Educational Gaming Has to Engage the Students… but How?

If you have been following the news lately you have probably read about some of the educational efforts right now to integrate online multi-player games like Eve-Online, Second Life and World of Warcraft into classroom learning environments, or at least harness the popularity and power of the games in an attempt to encourage learning among users. It is not an idea peculiar to educational bloggers… Second Life even has an educational section devoted entirely to integrating the program into learning. There have even been several attempts to build a game that teaches a courses for you. (UNC-G economics course comes to mind – NPR article). So what is the future of all this?

This past week I had the privilege of meeting a group of other techie people here on the UNC Campus for lunch. Among this group was Elizabeth (Libby) Evans. She is currently a Manager of Training and Education at Information Technology Services here at UNC. In any case, we got chatting about multi-player online gaming and the attempts to integrate these platforms with in education and I thought it would be interesting to post some thoughts here… of course in an attempt to solicit your comments and thoughts!

“Killing the Fun”?

Our discussion started out by focusing on the viability of adapting any popular online games into an educational setting. Would the students accept such a change or would it just ‘kill the fun?’ I am most apt to believe that it would alter the game as a whole, but what do you think? Would an educational component to popular online games ruin the game itself?

Problem: Engaging the Students?

Today I was reading an article written by Naomi Rockler-Gladen of Colorado State University and she characterized “Generation Y” (mostly those in college) as having a “non-existent attention span” and “extremely good with technology.” Although there could be arguments against both of these assertions, I think these are both generally true. Students in college (and even younger ages) are generally very good with technology and have short attention spans. They are used to working online… doing many things at once… jumping from one thing to another… and practically living online. There are literally hundreds of things clamoring for students attentions… sometimes even while class is going on. Teachers everywhere have to compete with the multimedia attention of this generation, but it is not easy.

Solution: Linking the Digital World with the Real World!

As Libby and I talked she mentioned an idea that really struck me! Why don’t we have activities in the ‘real’ world that link with the digital world our students are living in each and every day? For example, why don’t we link time a student spends in the on campus gym working out with their physical strength in Second Life? The time they spend in the library with their ability to handle certain situations in the digital world? Most importantly and perhaps the biggest motivator, why don’t we link time a student spends in community service or some sort with actual money that can be used in online games? Our campus, and I’m sure many others, already track what students are checking out of the library, when they go to sporting events, and even when they spend time in the gym… let’s link that to a digital life to motivate students. Even as I type this, I am already getting flashbacks to”Big Brother” in George Orwell’s 1984… but there has to be something there for educators. What do you think?

Solution 2: Database of Activities for Teachers

The last idea is also an idea from Libby, but this one needs a little more thought. It would be great if there were a database of activities that teachers could pull from that would be presented to students in their digital world that tested their knowledge. If for example a student had a Spanish, Math, and Political Science course each professor could log on and choose certain activities that incorporated what they were learning in the classroom at that time. Each student would then have an individualized… TRULY CROSS-DISCIPLINARY game that they could play. Right now I am working with a program with the Spanish department called Auralog. It is basically a program for language acquisition that has a huge library of activities that the teacher can access, choose and assign to students. There is a tracking module so the teachers can see what the students are doing. It is only activity based at this point, but it would provide a great foundation for a larger project in other disciplines in a gaming sphere.

The big question with this one is the activities themselves. What kind of activities can be incorporated into a game that don’t take away the fun of the game? What kind of situations could be presented that would provide the most potential for the students to learn in a variety of disciplines?

What do you think?

I guess the overall purpose of this entry is to just throw this idea out there? What do you think about the whole online gaming world and it’s potential for education. What challenges do you anticipate for students as they play these multi-player games? What ideas do you have?

Intructional Technology Skypecast Cancelled Today

Dear Colleagues.  For reasons beyond my control I am going to have to cancel the “Using Technology in Education” Skypecast scheduled for later this morning.  Please accept my sincerest apologies.  I really do hate to cancel and will do my best to make sure that does not happen in the future.

Please check back later today for an article I have been working on about educational multi-player games!

Instructional Technology Site Recommendations – EduTechie.com

For those who don’t already know about these sites, you should check them out! They are great sites for those interested in integrating technology in education and keeping up with the latest and greatest developments!

EdTechTalk.com – I found this site today thanks to a comment by Vicki Davis on my review of Skypecasts blog entry. I have to say I totally love it! From their webpage:

EdTechTalk is a community of educators interested in discussing and learning about the uses of educational technology. We webcast several live shows each week. During shows, listeners can use any common media player (i.e. Windows Media Player, Real Player, or iTunes) to listen to the discussion and use the chat room to make comments and ask questions. It is also possible to join in the discussion using Skype or (sometimes) a U.S. based teleconference.

You can read more about their site on their about page, including the different types of shows they host each week. I just listened to my first webcast and found it very intellectually stimulating. What they are doing, and apparently have been doing is what I was trying to accomplish with the Skypecast yesterday. Multiple people get online and chat about what is new and what is going on in the instructional technology world. It’s great! I highly recommend it and will be joining as many webcasts as I can in the future. I have even added the events I plan on attending to the EduTechie.com calendar.

Weblogg-ed.com – This is a blog hosted by Will Richardson. From the about page:

This site is dedicated to discussions and reflections on the use of Weblogs, wikis, RSS, audiocasts and other Read/Write Web related technologies in the K-12 realm, technologies that are transforming classrooms around the world.

I can’t remember how I ended up on this blog, but I subscribed (via Google Reader) after reading his entry : Wikinomics–How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. I found it thought provoking and interesting. He obviously has a long history of writing and I even heard one of the people on EduTechTalk.com webcast mentioned above mention him in the webcast I listened to this morning. Check it out!!

What other sites do you subscribe to? Do share!

Skypecasts Put to the Test

Well, I just finished my first Skypecast “Using Technology in Education” and boy oh boy was it an adventure being the moderator of a discussion like that. Right after I finished I received a review of the skypecast from James Fadden at Allegheny College. A couple of things to add to his review form the host’s perspective.

First Impressions

It was EXTREMELY hard to moderate a discussion like this. At first it was total chaos because I tried to allow everyone to speak that wanted to speak, but I soon found out that there were people (literally dozens) just coming into the conversation to practice their English. Eventually I just began moving people to listening right away and if they wanted to talk they would move themselves to waiting where I would then promote them to talking. That seemed to work pretty well, but it did take an extraordinary amount of concentration to keep up with the conversation going on at the same time while people were chatting with me as well.

Once we had control of who was speaking and when the conversation got much better. We talked about using Skype in the classroom; people’s uses of Skype; a couple of short lessons how to use Skype; we even talked a little about podcasts in general. Overall, for me it was a useful was to meet some more people doing the same thing at other institution’s not only in America, but all over the world!

Academic Use?

That being said, I do NOT recommend it for all academic purposes, at least not to the extent I did before. It is still one of the BEST ways to meet new people and to practice a language, but it has to moderated in a way that makes it useful. I would not, however, use a Skypecast for a lecture course. There are just too many people that want to get in to practice English. Perhaps in a couple of months it will tone down a bit, or Skype will implement some tools to manage Skypecasts a little better, but until then I would be wary.

Recording Skypecasts

The question was asked if there was a way to record the Skypecast and turn it into a Podcast. I actually looked at some options this morning before the Skypecast, but fell into the ethical dilemma about privacy issues. In the end I decided against it, but there are products out there should you want to record a Skypecast. Here is a link from Skype themselves that aggregates them all.

Several people asked me to post the links people were sending, but unfortunately my computer crashed in the middle of the Skypecast and I lost most of those links. Here are the ones I still have.

Blogs for Learning – http://blogsforlearning.msu.edu

Cool Cat Teacher Blog – http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/

If there were others you mentioned, please add them to the comments on this page for others!!

Overall Impressions

I was somewhat disappointed with the conversation today because I wanted/want this Skypecast to be a place where we can discuss new and emerging technologies and their uses in the classroom. I think that part of the problem was us trying to get used to the technology and me getting used to Skypecasting. I want to take another shot at it next week and have set up another Technology in Education Skypecast for Tuesday the 28th at 11:00 Eastern Time. Come join us for another stimulation discussion… and if nothing else… entertainment. 🙂

Skypecasts Academic Potential

Skypecasts have the potential to revolutionize the academic community. They not only open up many options to teacher and student interactions, but level the playing field in a way that equalizes every participant’s voice. They also create thousands of new and exciting possibilities for real-time learning that were never possible before. This article gives a broad overview of what Skypecasts are, some possible applications in academia, as well as some of the pros and cons of using them now.

In writing this article I realized that it would be appropriate to create a Skypecast to discuss this article and other issues facing those who implement technology in education. Join me at 10:30 (Eastern Standard Time) on November the 20th, 2006 to discuss Using Technology in Education.

Introduction

Like many of you, I have been hearing a lot about the launch of Skype’s new ‘Skypecast’ option. I have always been a fan of Skype’s ability to call anyone in the world for free. The academic potential of that alone deserves a whole separate article, but I’m sure that has been explored a dozen times over already. (Add a comment if you know of some scholarship about this already.) Like any good instructional technologist, I jumped right in and downloaded the newest version of Skype 3.0 to see what the hype was all about.

Definition:
Skype has a great Skypecasts FAQ page. They define Skypecasts as “large, hosted calls on Skype.” Sound pretty simple. Basically you can create or join a large online conference call with UP TO 100 people. Skypecasts are scheduled to begin and end at a certain time and usually have a certain topic of discussion. The users must download and use Skype in order to join the Skypecast. Here is a sample Skypecast with some of the options available:

As you can see, there are three areas within the Skypecast: talking, waiting, and listening. When you log on you can “Just listen,” and when you want to talk you can request to talk and you will go to the “Waiting” area where you will be promoted to talking by the moderator of the group. Users can also click on any user and view their profile and send them files or start a personal chat with them.

Test Run

After I first downloaded the program I logged onto the first chat going with the most users. There were 28 people online at the time from ALL over the world! Some of the countries I could see included: Poland, Belgium, England, Israel, Lithuania, China, Turkey, Germany, Denmark, Korea, Romania, Canada, and the USA. As I listened to the Skypecast the quality of the sounds was actually pretty good, but it depended on who was speaking. Some were louder than others and some mentioned some technical problems she was having.

The discussion itself was actually really good. The question was posed: ‘How can technology affect us?” Instantly I heard opinions from people all over the world! People responded with their views about how technology will affect world issues like terror and politics. It was actually quite enlightening to hear some views about the USA in other countries. I listened for quite some time and tried to contribute, but for some reason my microphone was not working at the time.

As part of my testing I created a Skypecast called instructional technology. It only lasted 15 minutes but I talked with people from Bulgaria, Korea, and China. It took about 30 seconds to set up and I made some friends in the process. I didn’t get anyone that actually had anything to say about instructional technology, but I imagine if I actually set the Skypecast to begin in the future and publicized it a bit I would have some takers. Another experiment to try out.

Pros and Uses:

Meeting People – The first and most amazing thing to me about this program is the ability to meet people from all over the world. You can do that now in chat rooms, but this adds a whole new dimension to the interaction. It takes it to a whole new level. The program doesn’t currently support video, but if it did in the future that would increase the potential even more. This ability to meet new people and learn about their views about any number of subjects is absolutely vital to any educational experience. It could also be used to network in the business world.

Foreign Languages – In my brief experiment I talked with, or heard from people from a dozen countries and as many languages. There are Skypecasts going right now with the title “Chat in HINDI or URDU” or “You speak English with me I teach you Chinese.” Online discussion groups could be created for foreign languages acquisition classes where students could speak with a native speaker of a language and in turn help others learn English.

Equalizing Platform – Perhaps one of the nicest things about Skypecasts is it’s ability to equalize all the people in the room. Everyone has the same voice and a 25 year old British student has just as much input as a 53 year old tenured professor at a prestigious university. Skypecasts can also potentially bring that same prestigious professor to dozens of people across the Globe in real time.

Online Lectures/COST – There are many programs out there that already allow users to create online classes, but those cost thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars to implement. This option is FREE. That price tag is always a big plus for education and their limited resources.

Assignments – Need a creative way for students to get motivated about presenting an idea about a certain topic. Have them create a Skypecast where not only your class is present, but others throughout the world who might have something else to say about it. That would definetely make me think twice about what I was about to say.

Collaboration – Remember Chickering and Gamson’s article Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education ? Any way to increase collaboration between students and teachers, and among the students themselves will increase their ability and desire to learn. Skypecasts provides another opportunity.

Potential Pitfalls:

Technology Barriers – Right now there are over 8 million Skype users online, but there are several billion that don’t have access to this technology. It works best with a high speed connection and, as we all know, technology doesn’t always work perfectly. There is also the issue of allowing Skype in Educational institutions. Although it hasn’t happened yet, there is talk about banning Skype on our University campus because it turns the fastest connections into super-nodes to the rest of the users.

Privacy – Anyone can listen. In the larger conversation I joined there were 22 people who were just ‘listening.’ People have a tendency to forget the unseen eyes, or in this case ears, that are listening to what is going on. User education is, of course, the answer to this age-old question.

Language barriers – I did have a hard time understanding some of the people speaking.

TimeWaster – Just like most of the technology today, you could spend hours and hours just finding new skypecasts to join and participate in. We all know how hard it is to get homework done when there is something/anything more exciting going on.

COST – I chose to include this as a pitfall as well because it is really impossible to use Skype without a headset, or at least earphones so the voices don’t reverberate back into the conversation. The cost is minimal, but any cost will defer even the slightest critics.

Conclusion:

Overall, I was very impressed with Skypecasts and the potential it possesses in education. Above all else mentioned above, I think it is absolutely necessary to help students understand cultures beyond their own. This technology opens up the way for them to do that, not only through other people’s Skypecasts, but by having students create their own.

What other uses can you think of for this program? How will/could you use it in your curriculum?

Google Docs’ Academic Potential and Importance

If you keep up with the news, over the past couple of weeks you have seen the release and large discussion that has ensued since Google released one of it’s newest products: Google Documents and Spreadsheets. I have enjoyed reading all sorts of articles about the possibilities of Office 2.0… an online competitor to the colossal Microsoft Office suite. But what are the ramifications in regard to academic life? Can Google really be a competitor in the entrenched battlefield of education? What does it have to offer?

In 1987 Chickering and Gamson wrote an article expounding Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education and in 1986 Chickering and Ehrman rewrote the principles Using Technology as a Lever. As you read over the principles you notice that the first two principles are Using Technology to Enrich and Extend Faculty-Student Contact and Using Technology to Enrich and Extend Student-Student Cooperation. Today Phil Windley posted an article on ZDNet entitled: “Web office is about collaboration. ” In this article he brings up the one thing that online office systems have that off-line systems don’t: collaboration.

Up until now educators have said that it was best to accomplish the teacher-student and student-student interaction using e-mail and so forth. Google Documents and Spreadsheets presents an unique and new sphere for students to collaborate online in real time with teachers and with each other. Google Documents can be edited in REAL-TIME with a person thousands of miles away. Google Spreadsheets has a chat screen that opens when ever another collaborator logs into so they can chat in real time while they edit the spreadsheet. The academic advantages of being able to collaborate on a document in real time with some one in a different building on campus, or half way across the world are invaluable. Two people could co-author an article, or entire classes could brainstorm for an activity. They wouldn’t have to be in the same place, or even online at the same time. In fact, In researching this article I just saw that Google is currently promoting a Global Warming Student Speakout using Google Docs and Spreadsheets to collaborate in an online “brainstorming session.”

Granted, Google Docs has a long way to go before it can compete with Microsoft Word in education (footnotes and other references come to mind), but Google is notorious for releasing products and then adding features as the user base grows. They clearly have education in mind with their recent releases of sites directly directed at Educators and Google Apps for Education and other long term projects like Google Book Search and Google Scholar. I’m sure they are not only going to get the needed tools that students are already used to, but add many other features that change they way students collaborate and learn. Going along with my article from yesterday ; students will also be more motivated to participate because there is an added social component to homework.

One thing is for sure, Microsoft Office is only one generation away from extinction if they don’t create free collaboration tools of their own. If the rising generation of college students do begin to use the web for word processing and other tasks, they will continue to do so when they enter the work force in the years to come. Students are growing up using the internet and are used to having their entire lives online. Entire social societies are created online. One day, I believe Google Docs and/or some other online word processing suite will fit right into that sphere. What do you think?

Technology Should be Used to Motivate Students

Today there was an article in the Daily Tar Heel “Report: Average student studies 4 hours weekly.” As I read the article several things caught my attention.

At first thought I figured we are not challenging students enough. A very perceptive sophomore, Mac Stewart, was asked about why he thought students didn’t study very much he said “The amount students study is based on students’ own personal motivation rather than how much professors might challenge them.” To a certain extent I agree with him, the motivation of a student will have more of an impact on what students do for a class than the teacher’s assignments he gives to them. On the other hand, why can’t professors motivate students? Is there some sort of unwritten rule that once a student enters college the professor is no longer responsible for the motivation of students? Can they then just give assignments and assume the students will somehow find the motivation to do them. Well, as I write, I realize the answer to that question is probably ‘Yes,’ they can do that. But the great one’s don’t. … The great teachers motivate their students with assignments that excite them and help them to learn the topic at the same time. That leads me to the point of this article.

If we look at the students attending Universities today we see that they are very technologically savvy. They have no problem navigating the internet and more importantly, contributing to the content on the internet. Many of them live entire digital lives online on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. You can take a look at Fred Stutzman’s research, a up and coming scholar here on campus, and see just how prevalent these social networks are among college students.

I suggest that teachers could make assignments that require students to publish their work on the internet. Students would think much more critically before writing anything that was going to go into the digital sphere for the whole world to see. One of the wonderful things about the internet today is its ability to solicit conversation. As students wrote and received comments from people all over the world it could encourage them to improve and write more. There is much more discuss with this idea, but I am going to leave it there for now in hopes of soliciting some comments from some others out there reading this.

The uses of technology do not have to be limited to writing in blogs either. The students in classrooms today, for the most part, are technology driven. If your students use iPods more than blogs, have them create a podcasts of their work. The possibilities are endless. What kind of other ideas do you have for using technology to motivate students?