Pointed to this article in Chronicle Careers, on the effect of modern distractions in the lecture hall, by yet another post on the Second Life Education Mailing list. For a short article, it covers a lot of ground – and some of the points are quite thought provoking. More below.
Im pleased to announce that I’m helping organise a workshop on the use of Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVE or MMO if you prefer) in Education. The Massively Multi-Learner workshop is supported by the Higher Education Academy ICS subject group, and you can see some more details and book a place on their page for the workshop here. Expect an updated list of speakers and talks soon.
The workshop will take place at Paisley University (near Glasgow) on the 22nd of March 2007.
Sorry for the delay. It’s been hectic recently…
Two items I was meaning to post on last week, but both have been sitting in draft form gathering dust. First, an example of where a modified commercial computer game has been successfully applied to improve attainment in key skills qualification at a UK Further Education college, then a very different example of how simple play is important for child development and IQ… see below for more.
Over on his blog, Chris Lott has a critical look at the use of Second Life for education. Actually its more of a critical look at the education users of Second Life. Critical consideration of games based learning was the founding principle of this blog, though I haven’t yet cast a critical eye over Second Life myself – so it’s worth considering what Chris has to say.
I’m branching out a little. In future I’ll also be irregularly contributing to my first ‘team’ blog – “Digital Ethos – Networking and Self-Branding in a Digital World”
Got a nice idea for an article, but first need to get some real work out of the way…
A trio of comments recently found on Prensky’s concept of the digital native.
Found this via the learningevolves Wiki.
Rob Wall got a bit frustrated listening to a keynote speaker talk about Digital Natives, and decided to blog his opinion here. He argues many of the same points that I do – but perhaps articulates them better!
The common view of the Digital Native is of a tech-savvy computer and web literate individual with a blog, a MySpace page and regular uploads to YouTube. I’ve argued in this blog that this view is misleading in many ways. That the ‘Natives’ may be users of technology, but might not be very literate in its use and that they may be making less use of Web 2.0 features than many pundits claim.
Now, on the back of the latest study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which found that 55% of online teens use social networks, I have noticed two quite different ways of interpreting these results…
I wrote previously on now the diet that todays children eat might be affecting their success at school. I wrote before that Prensky was simply wrong to dismiss ADD as a real problem, and wrong to suggest that games should necessarily be the tool to engage students with school. Now a new report backs up that opinion.
Should have seen this one coming!
The Buzz! games on the PlayStation 2 use a quiz game style controller – with four buttons for multiple choice style answers and a big button for ‘buzzing in’. Now there is a special schools version of Buzz, backed by the UK government. More here.