Jane McGonigal and "The Institute For the Future"

I am going to be honest, I was so intrigued by Jane McGonigal’s message about the virtues rather than waste of time by gamers that I went online to see more about her and her mission. She is serious. She wants to change the world using gamers as a human resource which really isn’t a new concept, humans have been used as a resource for centuries both physically and mentally. Her message is laid out so eloquently that the listener wants to dive right in and become a gamer too. I can see why she is so good at game creation. Her message includes all the things we as teachers want for our students in the classroom. Her four attributes of the gamer that help them become “virtuosos” such as urgent optimism, creators of trustful social fabric, blissful productivity users, and collaborators of epic meaning are just what the education professionals want for 21^st Century classrooms. How could a good all American worker not come from this possible type of learning environment? This new approach could catch many students that may otherwise be lost to traditional education methods. All of our efforts, like any other trend in education, should not be dominated by making the use of games the primary method of presentation of instruction. But if given the ability to incorporate trust, collaboration, challenges that inspire us, and feedback that pushes us to achieve more, I will take the opportunity. Simple point and click games have been in education for decades but the extreme entertainment of television and Xbox has driven these educational games into extinction. I do invite the readers of this blog to check out other videos by Jane McGonigal, she has more to offer than what is mentioned in the video. She has personal life experiences that is the driving force of some of her games. Check out the game “SuperBetter” online. In conclusion, I really think the aspects of gaming that may be detrimental to the education process should be discussed. These include such items as addition to games, the idea of wasting time, and what knowledge is really being transferred to the student? Any new idea has its drawbacks, that is life, but we cannot waste time in education! Time ticks by whether we use it for good or evil. If students become addicted to learning by the use of gaming, then isn’t that time well spent? When educational psychologists become involved in the initial creation of games for education patterned with and by the business sector game inventors, then out of this collaboration virtual service learning can begin.

Askash by DataWind is Shrinking the World to 7" - No Way!

Well "yes way", it is time to bring the world to the most populated place on earth. This was my first thought as I read the wonderful things about this device. So many possibilities in the hands of anyone young or old in India for such a great price of $35. This device has its drawbacks such as limited sound and slow touch response but it was not introduced to be used in New York. The tight covered screen to limit destruction of dirty little hands is a big plus in India. But then I read the comments at the bottom of the article. There were many comments. Maybe I was not supposed to read the comments but I wanted to know what other people thought of the device. There were more bad things said than good, but this is also true of anything you put out there for others to read and comment on, just check out Facebook on any given day. Most comments were about how bad the device worked and that it cost a lot more than $35 for the average person in India. When all is said and done, this device was made cheap for a reason, mass production for a mass population. With 40% of the world's poor in India there are no deep pockets for luxuries such as Internet devices. Expanding education for children in India will not even be able to be measured in ten or twenty years by using these devices. From the information in the article this device serves a need, bringing the world to school children. And that should be good enough reason for anyone. Read for yourself at http://venturebeat.com/2011/10/26/aakash-android-tablet-exclusive/.

Comments on the Ted Talk video:  7 Ways to Reward the Brain

Let me begin by saying WOW......  For a non-gamer as myself I am impressed. I did not know there could be some really useful ways of applying the theory of the gaming process in the educational arena. I have noticed just like everyone else the extreme addition that can come from various games that people play at any age. My grandson loves to play his LeapFrog, my daughter plays her games on a 60 inch Vizio TV, and the iPhone is attached to the hip of my son-in-law. If games can bring in to education through these 7 ways to reward the brain of the student learner, I am all in! Teachers constantly complain about the lack of motivation and inner drive of their students, this is certainly an avenue that could be explored for the classroom. Using gaming this gaming data collection process in the classroom we could increase student engagement, breaking down learning into smaller calibrated tasks, apply calculated randomness, reward all large or small efforts, provide personal investment and capitalize on group behavior, with a minimal cost factor. Of course this is not new stuff, we have had gaming in educational software since the beginning of time but to harness the background support of the gaming industry to enhance education is a dream worth dreaming.

The one statement that really got to me was almost at the end of the video when the speaker referenced the game "EverQuest". He said the gamers developed a ..."player developed, self-enforcing, voluntary currency" that players used to collaborate in the game to slay the two big dragons and it exists today. There can be no limits to what the human mind can do if given the right direction, under the right circumstances.

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