#etlead The Final Product

All I can say about the last two weeks is WOW, and not the game.  I was  a little unsure we could pull this off in just two weeks but I think we’ve all done an excellent job holding it together and coming up with not only a game idea but our sanity as well.  

In the beginning I think we also had some really great ideas and amazing plans.  We came up with a skeletal outline of a few quests and ideas for characters. With a flurry of emails and comments on the wiki we add more interesting character choices, paired down the quests to a manageable level, and fleshed out the introduction and story line.  With some helpful hints from Lee we remembered to take a closer look at the standards and build our game around those.  Brandi updated our outline with standards and cleaned up our quest information.  I fleshed out the district choices with advantages and disadvantages. 

The meetings this last week were a challenge for me.  With IEP meetings running late and angry parent phone calls I missed out on both of our team meetings as well as my other class.  Luckily my team is awesome with the emailing and I was kept up to date with new information and assignments.  We scoured the internet for some great pictures for the presentation Gary has planned.   The plan is to create a presentation using Voice Thread.  With the pictures to represent the districts, character choices, and game action, along with a script we should have a pretty decent game to present to Vicki’s class.    

 

#etlead Week 11 “And the process continues…”

This week we have all been working furiously adding information for our games.  I know that some of us have also been proctoring the SBA’s and are really multi-tasking!  For me this week has been extra busy both at work and at home.  The game has been on my mind much of late and I have been thinking of ways to add more content.  Due to unforeseen issues I was unable to attend either or team meeting nor the twitter session.  Frustration was high with that but I have refocused with some great email contact with my group.  I thank you all team two for keeping me in the loop.  Shout out to Brandi, Sara, and Gary for emailing me with updates.  Everyone has such great ideas and I wish we had the time to put them all together and really make this game.  I am excited to see the final, final product as well as see the other groups games.  This coming week we will complete our final outline and create a presentation to Vicki’s class.  Not that I”m worried or anything but I am a little nervous as to what they will think of a bunch of adults coming up with a game for kids.  

#etlead Week 10 Our Game Making Progress

These week has been all about the game.  Serious game that is.  When I first read the assignment I was a little unsure of how we were all going to be able to get together and create this game.  I knew that we would eventually have to actually come up with the idea and create a proposal, but that time is now and I was just a little scared.  Thankfully we have that wiki page and we are able to send messages back and forth with our ideas.  For the first few days of the week I think we were all on overload trying to think of how this game would look and what it all needed to entail.  Shout out to Lee for putting the blackboard shell on blackboard so that we could all meet as a group.  Our first meeting was Wednesday evening this week and it was an awesome two hour meeting   It was great to have everyone’s perspective especially non-gamers.  This keeps us on track and focused as well as remembering to think outside the box.  As we started talking and getting our ideas out on paper my mind went straight to WOW.  As a “wow-head” I view serious games in more of a first person perspective.  I see myself moving about interacting with the environment and other characters.  This was how I envisioned our game.  This is by no means the only way to go, nor is it the correct path, only one person perspective.  

So now that our process has begun the ideas are really flowing.  After that initial meeting I started thinking about how to flesh out our skeleton outline.    Again I went back to WOW and began thinking how you first create your character or toon.  Then you enter the world, listening to a back story on how your character fits into the world.  Those beginning quests are quick and easy, but yield large amounts of experience and training in needed skills.   My thoughts for our game were centered on that same perspective with a Panem flair.   I think my biggest problem thus far has been the need to throttle back a little as we only have a couple of weeks to create this game.  We must keep our eyes on the the prize and not over think.  I’m actually very glad that our timeline has been extended.  I think it will help us all to create three really interesting games from three different perspectives. 

#etlead Week 9: What are the challenges in shifting content from “what” to “where” and “how”?

What are the challenges in shifting content from “what” to “where” and “how”?

          Our challenge as educators is to shift our teaching from just filling up our students heads to students looking for their answers themselves in ways we may not have ever thought of.  In that quest they are not just learning static knowledge, but creating knowledge.  In our world the context is continually changing.  Understanding the where of knowledge is important to understanding the meaning of it.  Learning through creating goes beyond the simple transfer and basic information.  The learning becomes the content itself (Brown, 2011).    

          One of our challenges is getting people to understand how important play is to the learning process.  Play is complex, complicated, and not just something we do but who we are.  Play gives students riddles not just solve but to pick apart, understand the pieces, and makes sense of through the solving process.  Through play students can reach a greater understanding and find meaning through epiphanies (Brown, 2011). 

          Another challenge is students having control over their learning but maintaining the integrity of the student-created content.  Using the tools of technology of social media to stay engaged in their learning and collaborates with their peers (Wikipedia, 2014). 

          As a teacher in the new culture of learning I am concerned that I will become so entrenched with rifling through iPad apps, and effective technology resources that I will forget that I’m supposed to be teaching.  I want to teach, but I also want to be knowledgeable enough to be comfortable about technology to use it in my teaching.  I was drawn to a blog posting by Krista Moroder.  She too was a teacher and now helps other teachers integrate technology into their classrooms.  According to Krista we have teachers who know how to teach and teachers who know how to use technology.  Good teachers create authentic learning environments.  They do not always use technology to do so (Moroder, 2012). This is the third challenge I see.  We want to teach, we want to use technology, and we want to combine the two without excluding either one.  Balance is what I see that we need.

Works Cited

Brown, D. T. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. Lexington, KY: Create Space.

Moroder, K. (2012, November Friday). Let’s Stop Talking about Teaching with Technology, and Start Talking about Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.edtechcoaching.org/2012/11/lets-stop-talking-about-teaching-with.html

Wikipedia. (2014, March 15). Web 2.0. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

 

 

#etlead Week 8 Reflection

What a week.  For us out here in the MSBSD it was out last week of the third quarter and we spent the time wrapping up those last minute projects and grading.  I had a great discussion in my math class about assessments and I think I was able to clear up some confusion about the MAP test.  For me the test is such a regular thing and I have become so comfortable with reviewing that data that I forgot that there are those who are unfamiliar with it.  I was really glad to share my knowledge with my fellow students and teachers and to spread the word that data collection is important as along as we use it to adjust our instruction for our students.   I also spent the week trying to complete my reviews on the serious games from our wiki.   I am familiar with quite a few of the games and sites they came from so I tried to choose games that were new to me.  There are so many out there and only so much time in the day.  

Due to spending much of my time either grading or reading up on our new evaluation model I did not have as much time to check out everyone’s blog as I wanted.  I want to thank Gary for commenting on mine as I find the feedback very valuable.  I really like both Brandi’s post as Megan’s post.    Brandi reminds us that our twitter sessions are part of our learning in the collective.  I think I’m working so hard that I’m forgetting that I am part of that collective and must remember to contribute and add to the learning of others.  I have to agree with Megan as well when she mentions not knowing about learning n the collective before this weeks reading.  For me it was only after I finished the reading that what I had been doing started making sense.  We were all the collective and we are all learning.  Now to transfer that into my classroom.  This yer I think I actually have become better at that with implementing the Kagan Cooperative structures each day.  I just have to stick to the planning of them and then using them.  

I  am  looking forward to spending this coming week reading up on what my fellow teachers have to say and playing some cool games on the net.  I am also looking forward to reading more of both our book for class and Enhancing Professional Practice by Charlotte Danielson.  I feel it is extremely important for teachers o know more about how the teaching of the standards affects us.  I know that I am a competent teacher but I also know that I could learn something new and improve myself every day.  

#etlead Week 8: Thoughts on Learning in the Collective

What are your thoughts about “learning in the collective”?

          Learning in the collective is learning from the people and world around you in a much for fulfilling and engaging way.  For students to be immersed in a learning environment for a large portion of their day simply by being around others also involved in that environment is amazing.  It makes the idea of a simple conversation with another person in the same class with you or someone who attend the same lecture as you more complex and interesting.  This collective is rapid, ever changing and full of a variety of people (Douglas Thomas, 2011). 

          As a college student working toward a Master’s Degree I have been “learning in the collective: for the past three years.  Even as a teacher in the MSBSD I have completed my required trainings over the past six years in the collective of the other teachers.  I do not feel as though this way of learning is new or innovated since it has been the way I’ve learned for so long.  What I find interesting and exciting is the ways in which the learning has changed as thus become more engaging and fulfilling for me. 

          I do have me reservations for learning in the collective though.  The struggle to keep a balance between public and private information, and how that information is used.  That struggle has been increased with the social media sites that we have as well as digital cameras on everything including your phone.  My concerns stem from the fact that I teach younger students I think and though they may be tech savvy and eager to learn they are unfamiliar with how to keep some things private.

          Another example of learning in the collective I found interesting was called crowdsourcing.  This is a type of learning that is used my some large companies such as Amazon, Boeing, and IBM.  These companies use social media and innovation jams to gather insights and ideas from employees, clients, and business partners.  The brainstorming sessions created breakthroughs in the areas on industry, health and the environment (Littlejohn, 2014).  For me this means that it’s not just a class of students, a group of employees, or random people, but all of them together looking at problems, coming up with ideas, and discussing possibilities. 

          So now I have to think about how this type of learning affects how I teach and my students.  I can imagine teaching a class in which we are learning in the collective.  My problem is how to I teach the standards I am required to teach and still have that innovation and technology excitement.  How do I make sure I am learning in the collective with my students?  The Learning Collective is a website for teachers to find resources to plan and implement digital learning opportunities that will meet the common core standards.  In this way teachers can bring great learning opportunities to their students and be able to back up the what they are teaching with the why and how it connect to the world (Aberman, 2003).   

Works Cited

Aberman, A. (2003). The Learning Collective. Retrieved from http://thelearningcollective.net/

Douglas Thomas, J. S. (2011). New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. CreateSpace.

Littlejohn, A. (2014). Little By Littlejohn. Retrieved from http://littlebylittlejohn.com/change11-position-paper/collective-learning-examples/

 

 

#etlead Week 7 Reflection

I completed the readings this week and watched a couple of videos, but I feel that my learning this week was enhanced more by my interactions and discussions with my students, than I contributed to others.  I myself had so many questions about the types of games out there and how they worked that led me on my path this week.  I downloaded Minecraft on my iPad and had a crowd around me every day at lunch giving me tips and advice as what to build and where.  Each day they would come in in the morning asking how much further I had gotten in my world.  I also began exploring Sploder.com.  This website was given to me by another student who I would consider an expert in the field.  An excellent site for creating your own game in six different styles.    My struggle was not with understanding the games, but finding time to play them.  I’m looking forward to spring break so I can play a little of each to learn more about them.  I also had quite a few discussions with my PLN about gaming and the use of games in the classroom.  I took Colin’s advice from our dinner meeting at the BrewHouse and spoke with my principal about an after school Minecraft group.  After I discovered that of my 22 students 19 of them play Minecraft I think we have a good chance of finding students to participate.  Our problem with be keeping the group to a manageable size.  I look forward to the coming week and what my students have to tell me about their games.

#etlead Week 7: Embracing Change

What does the way you play have to do with embracing change and how does this impact you as a professional?

            So my gamer profile scored me as an “explorer”.  This is not a surprise to me in the least as I am one who loves to explore new things and new places.  As a player of WOW I’m the one who wants to find every corner of a new area before leaving and will fly off in the middle of a quest in order to find that one last dark area on the map (GamerDNA, 2006-2014).  As an explorer I’m interested in finding new things, but my profile also listed me as a socializer as well.  This means not only do I love to find new things but I will talk your ear off about them.  As a socializing explorer I am out there discovering new things meeting new people and leading the discussions.  As a professional I am always looking for new ways to make my teaching better, my management better, and my organization skills better.  I want to be able to have what I need at my finger tips and ready to share with my students.  I want my students to be as excited and eager to find the dark corners, shed light on them and discover new ways of doing things.

            Over the past 30 years technology has changed phenomenally fast and those changes have really effected how we learn and teach.  In reading about the changes that happened between 1997 and 2007, I found in very interesting how the public took them in stride.  In some ways the changes have come on alarmingly fast.  When processors, bandwidth, and storage for cell phones double roughly every 18 months we need to open our eyes.  Not that it is bad, but we should be able to understand how the technology is working to understand how and why the changes are being made.  I also found it very interesting how technology has increased the way we approach professional development.  No longer do we need to sit in long trainings and seminars to stay up to date.  We can increase our knowledge base, and become more proficient in the matter of a few hours through a webinar.  Through this we embrace the change and look forward to the next new thing.  We become more engaged in our learning, not just what, but how (Brown, 2011) .    

            Since beginning this course I have had quite a few discussions about technology and games with the many young people in my life.  Through one of these discussions I was introduced to a website where you can create your own game.  You have the option of making six different types of games and making them accessible to your friends to play.  They can comment and make suggestions and you can edit and change your game to make it better (Sploder).  It made me think about Sam’s Story in our readings from last week.  I was very intrigued by this new way of not only playing but creating games as well.  This change is not something I would have ever thought possible for myself yet as the explorer that I am I am jumping headlong into it.  Luckily I have a couple of experts on hand to help me out and to be my friend, which of course if half the fun.

            This brings me to the last point.  Learning through play and imagination is for me the only way for a child to learn.  I never thought of myself as needing to play to learn as an adult, but with the last few years of technology in my life I’m learning just how important playing and imagining has enriched my adult life.  With the new Kagan cooperative Structures I have been using in my classroom I have introduced quite a lot of play into our daily lessons.  We play “fun” games, content-rich games, and relaxing brain break games.  How does this all help us learn? Simply by letting our imaginations run and our brains think in fun and exciting ways.  We are still learning something even if it is not what is considered content.  We learn cooperation, teamwork, and social skills.  Through our play as we learn we are discovering new things.

Works Cited

GamerDNA. (2006-2014). Retrieved February 2014, from Gamer DNA: http://www.gamerdna.com/member/home

Sploder. (2014). Retrieved February 2014, from Sploder.com: http://www.sploder.com/

Brown, D. T. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imaginattion in a Wrold of Constant Change. CreateSpace.

 

 

#etlead Week 6 Reflection

This week has been so busy that I completely forgot to post my reflection.  Thank you Lee for the subtle reminder!  I need those from time to time.   I wasn’t quite sure if I would make it through this last week with starting out sick and parent teacher conferences, but I prevailed!  The weekend was awesome meeting up with everyone at the Brewhouse.  It was great t o”see” every one faces in real life and talk more about our tech progress and projects in our classrooms.  I have been totally inspired by both my classmates and my students to begin playing Minecraft and have downloaded the app for my iPad.  I’m also very interested in Colin’s idea of beginning an after school Minecraft club for students.  I know that I would learn as much if not more from them.    It was also really neat to think back to the technology I experience as a student and how I have evolved myself as a “techie”.  I enjoy learning about new ways to use tech with my students from other teachers but also from the students as well.

#etlead Week Six: Current culture differing from our learning environment as a student.

How does the culture of your current teaching environment differ from the learning environment you experienced as a student?

          When I think back to my time in school the types of technology I can remember include an overhead projector and a radio.  I do not remember seeing a computer until high school although that doesn’t mean the teachers didn’t have them when I was in junior high.  For me, my first use of technology included a computer and electric typewriter as a sophomore in high school for typing class.  So I guess that puts me straight into the pre-PC culture.  Not that I feel at all under privileged by any means.  When I had research to do I went to the library, check out a book, or used the encyclopedia.  Yes the ones that were printed on paper and bound in leather. I learned to read and research using the media that was available.  Something the students in this day and age are unfamiliar with. 

          Students today have technology at their fingertips in every corner of their lives.  Many of my third graders have at least one piece of tech available including, cell phones, iPads and tablets, laptops and PC’s, and at the very least a game console.  All of which they can use to connect to the internet and expand their knowledge and understanding.  What students are less familiar with is the use of books, magazines, and newspaper in print form.  Even free choice reading for fun is found more often on a kindle, nook, or iPad.  All that this shows is how far we have come in the realm of technology use in education. 

          The changes that I have seen throughout my schooling are indicative of the relentless pace noted in A New Culture of Learning.  It is not that learning has been eliminated or school has been abolished.  Instead learning and school have been restructured into a new form that is not solid and unchangeable, but fluid and flexible (Brown, 2011).  Not that I feel upset or overwhelmed from the change, but I can see how some may be.  It may be due to the fact that as the changes were taking place I too gradually integrated myself into the new culture of learning.  Of the stories in chapter 1 I feel I connected most with Allen first and then Beck and Nick second.  First, like Allen I feel comfortable using google to search out the answers to my problems.  I have googled an error message for a couple of different things including my printer and my washing machine.  My husband as well as used a computer search engine to find blogs, faqs, and videos related to repairs for his car.  We have both used search engines to research and download user manuals for equipment that was misplaced or eaten by a pet.  I found it quite interesting how he was able to google his way into mastering computer languages and programming skills without the aid of a college classroom.  Secondly, Becky and Nick are gamers in the very game I myself play.  They are also part of a larger family unit that ironically plays together regularly as I do with my family.  It started initially with my brother-in-law and family.  They would talk about their “toons”, armor, stats, spells, and all manners of add-ons.  Then after about three years my husband started playing.  That lasted for about six months of him bugging me before I started playing.  This of course led to the kids bugging us to play, and before we knew it all four of us were citizens of Azeroth.  We’ve been playing as a family of 4-8 people for close to five years now and routinely group together to raid and dungeon as a guild.  Even though we only live 45 minutes apart (us in Wasilla, and family in Eagle River), our weekly gaming serves as an excellent way to relax and detune after busy weeks.

          So how is my teaching environment different?  After watching the video about Minecraft I am even more amazed at how things have changed for education and the new learning environment.  Both John and Newman are avid minecrafters who not just play but continually interact in the Minecraft environment in their own ways, building, creating, changing, interacting and collaborating with other Minecraft users.   The connections that they have made with other such as Drakkart have made their experiences richer as well as enriched others.  I was amazed at how even young children are drawn to Minecraft, but it made more sense after Colin’s son Liam called it the block game.  It also helped quite a bit with Drakkart’s description of Minecraft and Legos.  What this is all leading to is a world of virtual building and creating that everyone not just children but adults as well can interact and collaborate.  Teachers can use Minecraft to teach concepts of geometry, science, history and art.  Students can use Minecraft to virtually build famous pieces of art and sculpture.  Players can work independently or collaboratively with others (Drakkart, 2014).      

          It was after watching both of the videos that I decided to get a little bit more first-hand knowledge of Minecraft.  Luck would have it both of my nephews play, so I decided at little chat was needed.  I had seen them play before and had asked a few questions, but I needed more.  My nephews Cameron and Ian have been playing Minecraft for the past four years.  They play both on a laptop as well as their iPads.  Cameron also has friends that play using both an XBOX 360 and a PlayStation.  This shocked me initially because I initially thought it was just on the computer.   Their preferred way to play in on the laptop, because they find that they can do more and creates more.  They find the iPad version limited and not updated as often or as enough (Burdick, 2014).  I think after watching the video with Drakkart and talking to my nephews I will have to check out Minecraft a little closer myself. 

Works Cited

Brown, D. T. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. CreateSpace.

Burdick, C. a. (2014, February 19). Thoughts on Minecraft. (Leslie, Interviewer)

Drakkart. (2014, February 15). Drakkart: Why Minecraft Inspires Me. (V. Roberts, Interviewer)