all, but I wasn't able to find the sand box. I did find an area of sand to build, but I didn't have permission to build there. So I moved to another part of the island, and finally I was able to build. My wife joined me and build her own box, but she didn't get in the screen shot because…..well, her clothes weren't fully loaded. Here is my box on Edtech island!

SecondLIfe; Exploring Genome Island

For this assignment, I wasn't able to find Eagle Island, but in a way, I am glad I didn't because I was able to stumble upon Genome Island. As you know, I am a science teacher, so this was obviously a great choice. I will highlight some of my thoughts and feelings below, along with some of my pictures.

First of all, I can't tell you how much fun this was exploring the Island. This Island was all about genetics and how genetics relates to the world. I even watched a presentation about new AIDS testing and how genetics is playing a part in that. I explored some of the labs that show different real world applications for genetic testing. I was so excited to see how SecondLife really could be used in education. There were so many hidden things such as a surf board and a cat I could chat with. I even got a chance to explore Mendel's pea garden! I wasn't able to complete the scavenger hunt, but I know how I could use this in an educational setting. Students could explore different aspects of genetics through the scavenger hunt but in a virtual world. This is AMAZING to me!

Some fun things I did was surf, chat with a cat, explore the laboratories, change the daylight from day to sunset and sunrise, and fly around the island and enjoy not bumping into things. I really do see how this could be used in education but I still have questions. Would I have to build my own island for my specific class? Could more than one user build an environment for an educational class? There is also the concern for child safety in SecondLife. The ability for strangers to chat and talk is very easy. There are also many different types of adult content that would not be appropriate for students or in an educational setting.

So, to sum up my visit to Genome Island, WOW. I really had no idea that I would have this much fun exploring a virtual world that isn't real, but is real. I can't wait to explore the island again and again!

Here are some screenshots I took while at the island!

Researching Virtual Worlds

With my first article, I would like to briefly tell you what it is about and how it can help educators in using virtual worlds in education.

"Technical Problems Experienced in the Transformation of Virtual Worlds into an Education Environment and Coping Strategies" 

by Murat Coban, Turkan Karakus, Asiye Karaman, Fatma Gunay and Yuksel Goktas

In this study, the authors observed Second Life and OpenSim. These two platforms help users create environments for others, anyone can join from access to the internet, and both have been used for educational purposes. The study helped researchers identify 5 themed problems with designing virtual worlds for educational use. The 5 themed problems identified were: 1) Physical environment in which the platform would be established, 2) The platform to be formed, 3) Design decisions, 4) Characteristics of the environment in which the application would be conducted, 5) End user. The authors point out that the platform limitations were the biggest hurdle developers faced when designing these learning environments. The authors suggest that instructional designers should look at these potential problems before designing material for learning purposes and work around them.

Coban, M., Karakus, T., Karaman, A., Gunay, F., & Goktas, Y. (2015). Technical Problems Experienced in the Transformation of Virtual Worlds into an Education Environment and Coping Strategies. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 18(1), 37-49.

"An Augmented Reality-based Mobile Learning System to Improve Students’

Learning Achievements and Motivations in Natural Science Inquiry Activities"

by Tosti H. C. Chiang, Stephen J. H. Yang and Gwo-Jen Hwang

In this article, the authors studied how augmented reality could enhance motivation in an inquiry based lesson. Two groups of 4th graders were used in the study, one control group and one experimental group. Students in the experimental group were given an augmented activity of plants and were allowed to use tablets and smartphones outside. The augmented views the students saw were text, video, pictures, and animations that moved as the tablet or smartphone moved. The experimental group showed increase in the following aspects of engagement: 1) Motivation, 2) Attention, 3) Relevance, 4) Confidence, and 5) Satisfaction. The authors conclude by saying they will continue to study the motivation of augmented reality and look into behavior patterns that are associated with them.

Chiang, T. C., Yang, S. H., & Hwang, G. (2014). An Augmented Reality-based Mobile Learning System to Improve Students' Learning Achievements and Motivations in Natural Science Inquiry Activities. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 17(4), 352-365.

Moving around: Second Life

I have really been intrigued by what I see in Second Life and I'm glad that we had the assignment to go to the "New Resident Island". I wanted to highlight some of the things I learned in this blog post.

I think second life is a great way for users to express themselves in different ways than they normally would in real life. I learned how to work many of the basic controls on the new resident island. I really liked the zooming feature which will allow me to take a closer look at detail as I look at the new signs that help me learn the game.

I also learned how to join groups. I am now a member of the new resident group. I will explore this farther as I explore Second Life more in time. Some of my other experiences is I LOVE to fly. This gives me a new view of the Island or where ever I might be in Second Life. I can get from place to place in a snap. Some things that seem to hinder my experience is the time it takes for the worlds to load. I this is not a major issue, but it is something that bothered me at first. I'm also nervous about what other people my try to interact with me in Second Life. But, just like real life, I can choose to ignore them and have my own experiences. This is a very social atmosphere, but I think I would prefer to explore Second Life on my own.

10 Best Gadgets

When looking at the 10 Best Gadgets, they all seem to have the same things in common. They are all wearable, or have something to do with vital reality or augmented reality. The number 1 technology on the list was a virtual reality product that makes user feel as if they are there: OCULUS RIFT. It is difficult to see how this technology works without actually using it yourself, but you can definitely tell that the users are certainly engaged in something that seems so real.

A couple of new wearable technologies that were listed are the Pebble Steel and the Intel Smart Earbuds. The Pebble Smartwatch as been around for a while now and is starting to have new functions like telling you when traffic is getting backed-up ahead of you, or when your tank of gas is close to being empty. Also with the Intel Smart Earbuds, we can see how fitness tracking can be done in a different place other than your wrist. The Smart Earbuds can track anything that most of the fitness bands can, but this device can track your heart rate in real time and can give you a detailed graph on your smartphone.

The other technologies listed were 4K televisions and video recorders and also a projector. The reason I connect these technologies is because of their increase in affordability. Technology is constantly changing and many new technologies are much more affordable which is great of the 21st century classroom. The way teachers present material is changing and if we don't use the technology that is available and affordable, then our students won't be engaged and they will tune us out and focus on what their interests are, such as gaming. What if we could incorporate video recording and ask students to make a move, then they could project their project to a 4K TV so the entire class could see? I believe our students can be engaged by all of these technology and I believe these technologies will shape future classrooms.