Personalized Learning & Gamification

I hate video games. I find them to be a huge time waster and it seems like they do nothing to improve skills or learning. Although I am far from being alone in sharing this view, I know that I am not correct! Actually, "Gamification" has place in education, and it's something that many of us "old school" teachers need to learn how to embrace. This does not mean, stop teaching, stop interacting "face to face" start gaming because it will make kids smarter... (we all have seen enough evidence to prove that this isn't true!!) But if selected games are chosen and they are used in addition to practices which are already implemented in the classroom, then they have a place! As a teacher have you ever been able to give instant feedback to learning to each and every student in one lesson? Well that's what games can offer. Instant feedback, instant reinforcement as to whether or not the strategy that a person is taking is correct or not. Plus games allow for failure. Oooooohhhhh.... did I say failure!?!? Yes, but it's not the end of the world if a person fails at a game.... it's a lesson that the user doesn't get the information being taught.

In spite of my hate for video games, last year I used a FREE site for Math Video games. On this site, I could set up my class list, choose specific skills that reinforced concepts which we were exploring, plus introduced new concepts for the next unit - and 85% of my class loved it. There were a few kids who detested gaming, but gave it a shot. Did it improve results? I think it did. Do I have the data to back it?? I would need to employ gaming for more than one year to test the results. Did the games follow curriculum outcomes? Most of them, I chose them based on a data bank of skills, and referenced the Sask Math Curriculum. Did it engage students and get them "practicing" math at home, until their parents "kicked" them to bed? Yep! Did it teach collaboration once in a while? Yep, particularly because once in a while we would engage in a "Fai - To" or "Math Battle" against another school, and we needed to garner enough points to win. Did it highlight student skills and allow for students to shine? Yep. Many of my quiet students who would never speak in class, would work hard to win points for our class, and soon became known as "Math Ninjas".

Quality Learning Games Can Provide Skills for the following...
• motivate and provide goals
• encourage participation
• foster creative, interactive problem-solving
• strengthen critical and systems thinking
• pose adaptive challenges
• spark inquiry

So even though I hate video games, I think that there is room for them as part of a teacher's repetoire of practices to improve learning.

So I guess all I am saying is... Give Video games a chance... in the right context that is!!

Here are some video game links which I have used for Math...

www.mangahigh.com - FREE!

http://labyrinth.thinkport.org/www/ - FREE!


www.mathletics.com - NOT FREE!

Other games... (There are tons that I have used, but these ones really grabbed my attention...)
Gamestar Mechanic - Learn how to create video games!! Free registration and 1st game, then there's a cost.
Against All Odds - United Nations game, allows user to feel what it's like to be a refugee.
http://www.playagainstallodds.com/

MTV's - Darfur is Dying
http://www.darfurisdying.com/

http://gamestarmechanic.com/

http://www.brainpop.com/educators/community/games/

MIT's Learning Edge Platform Wars - yes from MIT!
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/simulations/platform-wars/Pages/default.aspx

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES TO BACK UP WHAT I'VE SAID...
Mindshift - "Can Games Be Effective in Schools?"
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/01/money-time-and-tactics-can-games-be-effective-in-schools/

Mindshift - "Where do Educational Games Come From?"
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/09/where-do-educational-games-come-from/

Institute of Play - Games and Learning
http://www.instituteofplay.org/about/context/

Tomorrow.org - "Mapping a Personalized Learning Journey - K-12 Students and Parents Connect the Dots with Digital Learning"

 http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/2012_PersonalizedLearning.html

Infographic on Personalized Learning
http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/Infographic_PersonalizedLearning2012.pdf

Teach With Portals - Learning With Technology (Many subjects explored with lesson plans, Wiki, Blog... Very tech influenced.)
http://www.teachwithportals.com/
*Check out Language Arts Lesson- "How can a video game be a story?"

Ted Talk - 

Primary teachers freeby

No tech related but a good freeby for reading!

http://www.wordway.us.com/

Literacy centres ideas...

http://primaryparadise.blogspot.ca/2013/02/literacy-centers.html?m=1

Guide to Skype in the Classroom

Check out this very comprehensive site on Skype in the classroom

http://theedublogger.com/2011/04/03/the-complete-educators-guide-to-using-skype-effectively-in-the-classroom/

Happy Valentine's Day!

Click on the word, "Valentine" to get a big Valentine's Day hug from a real cutie!

The Digital Native - Myth or Reality

Are kids naturally able to use technology better than adults due to their "Techno Immersion"? Yes there is no denying that students know how to use technology, but do they know how to create in a variety of ways with it? Can they solve problems and use it to engage in critical thought?  Are they thinking about the best tool for the job? This is our role as educators... help students find the best tool for learning... and sometimes it's not with technology! Yes, you read it here!!

Engage students with technology, not drown them in it!

The following videos and articles are from my Graduate Studies class, and are actually quite interesting ;-)  Check them out if you are inclined....

I love the video below because of the emphasis that technology is only used when it fits the lesson or the achievable outcomes.... Not technology for the sake of using technology.






Project Based Learning video from British Columbia... Really shows what PBL looks like incorporating a Blended learning perspective.



Article from Educause, "Engage Me or Enrage Me: What Today's Learners Demand"
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0553.pdf

Digital Natives: Fact or Fiction??
http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2011/01/20/digital-natives-fact-or-fiction/

Are You a Digital Native or Digital Immigrant?
http://bigdesignevents.com/2011/08/are-you-a-digital-native-or-a-digital-immigrant/

The Digital Native - Myth and Reality
https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~tefko/Courses/Zadar/Readings/Selwyn%20dig%20natives,%20Aslib%20Proceedings%202009.pdf

Digital Natives - 10 Years After
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol7no4/koutropoulos_1211.pdf


If you wish to share or have any comments... Feel free to comment on this post... It might even give me some insights for my homework!! ;-) Remember it's important to collaborate...

OER site I love

Go to OER Commons - amazing stuff all free of course!

Lots of free courses!!

Http://www.oercommons.org/

Back channel for learning

Check out tech guru of free stuff on line, Richard Byrnes! He explains using Poll everywhere and Back channels or sites like Wall wisher to assess students for learning in the classroom... See what they know informally rather than judging by stares or quizzical looks!

Love, love, love this application of tech in a way to assess and improve learning!!!!

www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/01/a-teachers-guide-to-classroom.html?m=1

OERs

In my class we are learning about Open Educational Resources... A great concept which is all about taking resources and making them free and accessible on-line, thereby bringing resources and educational opportunities to the world. It's funny, I always thought I was somewhat "Tech-Savvy", now I know that I am definitely not!! 

Here's the introduction to Open Educational Resources... the history (short version) and basic philosophy... 

"Open Education Matters: Why is it important to share content?"

http://youtu.be/dTNnxPcY49Q

http://academicpub.sharedbook.com/serve/ac/tmmix/greenhouse/

Basic philosophy of OERs - GIVE EVERYONE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN.
They are about collaborating and sharing....
BASIC PRINCIPLES...
Redistribute - People share copies with others
Remix- People combine resources to create new content
Revise - People translate or change the work; people can modify and adapt
Reuse - People are allowed to freely use all or part of the unaltered, verbatim work

OERs are about teaching, learning and researching - accessible to everyone.... Knowledge as a public good. Knowledge as a public good. Everyone has the right to be educated, yet not everyone has the access to school.

Here's a good introductory video, "Why Open Education Matters" created by Flat World Knowledge. 


http://youtu.be/bLxJGx4ESWE

Here's a video that was a TED talk from 2006, with Richard Baraniuk on Open Source Learning which are closely linked to OERs...This new emergence of on-line sharing of free resources could really help our world. Of course there are barriers such as language, cultural contextual differences and cultural teaching styles... but it's a beginning. Most OERs if implemented well allow teachers to reuse or remix ideas, basically adapt to the needs of the culture or context.

http://youtu.be/RRymi-lFHpE



The job you have today may not exist in 5, 10, 20 years from now. So how will you prepare and adapt for this change? This is where the possibilities of OERs can really make a difference, not just from a global equity perspective, or to ease the cost of higher level learning, but for everyone who might be looking at changing positions or jobs in the future. How can we adapt and be able to afford to go to school continuously? Does it have to have a cost?
See the video below, "Education Without Limits: Why Open Education Matters" with Mitchell Levy, College Open Textbooks Co-Director... really reinforces this mindset or mindshift...

Video published on Jun 5, 2012 with Creative Commons (creativecommons.org)

http://youtu.be/ux8n3AZ4xUU

Other organizations that support the OER and Open Source Learning


http://20mm.org/

Twenty Million Minds Foundation - This organization founded by Dr. Gary Michelson was created to provide the use of comprehensive, digital, higher education textbook library to help reduce the costs of textbooks. His website  has the following mission... (see info direct from their website below).




OERs - Is this the way of the future in Higher level education??
Are on-line classes the future of higher education? Dean Florez, the President and CEO of 20 Million Minds Foundation and former state senator explains.
See link:  http://www.nbclosangeles.com/on-air/as-seen-on/188510251.html

Here's a blog on latest news from the Twenty Millions Minds Foundation... Check out the videos on the blog (many are TED talks... Really cool!)

http://www.20mm.org/News-Conference-Dean-Florez-of-20-Million-Minds-Foundation/News-58.html

Want to sign up for OERs? It's a fairly new OER site (it doesn't have many resources - yet)

Twenty Million Minds Mix Coop

http://academicpub.sharedbook.com/serve/ac/tmmix/greenhouse/

Doug Belshaw on TED talks on Open Source Learning and Digital Literacy


"Why Open is Important" video on open educational resources at the University level. He explains how OERs can provide opportunities and mechanisms for students and faculty to embrace the concept because it can improve the world by sharing knowledge. If the cost to produce something is $0, then the price of it should be $0...( Still trying to get my head around the price of planning documents to be shared.)
Dr. Paul Courant, Dean of University of Michigan Libraries, discusses why the concept of Open is important within academia.
Visit open.umich.edu/about to learn more.



http://youtu.be/XtUsffmHH0o

OERs at U of MICHIGAN - "It's all about collaboration and sharing"
Collaboration worldwide - Student's perspective video

http://youtu.be/dVkZL8fYxr8



Check out OER sites...
Creative commons http://creativecommons.org/

http://www.20mm.org/News-Conference-Dean-Florez-of-20-Million-Minds-Foundation/News-58.html

Powerful TED talk

Ooooooh I LOVE TED Talks. So many interesting perspectives on true reality. Maybe TLC should pick up TED Talks rather than shows about pageant toddlers or housewives who-have-too-much-money-and-too-little-education-or-class....

Anyways the TED talk that captured my attention recently was the "Reimagining Learning" by Richard Culatta.



or check out his video on Games used for Education and his research.
On the Innovative Learning site it states...

Games are powerful platforms for learning. They provide a highly motivating environment with lots of opportunity for repetition and feedback. In addition they give learners opportunities to make choices and embrace failure as an opportunity to improve.

Innovative Learning - Research and sites for Games
http://www.innovativelearning.com/

Big Ideas and Understanding by Design

Maybe you have heard of Grant Wiggins? Maybe not?? He is an advocate and creator of the "Backward Planning" model. Hmmmm... Sound familiar now??

If not, well he is the one who created the "Understanding by Design" framework. Here is a bit about it straight from his blog, just so I don't need to summarize it!

You will note that there is stuff to sell on the site, but I think that these books seem pretty worthwhile. Anyways... off to purchase a book or two, or find out if our library has them... ;-)

Understanding by Design® (UbD™) is a framework for improving student achievement. Emphasizing the teacher's critical role as a designer of student learning, UbD™ works within the standards-driven curriculum to help teachers clarify learning goals, devise revealing assessments of student understanding, and craft effective and engaging learning activities.

• A primary goal of education should be the development and deepening of student understanding.
• Students reveal their understanding most effectively when they are provided with complex, authentic opportunities to explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, empathize, and self-assess. When applied to complex tasks, these "six facets" provide a conceptual lens through which teachers can better assess student understanding.
• Effective curriculum development reflects a three-stage design process called "backward design" that delays the planning of classroom activities until goals have been clarified and assessments designed. This process helps to avoid the twin problems of "textbook coverage" and "activity-oriented" teaching, in which no clear priorities and purposes are apparent.
• Student and school performance gains are achieved through regular reviews of results (achievement data and student work) followed by targeted adjustments to curriculum and instruction. Teachers become most effective when they seek feedback from students and their peers and use that feedback to adjust approaches to design and teaching.
• Teachers, schools, and districts benefit by "working smarter" through the collaborative design, sharing, and peer review of units of study.

Be sure to also check out his Big Idea posts...

Big Ideas Blog Posts by Grant Wiggins...
http://www.authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/index.lasso

Explore +4

My husband recently showed me a new math classroom organization strategy and it's known as the "Explore +4". After viewing the video I was blown away... So much in fact, I want to try this format asap! The video highlights a first year teacher, Aaron Warner, who implemented the strategy with some of his own twists, namely the integration of technology.  Although I see that it would take considerable effort to organize, once the structures are in place - it would run itself... Well, with lots of teacher planning!

One other thing, as you watch video, take a look at the long range plans for math planning, how the front white board is organized, bulletin board "I can..." affirmation statements. Pretty cool!

Here's the video, brought to you by my husband and his team of consultants...http://rpsconnected.rbe.sk.ca/

Take the time to watch it... I'm sooo impressed with the work that has been done here, as well as a little jealous! ;-)



Grant Wiggins - Big Ideas... Listen to his podcast...
http://www.authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/article.lasso?artId=133

Schooling the world

I recently got this link via Classroom 2.0 to a very thought-provoking video, "Schooling
the World" produced by Carol Black. The video is free until February 12th... See the password.
The film is at https://vimeo.com/32012579 (password is STW2013), and looks at the often-devastating impacts of Western-style schooling in the developing world, particularly in Northern India.

In "Occupy Your Brain," Carol states, "[a]s our climate heats up, as mountaintops are removed from Orissa to West Virginia, as the oceans fill with plastic and soils become too contaminated to grow food, as the economy crumbles and children go hungry and the 0.001% grows so concentrated, so powerful, so wealthy that democracy becomes impossible, it’s time to ask ourselves; who’s educating us? To what end?"

ETMOOC

Want to take a free on-line class and learn more about how to integrate technology in the classroom... or  move beyond Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency??

Visit the ETMOOC session http://etmooc.org/, register... it's FREE!

For s "lite version" follow the posts shared on Twitter by participants...
#etmooc

Blended learning infograph

Blended learning infograph

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=510125

Classro 2.0 resources

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=510125

Classro 2.0 resources

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=510125

MOOCS

So what's a MOOC? How about a learning opportunity for everyone!!! It stands for Massive Open Online Community.


http://suewaters.com/2013/01/18/learning-through-blogging-as-part-of-a-connectivist-mooc/

Digital portfolios

What to create digital portfolios with students via the iPad!?

http://edudemic.com/2013/01/create-digital-portfolios/

Getting smart blog

Now this blog is a definite go to for "techie focused" topics .... I will definitely check out regularly!!! Just a 2 minute scan and there were 4 articles I wanted to read! If you are aware of what's coming our way in digital learning, check this out!!

http://gettingsmart.com/cms/

Flipping the staff mtg

Need more input for PD's? Want to try flipping the weekly staff mtg to try more resource sharing, more professional collaboration?? See the following link to a blog on how to flip your staff meeting.

I love this idea, especially because teachers are always so short on time. Check it out!!

http://www.teachthought.com/trends/flipped-classroom-trends/7-steps-to-flipped-professional-development/