Gamification: Serious Games

For the 'serious game' category, I decided to try a game called, 3rd World Farmer. I had to play this game a couple times before I understood the complete object of the game. After I played around with this particular serious game, I browsed around some other ones on the website, Games for Change.  This website offers a variety of other games that are purposely created to relate to real-world events to foster learning in defense, scientific exploration, agriculture, etc.  

For this particular game, I would like to incorporate different language learning objectives. Due to the higher level of vocabulary used in this game, I feel that incorporating this lesson with another content area such as science or math would be more appropriate and meaningful to the students.  The language learning objectives would require the students to recognize and label farming/agriculture vocabulary.  I would like to later assess the students again by providing visuals away from the game, to truly see if the vocabulary is retained. Another language objective that can be incorporated into this game would be the use of their oral fluency. The student will fully describe the steps they used to complete and build their farm. This will build their confidence in speaking because they are able to describe something that will hopefully be interesting to them, while the teacher can assess at the same time. 

Gamification: Escape the Room Games

Educators are continuously trying to explore and implement new innovative ways of learning through technology. One specific example is, Gamification. According to a recent journal article I have read, Seven Things You Should Know About Gamification, "Many instructors implement gamification because they believe the rewards or the spirit of competition will spur students’ concentration and interest and lead to more effective learning"(Educase, 2011).  This new approach to learning can truly benefit the learner in their language learning skills including, listening, reading, and writing. Specifically in a L2 classroom, educators can easily incorporate gamification into their curriculum, and also modify the gamification process to meet the needs of their own levels of students. 

Gamification is a term which, I am sure, many educators will decide to look away from. However, after watching Tom Chatfield's video 7 Ways Games Reward the Brain, he emphasizes the notion of immediate feedback and the power it has on truly feeling and learning a lesson. To be able to rationalize gamification in the classroom may seem puzzling and distracting to many educators, but the way I see it, it gives students the opportunity for continuous rewards, immediate feedback, and keeps the students interested and engaged for the next level of learning.  According to Tom Chatfield, "It's very hard to learn, to feel a lesson. But if you can model things for people, if you can give things to people that they can manipulate and play with and where the feedback comes, then they can learn a lesson, they can see,they can move on, they can understand" (TedGlobal, 2010). 

A type of game that I recently explored was posted on a blog site written by Larry Ferlazzo, The Best "Fun" On-line Video Games for English Language Development.  The type of game is considered an escape room game titled, Phantasy Quest.  This type of game allows for the student to explore an island using strategic 'point and click' skills to help navigate an adventure. To complete the game, the student must be able to use their reading skills to unlock puzzles, and eventually, reach an end goal.  A great modification an educator may use for this type of game is called a Walkthrough, which often times is readily available on the website.  A walkthrough gives step-by-step instructions on how to complete the game.  Therefore, the teacher can read these instructions to the students to develop higher level listening skills or have the students read them independently or with pairs to further enhance their reading skills, too.

Personally, over the past week, I have tried to play and 'beat' Phantasy Quest more than five times.  By no means can I say that I am at all experienced with video games, so I struggled.  Once I realized that I could not navigate this adventure any further, I printed the walkthrough instructions and completed the game.  Boy did it feel good!  So I then thought about my future students and how much they would enjoy playing this game, or would they get frustrated too fast and give up? First, I took into consideration the language level of my students in an ESL classroom.  I felt that my students would have to be placed in at least an intermediate level to truly gain a meaningful language learning experience playing this game. 

Language learning objectives that can be actively involved in this game would be the use of vocabulary, listening skills, and reading skills.  By searching other escape the room games it seemed clear to me that modification of the game(s) can easily be achieved.  An educator can incorporate any vocabulary he or she chooses to adapt to the students' levels.  Another language learning objective could be listening for instruction. The student would have to listen for the next strategy step in completing the game.  Reading is the last language objective.  If the student is working interdependently, they must use the language clues that pop up on the screen each time they click.  

How can I assess my students while they are activity engaged in this game?  As the students are working independently, I would walk around the room to check for comprehension when giving them the next strategy step.  By utilizing the walkthrough in my hand, I am able to check to see if students are using their listening skills from my clues and if they are reading/comprehending the clues written on the screen. In a later activity, I would provide visuals/images of new vocabulary they learned throughout this game to better assess their level of understanding. 

"To Tweet or Not to Tweet"

As a visual learner myself, I always try and incorporate visual aides within my classroom instruction. Ten Great Video Tutorials on Using Twitter in Education, is a great article including informational videos to help me better understand the nuts and bolts of micro-blogging with Twitter. The video that captured my eye was titled, Academic Excellence in 140 Characters. They take a look on the usage of social media sites and the impact of learning. The engagement of students with each other were impacted. They felt as if they knew each other on a higher level. in and outside of their classroom. 

Twitter in the classroom included discussions on a relevant topic discussed further from class, assignments, and most importantly, a way for students to interact through what they love, social networking. Students are able to express themselves in 140 characters interacting with each other and support.  The teachers also put reminders on the Twitter page of upcoming assignments, office hours, and events on campus. I found myself really connecting with this video in relation to how they effectively used this micro-blogging tool in the classroom.

   

The second article I read was titled, A Must Have Guide When Using Twitter in Your Classroom. This intrigued my eye because I love when information is designed in a bullet point referenced way.  Educators of any field continuously have fast paced lives, especially when it comes to technology.  This article listed four sub-categories on implementing technology in the classroom including communication, organization, resources and writing skills. My favorite activity using Twitter that would be very appropriate for ELL students is having them tweet sentences using a specific word to build vocabulary.  As soon as I read this idea, 5 more ideas came to mind! This is only one of the many ideas on the Twitter Guide. This website 'sold' the use of Twitter in my future classroom! 

Teach Me Twitter

Tonight I participated in a live twitter chat; #ELLCHAT. It opened an entire new world for me. I have never explored my options through Twitter, the most used micro-blogging program today. Over the years I have had a pre-conceived notion that Twitter was only a gossip site. After tonight's live chat, that notion has been erased. 

The connections, ideas and reflections of past experiences were brought to the chat.  The topic was on bullying.  More specifically, bullying with ELLs. The best part about the chat was how serious other educators participated.  The chat begin promptly at 9PM and the tweets did not stop until 10PM. I truly feel that live chats on Twitter can benefit any educator with their professional development. It takes you out of your comfort zone and hear what other educators have learned and experienced in their school, and the steps they take to solve problems.  

Many of the educators shared resourceful journal articles on bullying as well.  One of the articles shared was very interesting and I saved it in my Diigo account titled, 8 Tips to Protect ELLs from Bullying in Your Classroom and school. This article provided 8 clear tips on how to protect ELLs from bullying.  This article can be passed along to parents as well. 

By attending this chat, I can now utilize this experience in my future teaching career. As educators we should never stop learning through each other.  Live chat provides a great support to keep the learning meaningful and engaging! 









Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

The Teachers Guide to Twitter

EFL Classroom 2.0!

A Great Home for Learning and Teaching 

Today I have joined a wonderful community on-line.  The community website page is titled EFL Classroom 2.0 !  I couldn't believe the resources before my eyes after joining!  The foremost greatest surprise about this new connection is that I haven't even seen everything it has to offer.  The depth of content materials, videos, blogs and mp3's are endless.  

By creating your own personal profile (which can be private if you chose) you are able to network with other teachers to share ideas of successful lessons and what I also call  "flop" lessons.  

From my past student teaching experiences, I found it absolutely necessary to reflect on each lesson.  Even if it was on a brief post-it note with 5 bullet points, listing what went well and what to change for next time. Reflection is essential to continuously learn as a teacher and building a network to share these reflections, takes it one step higher. You are not only helping yourself as an educator, helping other educators in your field, and you are most importantly, helping your students learn in the most meaningful environments, with the most advanced materials.

EFL Classroom 2.0 also provides monthly newsletters to help keep you informed with the most recent resources added to the site, along with special seminars and training's that are free! The professional development aspect of this website is current and readily available for their members. I am truly very grateful that my professor has provided this site for me to browse and join:)

Any questions?  Please comment! 

L

A Learner in the Modern World

For many decades learning theories have been studied, researched, and developed by theorists, philosophers and educators. Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism are the three widespread learning theories implemented through research.  "These theories, however, were in a time when learning was not impacted through technology".   Siemens has looked at these three learning theories and has added yet another theory to satisfy the technology, that is now intensively added into our learner's lives-Connectivism.  Connectivism continuously is moving forward at a rapid rate.  There are four principles that are integrated into this learning theory. Chaos, network, complexity, and self-organization theories.  How does connectivism relate with current technology in the learning process? First, lets look at the root word, connect. Beginning from when we were born, our lives have been filled through connection with others creating a variety of experiences.  

Today in the 21st century, our connections have changed and our social networking has expanded. Vieira, provides a brief explanation of the expansion of social networking through a Youtube video titled, The Network is Learning. Social software is one of the largest ways we network as adults through either personal or professional communication.  Children and adolescents network through social media using pictures, statues, text-messages, and blogs, only to name a few.  Educators are now enforcing educational learning through social software and is changing the way children learn.  Along with Vieira, George Siemens has posted a short informative sideshow audio on collectivism and the continual fluctuating space which learning occurs titled, What is Connectivism? After listening to both of these short videos I can positively say that I have a much greater understanding of Connectivism and how I can relate it to my networking through technology. 

"Our emphasis with collectivism is to recognize the continually fluctuating space in which learning occurs.  If we fail to account for those progressive changes, we will omit a good portion of what is critical in the learning process"-George Siemens Associate Director, R & D , LTC U of Manitoba.   

A learner is like a continuous and steady ripple affect. One small drop or change keeps the ripple going in the ocean and can be related to a learner and their knowledge/advancements. As experiences and connecting increases so does the affect and changes of learning. "A knowledge continues to grow and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the learner currently possesses". Now how does this work?  Does this mean the information I am learning today is not going to help me tomorrow?  As continuous learners, we need to focus on what we need to learn for tomorrow so we can keep steady with the developing changes around us. This is why as educators we truly need to evaluate our teaching styles to fit the needs of students today. "In order to better understand learning, we need to better understand how and why connections form.  We need to understand the nature of those connections, find how we need to use that understanding in forming how we design classrooms, how we create curriculums, and how we deliver or teach the curriculum".  With the literature and slide show videos that were given to complete this assignment, I now have a greater understanding of how I need place connectivism on a higher level of importance, when designing the environment for my students to learn.  21st century students of all ages need the opportunity to enhance through experiences, networks, and currency.  Relationships, decision making and maintaining connections are all important skills needed to be implemented in my curriculum planning.

Here is a little Vygotsky for thought :)
“The relation of thought to word is not a thing but a process, a continual movement backward and forth from thought to word and from word to thought. In that process, the relation of thought to word undergoes changes that themselves may be regarded as developmental in the functional sense. Thought is not merely expressed in words; it comes into existence through them. Every thought tends to connect something with something else, to establish a relation between things. Every thought moves, grows and develops, fulfills a function, solves a problem” (1986, p.218).