This is where I, and many others, disagree with these concerned parents. The difference: video games are interactive, encouraging problem solving and critical thinking. TV – no matter how “interactive” it’s advertised as (Baby Einstein, Blues Clues) – is passive media.

James Paul Gee states that the passive learning occurring in our schools is only going to suit those learners for low-level service jobs. Instead he suggests an interactive mode – not excluding use of video games in the classroom. In his book What Video Games Teach Us About Learning and Literacy,  he implies that for learning to be effective, the learner has to see himself as the scientist in the classroom, much like the immersive experience of a video game. This learner is now taking on the identity of “scientist.” His actions become internalized, contextualized, and meaningful.

To Gee, video games represent a process that leads to better and better designs for good learning. That is – good learning of hard and challenging things. Games entice their participants to try even if they are afraid, to put in loads of effort even if there is little internal motivation to do so, and that they must achieve meaningful goals if they are to be successful. Notably, these notions are usually left outside the realm of education debates. (Gee speaking about gaming to Edutopia here).

“Videogames provide elements of interactivity that stimulate learning,” supports Huma Yusuf of the Christian Science Monitor. Yusuf goes on to add that these games are not simply asking users to master manual dexterity, but mental dexterity as well.

The key to this impressive voluntary learning is in the way video games adjust difficulty on an individual basis. They allow the learner to operate on the edge of their competency. It’s not enjoyable to try to perform completely outside or well within one’s competency level. Think of what would happen if a game is determined “impossible”, who would remain interested? who would keep playing? Even Sir Ken Robinson notes, “As with what I was saying before about video games: I think there’s a massive potential that we haven’t yet fully tapped into.”

In an article by E. Horn that ran in the Journal for the Association for People With Severe Handicaps, he found that video games allowed children with severely limited vocal speech abilities (among other handicaps) to make scan and selection responses that could later aid in the use of communication devices. German researcher Masendorf was able to use video games in learning of spacial abilities in developmentally-challenged children. Others have been able to increase mathematical ability and motivation in kids with learning disabilities.

The peer evaluation and interaction inherent in video games is definitely another factor lacking in typical classrooms. With games and gaming communities, users are made aware (painfully at times) of their pro- and de-ficiencies. Video game communities are much better, and honest, evaluators of progress and deficiency than almost any teacher I’ve ever met – if you’ve ever participated in a gaming community, you’ll know what I mean. Critiques can be of user-written fan fiction, game-play strategy, player style, game design, computer systems, or player made flash games, and about a zillion other things. In fact, researchers have found that some ESL learners have flocked to these sites to improve their writing skills, fearing the mockery of their school peers.

Children relish their multimedia experiences and this may be the best way for them to keep abreast of the technological advancements of their time. Stifling implementation of new media, games  included, will no doubt keep kids uninterested in their education – oh, wait! That already happens!

This article is a revised version of the original posted at OrganicEdu.org. Happy Gaming!

(pic from danparent.com)

Twitter

The first thing you need to know about Twitter is the official hashtag, #NECC09. If you use a variation of that, #NECC, NECC, #NECC2009, you risk having your tweet mixed up in other unrelated streams. Here is how to leverage this hashtag to your advantage. The first thing to do is search Twitter for #NECC09 using http://search.twitter.com/. This is a straight-forward site; nothing more than a search engine plugged into Twitter. For those of you who want to watch the conversation happening live, check out www.twitterfall.com. There you will find a very neat web application that will show recent tweets, displayed using a waterfall effect based on trending topics. Be sure to run your own search for #NECC09 to have all of the NECC tweets pull into your Twitterfall.

If you are addicted to Twitter like me, then I highly recommend using an application like TweetDeck. This application will break Twitter into columns. For example, I have a “Replies” column, a “Direct Messages” column, a “Search for #NECC09″ column, and a “Search for ISTEConnects” column. This allows me to monitor several different streams all on one screen. There are other great Twitter App alternatives out there, so if you are not a fan of TweetDeck, just search around.

Click for Full Size

And as always you can find a list of Tweeps heading to NECC09 here. Follow as many as you can and learn about their NECC experience.

Flickr

Flickr is a great way to socialize the sharing of photos. Below you will find the official NECC 2009 Flickr Stream. If you have a Flickr account and want to share your photos of NECC with the rest of us, just tag your photo with “ISTE30″ and it will be added to this stream.

Blogs

Here is a running list of people at NECC that plan to produce NECC-related blog posts. If you want to add yourself to the list visit this post.

I’m sure many of you have Wikis and NECC Ning groups we should know about, so please leave links to them in your comments on this post. Also, any other tips you have for handling this social media blitz would be greatly appreciated. Don’t forget to visit ISTE Connects throughout NECC for real-time coverage of events, sessions, and impromptu interviews with NECC attendees.  I’ll see you all on the Livestream!

]]> http://www.isteconnects.org/2009/06/19/prepare-for-the-deluge-of-social-media/feed/ 0 http://www.isteconnects.org/2009/04/20/skype-and-twitter-going-more-mainstream/ http://www.isteconnects.org/2009/04/20/skype-and-twitter-going-more-mainstream/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:47:01 +0000 Wes Fryer http://www.isteconnects.org/?p=3365 Technology “norms” can change fast. Not too long ago, if you mentioned “Skype” or “Twitter” to someone in casual conversation, it was not unusual to receive a quizzical response. Thanks in part to mainstream media influencers like CNN and Oprah, however, these technologies and terms are becoming more mainstream and finding their way into the everyday lexicon of a larger number of people. Conversations on micro-blogging networks like Twitter and Plurk have NOT historically been focused on celebrity personalities and media-mogul corporations, and they are not going to take that focus (IMHO) anytime soon. Some bloggers have lamented the frenzy which accompanied last week’s “Oprah blessing” of Twitter, which the CSM article “Oprah tweets, Twitter arrives” highlighted. I definitely agree the celebrity focus on Twitter can be silly as well as misguided at times, but overall I think it can be beneficial for more people to become familiar with these technologies thanks to their use and acknowledgement by mainstream media personalities. We’re living in an attention economy, and it is WONDERFUL for more people to have the constructive value of communications platforms like Skype and Twitter brought to their attention.

Last week, Oprah made news worldwide by getting onto Twitter for the first time. Oprah already has over 380,000 followers, and is following 10 people so far. No, sadly she’s not following ISTEconnects or me. YET. ;-)

I’ve noted on ISTEconnects previously that Oprah’s use of Skype as a regular part of her television program is raising awareness about the constructive value of videoconferencing software programs as communications platforms and not simply sources of malware for school networks or tools for Internet predation. (Sadly, school district IT departments frequently promote those views.) This same constructive role is being played by CNN currently. This is a photo of CNN’s use of Skype today in a news report, in which an “expert” was brought in to share ideas and answer questions.

How long will it be before more communications networks in our schools will be opened to permit videoconferencing and micro-blogging with tools like Skype and Twitter? I started the collaborative wiki project “Unmasking the Digital Truth” recently to address that very question. I don’t have a definitive answer to this question for all contexts, but I do think it is important we share and amplify the positive, constructive ways these tools are being used and can be used to support learning inside and outside the classroom if we want to change school policies on things like content filtering.

See Neil Stephenson’s guest post here in ISTEconnects, “The Many Roles of Skype in the Classroom” for more ideas and examples on how desktop videoconferencing can and is being used in schools today. Many of us may have been HBO (“Here before Oprah”) when it comes to both Skype and Twitter, but I’m not among those lamenting her noted arrival. The fact that Oprah as well as CNN are using and promoting tools like these can provide us (as educators and educational change agents) with more openings to discuss the constructive uses of these tools in our schools at PTA meetings, school board meetings, and other gatherings.

Positive, constructive, mainstream awareness of digital communication tools like Twitter and Skype is a good thing, on balance.

NECC 2009 Digital Arts Playground schedule:
Monday, June 29, 8 am–4 pm
Tuesday, June 30, 9 am–4 pm
Wednesday, July 1, 8 am–2 pm
Hope to see you in our sandbox!

Thursday Thomas Prewitt wrote: 

It was amazing to be a part of history and be a part of the atmosphere of everyone is so excited about a new era in American history. Arethra Franklin sang a song of freedom and it sounded like it was straight from her cd of her glory days. In the middle of a song an elderly black man began to cry, and it was pretty moving.

In addition to attending the inauguration, students have been seeing Washington-area monuments and other buildings. After visiting the Library of Congress, students “D.S. and C.H.” wrote:

I don’t even know how to describe the Library of Congress other than it took my breath away. The outside of the Library is beautiful but the inside was absolutely amazing. There were marble columns, statues, marble cherubs, mosaics and stain glass. The amazing part was that every tiny detail was not just done because it looked nice, each and every carving and mosaic was created to represent something in American history. Each detail not only added beauty but significance to the Library.

It is fantastic to learn about students not only being able to experience the historic events in our nation’s capitol this week, but also being encouraged to constructively use social media tools like blogs as well as digital cameras to document their learning journeys. This type of technology use by students was the primary focus of Philadelphia teacher H. Songhai’s 2008 K12Online Conference presentation, “What Did You Do in School Yesterday, Today, and Three Years Ago?” Kudos to Colorado teachers Michelle Pearson, Barb Figg, Kelly Jones-Wagy, and Sally Purath for accompanying and supervising these students during their Washington D.C. adventures and putting these concepts of becoming “digital witnesses” into actual practice for all the world to see!

The students’ and teachers’ project website, “Case Study: The 2009 Presidential Inauguration,” will eventually include “On-Street Podcasts” and photo slideshows.

In addition to posting on the trip blog quoted above, students and teachers have been provided with an opportunity to post directly onto a blog set up by the Rocky Mountain News. The 19 comments (to date) on the group’s initial January 14th post “A trip of a lifetime!” reveal that an audience IS reading, listening, and responding to the thoughts being shared by these fortunate learners.

At NECC 2009 in Washington D.C. this summer, I hope we’ll see many more student storychasers like these! Field trips to local, national, or international destinations can provide WONDERFUL opportunities to practice digital ethics and digital citizenship. Don’t be put off by the fact that student blog posts include some grammatical and spelling errors. OF COURSE mistakes like that are going to appear when students are permitted to write and publish directly to the web. THAT IS FINE. As with any activity, we only get better by PRACTICING, and encouraging students to WRITE REGULARLY for an authentic audience via a blog is one of the best ways to improve writing skills. All the parents, educators, and others involved in this trip and digital learning project should be VERY proud of the exemplary work they and their students have done to date via this project. As California educator Marco Torres likes to observe, “the Internet is a global stage.” These Colorado students have now become exemplary actors and actresses there. :-)

I look forward to continuing to follow the learning journey of these teachers and students after they return home and continue to publish as well as remix their experiences of the past week with us all!

Hat tip to Peggy O’Neill-Jones for letting me know about this student project, which is affiliated with the larger Colorado “Teaching with Primary Sources” initiative involving the U.S. Library of Congress and many other project partners.