298 Matching Annotations
  1. Jul 2016
    1. Hopefully it will evolve into something you and your students will cherish.

      This article didn't really enlighten me at all about how Pokemon Go is the future of education...

    1. I’m sure lots of you out there may have challenges to the above ideas and even better ones.

      I struggle with annotating texts that are potentially controversial. For example, last semester we annotated some texts on GamerGate. It's such a touchy subject that I felt that I couldn't express my full opinions, I had a fear of retribution.

    2. the public. Classmates and teachers can follow their research through their notes

      This is where hypothesis groups comes in handy. You can see what anyone in your group is posting anywhere (if they are using the group features). This might be something to explore in a future course!

    3. semester-long conversation on each other’s class blogs

      Sounds like what we're doing in ILT5340.

    4. students can gain a lot from independent work as well

      Yes, being able to take your annotations "anywhere" is a definite plus!

    5. encourages students to “steal” and cite ideas from each other’s hypothes.is annotations

      This is a neat idea, but do you think that this inhibits some of the students from annotating to their full potential? If I had a great idea, I might save it for myself instead of having someone else "steal" it.

  2. Jun 2016
    1. Check out my first ever vine video!

      Very nice! Can you provide a little bit more context and a link to the ds106 assignment bank project?

    1. ‘favorite vacation,’

      Very nice! Looks like you had a good time.

    1. This piece was inspired in a number of different ways

      This is fantastic! I can tell you put a lot of time and effort into this. I'm looking forward to learning how to use a green screen myself in the near future :)

    1. This weeks challenge was to create a video that paid homage to something I care about

      I did the same video last year, on the same topic (my son, he was 10 months at the time). I sent it to the grandmas and they thought I made it as a gift to them. Dual purpose! It was great

    1. Who Run The World.

      Haha this is great, puts a whole new meaning to the video.

    1. Name That Book assignment

      I'm not good at this game, maybe I don't read enough. Nice job!

    1. 'Bob Ross' on crack, minus the afro and acrylic

      All of Bob Ross' tv shows are on YouTube now! Great job, I'm not an artist so I can really appreciate your talent.

    1. (finger spelling) a word for others to guess.

      Beaches! How very summer of you :)

    1. Walking to work

      I actually watched this earlier this week and I loved it. I like how you explain how this relates to your focal theme.

    1. The challenge was sending a message to represent my chosen theme, cat welfare, with a six second work of art.

      This is great! Origami rocks :)

    1.  It was the only one I felt like I could relate it in some way to education without being in a classroom right now.

      This is great! I love it, and how you related it to your theme.

    1. Click here to see my adventures in Fort Jackson, South Carolina and beyond.

      Fantastic video. I really like how you spaced the timing in the video with the music.

    1. Can you guess which book title I was illustrating?

      I have no clue, but this looks really fun! Maybe let us know next week?

    1. Assignment Bank Video Creation – MS Student Performance Highlights

      Great video Dan. Can you please give a little bit of a description to go along with your assignments (including a link to the ds106 assignment you're creating)?

    1. Lately, I have been going to the pool with my kids whenever we get the chance.

      Sounds wonderful! Great job with the video, very creative and resourceful!

    1. So, how was it?

      Adorable! I love animals and have two giant Bernese Mountain dogs :) (and 3 cats)

    1. meaning to record this tutorial for a while and this assignment provided an excuse to do so

      Nice tutorial, I like the dual purpose of it! I'll be honest, I didn't watch the whole thing :).

    1. “our very own backyard”

      Isn't it amazing what you can find in your own "backyard"? I need to do this more where I live :)

    1. digital literacy.

      I'm knee deep in this at work, such a difficult subject!

    2. deemphasize solitary piecework.

      And emphasize creativity!

    3. Teachers and professors regularly ask students to write papers. Semester after semester, year after year, “papers” are styled as the highest form of writing.

      I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I hope this has changed to allow for more creativity in the classroom.

    4. we are blinding ourselves to the world as it is. And then we’re punishing students for our blindness.

      I believe this has changed dramatically since this article was written.

    5. Simply put, we can’t keep preparing students for a world that doesn’t exist

      How can we modernize our current education to fit the unknown needs of the future?

    6. but the better question is whether the form of learning and knowledge-making we are instilling in our children is useful to their future.”

      Or even a better question: How do we use these tools to help children learn, and acquire skills that they need?

    7. fully 65 percent of today’s grade-school kids may end up doing work that hasn’t been invented yet.

      This isn't breaking news. I'm currently doing a job that wasn't "invented" when i was in grade school

    1. DO NOT CLICK LINK! I MEAN IT!

      I clicked it, I love this song! Being Canadian, I love everything that the Barenaked Ladies puts out :)

    1. annotate this text right here with your creative media!

      My version of today's daily create can be found on my blog!

  3. May 2016
    1. outdated infrastructure.

      Yes, soon to be updated (fingers crossed).

    2. I could see where you could go down rabbit holes very easily.

      Yes, like finding Scott Nicholson in a kilt!

      But in all seriousness I could spend a quite a bit of time on this site. There is so much to explore.

    3. Do all of these implications also apply to other cultural discriminators (race, age, sexual identity, etc.)?

      That's a lot of questions! I'm going to say that there is a misconception in the general population about who plays tabletop games. There was a Dungeon and Dragons "panic" in the 1980s that may have started it all.

    4. Before that, you mentioned that someone gave you Geek Gold, presumably from some kind of contribution that you made. Please tell us more about this. Was the gold for contributing to a dialogue? How can the gold be spent? How do you get Geek Gold for giving to others? I’m very curious about the social dynamics that this gamification creates.

      I started a discussion and was open about participating for a school project. Other members were very welcoming, and wanted to get me off to a good start so gave me some "geek gold" so my avatar wasn't blank.

      I also got some interest in our course from some members, so I shared our course website and my blog so they could take a look.

      I'm not sure how to actually give others gold as I don't have any to give. Another way to get gold is to financially support the site. My husband does this every year.

    5. Do you think someone who is newer to the board game world or maybe not as strong in their interest would encounter any friction points in becoming a contributor?

      I think this type of person might be more of a passive participant. There is a lot of information on the site, and if you look hard enough you'll probably find it.

    6. it was fun and interesting to see updates of what you’ve been playing.

      Sometimes I thought that you all were going to think I was weird playing so many games!

    7. Did you generally find that people in the space were more diplomatic in their opinions than in other board game communities or groups with which you’re familiar?

      Yes, I didn't explicitly find anyone being negative towards the classic games, but I didn't look too deeply either.

    8. do you think that is a strength or weakness?

      I think it's a great way to promote community.

    9. Besides the lack of connections to other Affinity spaces what other limitations did you find?

      The outdated interface was limitation enough! Also, I didn't find a "how to" section on the site, that probably would have helped.

    10. Is there a policing of the site where they remove comments that are extreme?

      I did see some posts that were deleted but it wasn't indicated by whom. Usually threads get locked when they get to controversial or out of control.

    11. What comments did he give you or that you have heard that made navigating the system easier?

      He's actually the one that showed me how to log my game plays and post to Twitter!

      He's also offered up some suggestions of things I should have put into my presentation such as game rule translations and "Math Trades". Math trades are where you can trade games with others going through the administrators on the site. Most people won't trade with new members so this service helps.

    12. You talked about your husband using the site often (insider) did you look to him for advice since you were the (outsider).

      Yes? I didn't particularly look at him for answers, he offered advice (constantly) because he was so excited that I was participating in this site for my project. He did help me pick out some of my microbadges.

    13. This discussion thread was apparently helpful in clarifying the rules.

      It was! I think I might enjoy this game more knowing the broken rule. It's typically a game we only play when we have 6+ people, and it's always difficult when you're group gets that big.

    14. Very game like!

      Yes, very fun! I had a good time picking everything out, and of course the cute picture of my dog as my avatar :)

    15. Or can anyone tell just by looking at their profile avatars, stickers, etc?

      You can tell, a new user has this indicated in their "overtext" of their avatar until they change it. Game designers, artists and publishers have special tags. Also those that support the website get a special tag.

    16. Designing any experience necessarily entails trial and error, and who better positioned to understand the interplay between rules and possibilities than designers?

      Exactly, this hasn't quite translated to our home life yet. My husband is designing his own game, but that doesn't make him any better at reading rules to other games :P. I believe he is the exception to the rule.

    17. If only more of us had the courage to do so IRL.

      I know, eh? I know the people I game with would stick up for me if anything like that were to happen. But they've been my/my husband's friends for a long time.

    18. (Author??? I can’t read any text because the video resolution is too poor)

      The author doesn't state her name on her tumblr site so I left it out. Some people did some digging and found it...

    19. This make it very personal to her, which perhaps, is a little unwelcoming in an open forum?

      Right, with such a large membership, and having an uncommon last name, it made me a bit anxious.

    20. “Power Grid” games discussion board?

      I've playing this game a few times and we always ended before the last round because there was an obvious winner, so I asked if we were doing something wrong, and of course we were :)

    21. “Women and Gaming” postings?

      I posted in the women and gaming forum about this project and got some "geek gold". Enough to purchase 5 micro badges and an avatar. My husband supplemented the rest to get my "overtext".

    22. “Games in the Classroom” postings?

      Yes, I posted asking how to transform a boring faculty development session into a game using google apps, and got some interesting results!

    23. Dislike for classic big name brand games like Monopoly and Scrabble.

      I'm not sure I meant this to mean this is how you become an insider, it's just common in my group of friends.

  4. Apr 2016
    1. Oh yes – the Scott Nicholson connection, that’s great!
    2. How would you characterize the discussion? Were people dismissive, or open to other people’s perspectives, or…?

      Some were dismissive, and said some ill-informed things like "Oh, that's a lot of incidents for one person!" or "No game company would ever do that!" Some chose to take her side, some chose to keep people in check, and some were down right trolls.

    3. Do you think that this real name dynamic prevents people either from joining or participating?

      I don't think so, I think people might be more careful with what they said, but board gaming seems like a very social hobby (you actually have to play face2face with other people), that might have something to do with the acceptance of being open in such a public manner.

    4. What aspects of participation initially caused others to engage with you? Simply your presence… or your ratings of games… or your posts to forums… or something else?

      I shamelessly posted in the forums that I was taking a games and learning class and I was exploring BGG for my affinity space, and members were very welcoming and gave me geek gold with instructions to personalize my avatar. It was a great experience.

    5. What an excellent idea, Lisa!

      Not my idea! Full credit goes to Brian.

    1. “To see what would happen.”

      This is a great reason! Think about children, they try things all the time to "see what would happen", why do we disregard this as adults?

    2. Where they will or will not find a dinosaur egg or two, where they will or will not discover a new species.

      But there's always learning in trying. I heard a great quote on the weekend "80% of the time you're playing a game you're failing at your goal", and I think that it also applies to real life, it's how we learn.

    3. The digital isn’t magic.

      Sometimes, to some people, it is magic.

    4. Prince Edward Island from July 15-18, 2016

      Oh Canada! Hi, from a fellow Canadian!

    1. For me, this game has a high level of replayability for short amounts of time. 

      How long did it take you to beat the game?

    2. Free to play games have earned a very bad reputation throughout the gaming community due to business practices that cause tension between players.

      Curious, what platform do you use to play the game? I'm going to assume mobile, since most free2play is often on that platform (but not always).

      This also reminds me of the term my husband and I use with f2p games: "Pay 2 win". Is that an option in this game?

    3. The number of different paths for customizing your character through upgrades are absolutely staggering.

      Talent trees seem to be getting more and more complex. Did you use any online resources (or affinity spaces) to help you with your skills?

    1. My exposure to Codenames reinforced what I love about words and I was finally able to enjoy something with the group that I have been participating in throughout the semester, instead of constantly feeling like an outsider who just doesn't get it.

      I'm sorry that your group made you feel this way :( That's not very "nurturing". Have you tried suggesting to them to try a lighter game once and while (such as Codenames)? I've been following your blog and twitter and it seems like they've drowned you in mid-range / heavier games which seems like a really rough start to playing board games.

    2. I didn't really care about the storyline or the more theatrical aspect of the game: I just like to guess words!

      This is fantastic! Some people really enjoy lore and stories in their games (like I do), and some don't. This game appeals to many!

    3. does the clue refer to a city or a location?

      Could just say "Cities: 2". but I get what you're saying

    4. I was assured that it would be quick and that it was easy to learn: I think these people are beginning to "get me"...

      I'm really happy that your group is open to playing games that everyone can enjoy!

    5. none of which appeals to me

      But there's the cooperative aspect which is fun. Who are you going to invite along to fight or defend? How will that affect the game?

    6. I was exposed to a game that I enjoyed playing

      HOORAY! I knew it would happen! There's a board game out there for everyone :)

    7. keeping in mind that I dislike board games, meetups, and groups

      Can I ask why you chose a board game group as your affinity space?

    1. E.colicontractedfromswimminginwatercon-taminatedbygoosedroppings,

      Being from Canada I can totally understand this issue. But this is bringing up memories of back home, and it's a warm day in PA (75, sorry you rocky mountain folks have SNOW!) and now I want to go swimming.

    2. thottbot

      Oh the memories of thottbot!

    3. Untilrecently,gamershavebeendepictedinpopularmediaaseitherchildrenorlonemenintheirbasement,hunchedovertheirkeyboards

      The percentage of gamers now is almost a 50 - 50 split between woman and men. Article from the guardian.. This number varies slightly depending on who you speak with.

    4. orwillwecomeupwithpedagogicalmodelsthatleveragestudents’constan

      I believe that we have already achieved this. With all the new education apps out there (LMS apps, testing apps, mobile web conferencing apps) there are so many ways to engage students using a mobile device.

    5. Outsideofschool,termpapersarefreelyavailableonline(orcanbecustomordered),studentsdivvyuphomeworkassignmentsinchat-rooms,andstudentsusetheInternettoexchangeinformation.Meanwhile,inschool,ourreactionhasbeentobanthesetechnologiesorseverelyrestricttheiraccess.

      Is this really that different than before? It's just a different means to the same end.

    1. Quests were another feature of MMM

      Quests usually have rewards. What were the rewards for successfully completing the quests?

    1. SZJOHUPSFNBJOPCKFDUJWFBOEEFBMJOHXJUITUVGGXIFO*BNTPNFPOFXIPJTNBZCFOPUOFDFTTBSJMZPGUIBUTBNFPQJOJPOPSWJFXQPJOU

      This student is learning to form his own opinions, that's great!

      not sure what happened with my highlight, that's a lot of jumbled letters...

    2. Some focused upon a particular skill or media practice, such as video production or game design, while others were able to study a particular topic or issue they found mean

      I feel this is more learner-centered than the neighborhood project.

    3. She particularly tuned into how the unique constraints of television shaped how the events were being reported

      It's great how they are expanding their learning outside the constraints of the school project.

    4. . With little prompting, the students asked clarifying questions, gathered additional background information, and identified key issues and questions they wanted to explore through fieldwork, documentation, and additional online research.

      I wonder why the students were so interested. Did the budget affect them directly (education cuts, city changes, new buildings)?

  5. gamesandlearning.files.wordpress.com gamesandlearning.files.wordpress.com
    1. engage in a range of new media practices.

      And probably learn some new literacies along the way!

    2. Students were motivated by the fact that others used/played their designs.

      Who wouldn't be psyched about people playing their games?!

    3. Design Order Board.

      Sounds suspiciously like a story board.

    4. ones supplied by the project

      I like how the school took into account the equity factor and allowed everyone in the class to be immersed in the project.

    5. others relied more heavily on their mobile devices

      I feel that this is an important point. The students will be designing a game for mobile devices and are using their mobile devices to take notes. I wonder if there was any difference in the quality of the games produced based on their note taking methods.

    1. As we use Hypothesis this semester, what are the benefits – and the limitations – of serving as an early(ish) adopter?

      I feel that the tool is allowing me to interact with my peers like I never have before.

      I have noticed some bugs, or limitations. For example: Log into your google drive. On the main page (drive.google.com) you'll notice there is 15 annotations. Someone is obviously reading Macbeth and annotating their drive, but doesn't realize that because the site is a generic name and Google logs you in based on their magic, that everyone else can see it.

  6. Mar 2016
    1. My students assumed the roles of historical figures and stepped outside their everyday selves to analyze events and solve problems from multiple perspectives

      Adding "layers" like mentioned earlier.

    2. civilisation
    3. Jeremiah I. Holden*

      The pressure is ON!

    1. Anecdotally, students were animated to show their work each week, highly productivestudents more often worked in groups, and conversations around quests were much lessrelated to scoring and points and much more related to increasing the quality andprofessionalism of the products.

      This reminds me of digital storytelling from last summer and how at the end four of us (+Remi) worked together on our last assignment!

    2. “Dr Dikkers, would it be okay if I stopped questing and spent the last fewweeks of class learning to code?

      This is great! the methods used encouraged interest driven learning!

    3. bossfights” as summative activities

      This sounds awesome :) !

    1. I am pleasantly surprised that open annotation as social reading so seamlessly affords honest expression as acceptable.

      I was comfortable doing this because I've learned with you (Remi) before. If this had been an exercise in a course with an instructor I had no had experience with I would be more careful with my words.

      You (Remi) are great at creating a sense of community and collaboration in your courses. I hope that others are as comfortable with you as I am!

    1. plungers

      I'm not sure I've ever seen Mario with a plunger... maybe in the Paper Mario games, but I can't be sure.

    2. Stop seeking simple answers that address the wrong question. W
    3. Ensure that game objectives and learning objectives correspond.
    4. Work toward assessments that make it possible to understand the relation-ships among players, their social interactions with one another, their games, and their metacognitive reflections. I
    5. Include the metagame
    6. Encourage collaborative partnerships among commercial game companies, educational researchers, teachers, administrators, policymakers, and par-ents.
    7. Conduct longitudinal studies that examine the impact of educational video games.
    8. Research educational video games already in use.
    9. Create an educational video game repository.
    10. Construct working definitions that will facilitate the separation of video games and simulations
    11. Despite the fact that video games are viewed positively by some teachers and even some administrators

      Do we have any K-12 educators here with success stories of implementing GBL in their classrooms?

    12. gamers have a tendency to bypass information that is nonessential to completing game tasks
    13. The blend of ARG, video game, and embodied experi-ence provided a unique method of information delivery for historical content.
    14. he game-playing partici-pants underperformed on items that were based on information from the pop-up text, suggesting that the players did not pay as much attention to historical facts in the game text and cut scenes.

      These texts are often long, which might turn off some players. I myself am guilty of not reading them.

    15. found that collaborative paired play worked particularly well in his-tory classroom environments, with students reporting an increase in knowledge of maps, time lines, and historical terms, although the instructor needed to have a good deal of game play expertise to mediate and facilitate game play toward achievement gains.
    16. Civilization series as a tool that instructors and learners can modify to re-create historical conflicts

      This is especially true now with one of the expansions for Civilization V that lets you replay important historic battles in the form of scenarios.

    17. It should come as no surprise, then, that several studies highlighted history-based video games as an effective means of engaging students beyond traditional methods of history instruction
    18. Civilizati

      One of my personal favorites :). It's engaging and educational!

    19. The results showed that 90% of the children enjoyed that combination and “the games reduce[d] the boredom of exercise” (Hawkins, 2009, p. 10).
    20. the state mandated that all middle and junior high schools integrate DDR into their PE programs and that all of the state’s gym teachers be trained in using DDR,

      Interesting. I hope the State paid for it. Those mats can be expensive, and if used a lot they would need to be replaced frequently.

    21. 30-minute session and to determine whether both experienced and inexperienced players could meet the minimal daily recommended levels of physical activity and energy expendi-ture.

      In my experience 30 minutes of DDR is high impact exercise, which is more than the recommended 30 minutes of moderate impact exercise recommended... but I digress.

    22. Dance Dance Revolution

      Relevant? Probably not. Funny? Yes! Do you think Bowser would lose some weight with this exercise regime? Do you think they're trying to impress Peach?

    23. This study’s results suggested that, at least in the short term, children’s activity level may be increased by using exergames.

      Unfortunately these games can be fairly expensive.

    24. the immer-sive environments that video games create, and the human instinct to adapt and survive in those environments, can lead to more than just language learning.
    25. not every student needs to play the game to receive the benefits of video game interactions
    26. Previous research suggests that the use of video games for language learning is so effective that there are many cases where video games used to teach language are capable of teaching students who are not even playing the game themselves but merely observing game play.

      RPG video games often have subtitles. If someone were to leave the language say in Japanese, but have the subtitles on in English, would they learn some Japanese (or vice versa), I know I've picked up a few Japanese words from watching Naruto this way

    27. but appear to result from a complex situated interaction of learner, game, and context

      I wonder if immersion into an affinity space would have the same results? I would assume so.

    28. Looking at the concept of general language learning, instructors appear to agree that the most powerful way to learn a language is through immersion in a culture where the language is used routinely to interact with others and the world.

      Can be achieved through virtual worlds.

    29. Sims (Ra

      Interesting, as The Sims doesn't have any spoken English, just written English.

    30. It is clear from our analysis that more time must be devoted to the topic of sci-ence-based video gaming before larger trends regarding their impact are revealed.

      Maybe science just doesn't lend itself to GBL? Thoughts?

    31. the structures built into some games do not directly match their counter-parts outside of them

      This study is 4 years old. Do you believe this still to be true? Are there other games out there now that fit better with science learning?

    32. Bloom’s taxonomy
    33. The transfer of science informa-tion from isolated in-game activities requires metacognitive scaffolding by a skilled educator who can encourage student reflection, provide students with thought questions that force them to reference the specific curricular science skills, and bridge content from the game into their real lives (Baek, Kim, & Park, 2009).
    34. We speculate that the disconnect between students “doing” science and the instructional use of video games is the direct result of continued content disassembly and the lack of cohe-sive reassembly for the purposes of a spiral curricula.
    35. In addition, preprogrammed con-straints on the gaming rule sets leave little room for student-driven experimental design, meaning that the types of experimentation being done are seldom user generated, nor do they address the earlier stages of problem solving, such as prob-lem identification or problem definition (see Bransford & Stein’s, 1993, IDEAL problem solving model).

      This goes against all research that proves learner-centered active learning works best.

    36. This led them, like D. Harris (2008), to suggest that although science gaming probably yields benefits, constraints on the classroom environment and the short time frames of studies have made it difficult to discern any immediate correlation between game use and academic success.
    37. Most participants lacked a reflection process for performance analysis, new knowledge generation, evaluation, and integration, which are essential for learning as a cycle of probing the world—a major knowledge-construction format for game-based learning

      Perhaps a debrief after facilitated by the teacher would help with this.

    38. Rather, educational games need to be designed and researched with careful attention to contemporary learning theories, including cus-tomization of task difficulty to the learner’s capabilities, metacognitive reflection on the learning taking place, and consideration of the rich situated interaction among learner, game environment and classroom environment.

      Why focus solely on "educational" games? Earlier the authors mentionned games like LA Noire and World of Warcraft.

      There are games now that use Math skills like no others before, such as the Kerbal Space program. I would be interested in seeing an update on this, with some newer research.

    39. More spe-cifically, students with low socioeconomic status (SES) saw the greatest affective gains in cooperative contexts

      Thinking back to our cycle 1 reading about how GBL can reach everyone.

    40. Results indicated that students who played the video games showed significant improvement with regard to math-ematics achievement as compared to their nongaming peers, but there were no significant improvements found in relation to students’ motivation.

      Is this because they were seeing the games as "homework"?

    41. ome students who may normally enjoy playing Wo W might now find the exact same activity onerous, raising impor-tant questions about context and intentionality and bringing the conversation to how educational gaming can both be regularly engaging and feel less like work.

      Have you ever felt like this? When I was in college, I had this feeling in my computer coding classes. I enjoyed coding for fun, but did not want to get evaluated on it. I eventually dropped that half of my major thinking I wouldn't enjoy it was a profession.

    42. by establishing hourly goals and trying to beat their best time.

      Would you consider this gamification of the work environment?

    43. “a voluntary activity structured by rules, with a defined outcome (e.g., winning/losing) or other quantifiable feedback (e.g., points) that facilitates reliable com-parisons of in-player performances”
    44. Games and play are an essential part of child development.

      Yes! This becomes very evident once you have a child, or if you need to care for a child.

    45. enculturation

      Full disclosure: I had to look this up, here's the definition - the gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by a person, another culture, etc

    46. Indeed, if you are looking for data to support that argument, then we are sorry, but your princess is in another castle.

      It is disappointing that they put all that time into it and didn't get a definitive answer.

    47. Mario diving into a green warp pipe as he begins his adventure.

      I wonder if they were this excited about it!

    48. we sought to determine whether or not the overarching technology had reached enough of a “tipping point” in the past 30 years to support the claim that video games can enhance classroom learning.

      Before reading the rest of the article, what do you think? Are we at the tipping point? Have we passed it?

    49. Civilization

      I also play this game for fun. I have an embarrassing amount of "time played" in this game.

    50. World of Goo),

      Interesting that they categorize this as a game that focuses directly on science. I have this game, and play for fun. What games do you play for fun that others might think focuses more on education?

    51. epic ques

      I hope the quest reward is epic! I like that they are infusing game terminology in their article.

    1. When it comes to university resources and funding, there are noabsolutes

      Especially with all the cuts from State funding.

    2. In this case, recognizing the potentialfor games to build learning communities and then creating physical spaces for gameplay and design served as an initial step to legitimize games as powerful research andlearning tools
    3. aimed at improving local K-12 teachersunderstanding GBL

      Why don't they have anything like this for higher education professionals?

    4. Interest-based research, in which students take ownership ofprojects to solve real-world problems under the guidance of faculty, has been the tenets ofthe successful program

      A list of some of the real-world problems they are trying to solve would be interesting.

    5. hey allow students to individualize their learning trajectoriesbased on their interests and goals, and the media and games course work extendstraditional lecture and writing papers to playing, making, prototyping, iterating anddeconstructing.
    6. Learning Sciences (LS) PhD program (fall, 2015)

      As of right now, this is my field of choice for my (eventual) PhD. I had not seen this program!

    7. Research and Development of Games for Learning

      @Remi, can we get a course like this at CU Denver?? :)

    8. While playing the game, the student discovered, explored and critically analysed options

      Imagine this project paired with a Skyrim affinity space!

    9. Final projects involve their collective expertise designing an activitybased on solving an authentic problem, connected by games and digital media, todemonstrate learning.

      A great examples of how GBL can teach multiple skills and competencies.

    10. he attention toGBL has attracted students majoring in computer science, electrical engineering, parks andrecreation, business, sociology and political science.

      Great to see all the attention this course is getting across multiple disciplines!

    11. EmulatingJenkinset al.(2006, pp. 5-6) model offostering a “participatory culture” including “relatively low barriers to expression, strongsupport for creating and sharing with one another, informal membership in which

      See cycle 2 reading "Jenkins et al."

    12. n The Anti-Education Era,Gee (2013)discusses the necessity of providing context andsharing experiences to make associations when moving forward with innovation
    13. Games bring alevel of interest and engagement to get real-world work accomplished while serving asunifying influences to seemingly disparate groups.

      This brings us back to our week 1 readings and the "equity" factor.

    14. GBL is recognized as a way to teach and assess twenty-first century skills
    15. He citesinitial resistance by college students who are accustomed to attending lectures andpassive learning rather than active, experiential learning.

      We often get "We're paying you to teach us" line when students start at our college. We use a lot of active learning, and they're not used to it.

    16. finding a game and figuring out how to incorporate the game into classrooms can beprohibitive;

      This is where utilizing college resources such as instructional designers and librarians comes into play. Also, collaborating with other departments can make this easier.

    17. many educational games are designed for a specific purpose and are not easilyadoptable in institutions;

      Why focus on "educational games"?

    18. while incentivizing learnersthrough rewards and badges

      Going back a few cycles of our readings, note the differences between game based learning and gamification.

    19. listed games andgamification as likely to impact university classrooms within two or three years

      Anyone else that works in higher education see this yet? I personally have not.

    20. Higher EducationVideo Game Alliance (HEVGA) aims to provide a platform for higher education leaders toconsider the “cultural, scientific, and economic importance of video game programs incolleges and universities” (HEVGA website, 2015), demonstrating there is great interest inexpanding GBL in higher education.
    1. To be playful is to appropriate a context that is not created or intended for play

      It's like how people use humor and playfulness to defuse a stressful situation!

    2. “2:45 – 4chan, it’s like the bottoms of the internet. Completely anonymous, a lot of hated. I don’t recommend every [sic] visiting the website unless you have a deep, unsatisfied curiosity; and then [be] prepared to be disappointed in the human race.”

      ...Going to go fix my spelling mistakes now...

    1. 2:45 - 4chan, it's like the bottoms of the internet. Completely anonymous, a lot of hated. I don't recommend anyone visiting the website unless you have a deep, unsatisfied curiosity; and then be prepared to be disapointed in the human race.

    2. 7:45 - Information cascade can be found everywhere, it has become very apparent since the rise of the internet.

    3. 3:15 - What I don't understand is how people find the time to do these things? There HAS to be more productive things people can do with their time...

    1. I ask this question because, if you want to truly understand game mechanics, you have to play games and know what makes that experience enjoyable.

      This is a great point, how can you design games if you don't play games?

    2. It is more than giving badges for signing up and liking an app on Facebook.

      Yes! Gamification doesn't work if you're just giving out badges.

    1. It may be worth noting thatVGPs were often so fast that the built-in dataanalysis software of the T.O.V.A. consideredtheir reaction times to be anticipatory (200 msor less).

      Human Benchmark Test Pro-(action)games often score 100ms or less, my average score was 248ms.

    2. For example, intake ofa choline agonist leads to improved learningwhen participants are asked to learn lists ofwords.

      So that's why a lot of baby foods have "Choline" listed somewhere prominent on the packaging!

    3. Because thesestatistics could not have been directly taughtby any action video games,

      BUT these types of statistics can be taught by games in general (usually card games). Look at those that play poker, Magic the Gathering or Hearthstone.

    4. For example, whenasked to determine the orientation of a T that isflanked by distracting shapes above and below,VGPs can tolerate the distractors being nearerto the T shape while still maintaining a highlevel of accuracy (Green & Bavelier 2007).

      Perhaps they're just better at ignoring

    1. the same idea may be true for humans: if we expose our brains to a broader range of spaces and richer experiences, we can improve our cognition and even slow its eventual decline.
    2. how people who play video games might actually be much better at some tasks than those who don’t.

      I can see this. Has anyone every seen the professionals who play Starcraft? It's amazing to see how quickly their hands move in coordination, and the brain activity that must go along with it. Starcraft Youtube Video

    1. the Montreal Massacre at Ecole Polytechnique

      Did this make news in the US? This horrible event is still remembered and felt in Canada.

      Basically the shooter entered a classroom, separated the men and women and shot at all the women. He then went on to shoot more women in the hallways, and then turned the gun on himself. He was claiming he was "fighting feminism" and accused the women at the school of being feminists.

      This is misogyny at it's most extreme. All the women that were killed were getting an education in a traditional male dominated field...

    1. How much longer are we going to be in denial that there’s a thing called “rape culture” and we ought to do something about it?

      Apparently not yet 2 years later. Earlier this month there was a group of "pro-rape" men who were going to meet up in Chicago. The leader assured them safety but then ended up cancelling the meetup because of all the backlash that instilled fear. link to article

    2. So what happens to nerdy guys who keep finding out that the princess they were promised is always in another castle?

      Ask my husband... he got his princess, he just had to wait a bit longer than most :)

  7. Feb 2016
    1. However, with violation of copyright as close as one mouse click away, ethical concerns are prominent in digital culture.

      This had me concerned when they said that most activity was saving images from the internet. Huge red flag for copyright issues!

    2. Such understanding is crucial for today’s citizenship, when more aspects of life have moved into the digital domain.

      Just so happens that I'm facilitating a discussion on Information Literacy / Digital Citizenship at a conference this Friday!

    3. For example, video game production became a mark-er of high status, and two types of experts emerged: some youth developed expertise in highly focused (local) aspects of game design, and others focused more on general (global) principles of game design.

      This reminds me of our readings from last cycle that focuses on how kids play games differently, in particular the zoo tycoon example. One girl enjoyed the finer details (decor, layout), while the other focuses solely on profits. Applies to game design too I guess!

    4. This dominance has been problematic for many reasons, including the lack of representation of women and minority avatars in games,

      Or the over sexualization of women in games...

    5. multimodal texts that integrate sound, music, graphics, writing, and more.

      Using multimodal modes is key to reaching a large audience. UDL advocates for this (as seen in our Games, 2008 reading from this cycle).