17 Matching Annotations
  1. Apr 2019
    1. Tablets become like junk food

      Interesting analogy. I have noticed that when I eat more junk food, I also mindlessly play with my phone more.

    2. students who have been labeled and/or diagnosed because they struggle within the traditional school environment benefit from game-based approaches

      I can see this. Many students who struggle in the traditional classroom think outside the box, but they are not allowed to be as creative as they can be.

    3. lay is useful because it simulates real life experience—physical, emotional, and/or intellectual

      Play is best when people are learning and don't even realize they are learning.

  2. Jan 2019
    1. ns that it “remains unclear whether games present a radically new approach to development, or simply a new technological platform for replicating traditional project

      Even if games are used in order to simply replicate a traditional project, educators are still effecting change by using them.

    2. Play is strongly associated with both formal and informal learning, as evidenced by connections among play and language development, socialization, problem solving, cultural identity, and creative expres

      I am glad to see that schools are trying to incorporate more active learning into the curriculum, rather than passive learning.

    1. herearealsoparticularwaysofunderstandinghowthetechnologicalandsocialdimensionsofgamesandschooltogetherandrecurrentlycoproducewaysofteachingandlearning

      I am looking forward to learning how schools can incorporate games with socialization in order to trigger student learning.

    2. Rather,educatorsarefrequentlypositionedasengineerswhomustdutifullyservicewell-wornapplicationsforfar-too-predictablestudentlearningoutcomes.

      Because of standardized testing, teachers are often held accountable to follow the standards. This leaves little room for creativity. However, as an educator, I would like to do my best to incorporate puzzle making into the classroom.

    3. thepuzzleaffirmstheimportanceofonesetofrightanswers,aprescribedpatterningofcorrectnessthatmaynotbequestioned,onlyuncovered

      Personally, I love puzzles. I can see how they help students put together and analyze patterns. This is a valuable skill.

    1. scholars have begun to document the cognitive, social, and emotional benefits of playing video games with other people in both co-located and virtual situations

      A student of mine wrote a research paper on the positive effects of video games. He did mention the cognitive and emotional benefits of game playing. Of course, I think this all depends on a variety of factors, such as home environments and natural cognitive abilities.

    2. i uSe the buiLt-in aSSeSSmentSSyStemSthat come With certain gameS

      I would love to learn about assessments that are tied to reading and vocabulary games.

    3. Immersive and complex games are demonstrating their potential to transform that curriculum and launch it on a new trajectory that harnesses story, simulation, and stimu-lation, along with competition and collaboration, to achieve higher standards and deeper learning

      As a secondary education teacher, I am so curious to see what direction schools will go in when it comes to transforming the curriculum. While public schools use Canvas and google classroom and games such as Kahoot,classes are not taught much differently than they were in the 1980's.

    1. Students will author a Book Review about a contemporary issue related to games and learning, and will submit the review for commentary from peers

      I am looking forward to this. This sounds interesting!

    2. Please note that this course is as much about learning (something practiced, and often a social practice with political and cultural implications) as it is about games

      In our modern society, people do much of their learning through games. The main reason I signed up for this course was to learn ways to reach my students through games.

  3. Jan 2018
    1. However, the more fantastical your world is the more work you need to do to bring it to life. This is because the audience will have less of a frame of reference for what you're creating and so the work is on you to bring it to existence. 

      In an earlier annotation, I comment on J.K Rowling and the Harry Potter series. She must have put in a lot of extra time andher discussion of the "British culture". Her frame of reference was the British culture. She created characters such as the Dursley's to engage her readers. Even if most readers cannot wrap their heads around magic, they may be able to relate to having mean caretakers or relatives. Rowling referenced enough "real life" situations in order to bring her fantastical world to life.

    1. Multitasking forces you to pay a mental price each time you interrupt one task and jump to another. In psychology terms, this mental price is called the switching cost.

      As I get older, the less I believe that there is such a thing as multi-tasking. Very young people are always telling me that they can listen to instructions and play a video game at the same time. Yet, they don't catch even half of what they are instructed to do. While people are technically able to multitask, I don't think it is good for the brain. As the article state, "you pay a mental price.."

    1. Magic needs rules in order to work well in a story. It needs to make sense, to have logic, otherwise your readers are going to get annoyed with how it just changes whenever you feel like it and it defeats any chance of story because all the problems can be solved by magic.

      I am personally a fan of J.K Rowling's Harry Potter books. Magic does need rules in order to work well in a story. There are very few authors who can create an imaginary world like this and somehow integrate it into a "normal" society. If the Harry Potter series had focused solely on magic, it would not have been nearly as popular. J.K Rowling took her knowledge of magic and combined in with British culture. That in itself was magic.

    1. In particular, 21st-century students have grown up using different technology from that which their professors grew up with.

      As a high school teacher who graduated from high school in 1996 and received my undergrad in 2001, I realize that this is true. Students today have grown up with smart phones and laptops with video games downloaded on them. Unfortunately, public schools do not create standardized tests in the form of games. Students are taking the same type of tests that they took when I was in school. Is it effective to plan lessons that revolve around games, or does this set students up for disappointment, since the real world is not a game? I ponder this question on a regular basis.