Thoughts on Prensky's article:
'Digital natives' have hypertext minds; it is not linear or sequential. For example when you are reading a text, you may wander off to certain issues along the way, and then (hopefully) return to your initial text/task.
Attention spans are apparently short but definitely not for games, or anything that interests them. Well, not different from so-called non-digital natives. If I am disinterested I tend to switch off. Regardless of whether or not I am considered to be a digital native or a digital immigrant, I believe this trait is applicable to everyone. I would consider it human nature to not pay attention when the subject/issue is not appealing.
The research for Sesame Street came up with an interesting observation: children as young as 5 can apparently strategically distribute their attention between toys and television. This suggests that even with 'distractions' they can learn as much.
I hate to be skeptical, but indeed I am. It would be of course be wonderful to have students smsing/reading a book and whatever else during lessons, yet able to absorb all the critical content/skills. But does this happen?
Come to think of it, the experiment can be seen as a similar situation in classrooms. A lesson without 'distractions' and another where students are allowed to use their mobile phones, use the internet etc. while a class is ongoing. Will they absorb the same amount of content and skills?
I suppose it brings us back to the point above - if the television (and lessons) are interesting and engaging, audience will give their full attention, even with distractions abound. How many of us refuse to pick up the phone/reply an sms during soccer? Certainly myself. Turn away from the screen and you may miss a spectacular goal (of course there are replays but the excitement comes from seeing it 'live').
So what does this mean? If students are distracted and choose to sneak an sms during our lessons or prefer to watch cars go by outside, we ought to reflect on our lessons and try to make it more engaging. It's not them. It's us.
Badly designed games?
We need real games with real content. But what content? To teach students values? E.g. they should not give up. Or content as required in the syllabus? I do think games can teach analytical skills which is useful for any subject. But delivering content/information via games for subjects like history can be difficult.
Digital Youths
Finding out about Olivia set me thinking about a few things.
I make the assumption that students without computer and internet access would find it a chore if they are to get assignments that requires them to get access. Olivia however seems to relish such activities and even uses technology for her own leisure (and I have to say going to stores to use computer and internet on the sly is indeed VERY street smart.). How many of our students are like her? Well I have no idea.
Singstat reveals that as of 2005 74% of Singaporean hh have computer access, and 66% have internet access. So in a class of 40, about a quarter will not have computer access, and a bit more will not have internet access.
How many of these students will be motivated enough to head to the school library to do their work and pick up new skills? Being my skeptical self, I'd say 50-50. In addition, they may not have the motivation but do not have the time. After all, those without computer and/or internet are likely to be from families of low SES. These students may be working part-time after school hours to earn extra incoem for themselves or their family.
I find it surprising that Olivia can personalize MySpace page because I know a lot of my peers who have computer and internet access at home do not how a hoot about CSS and HTML. It has always been my assumption that those without access would have less knowledge and skill, but she has proven me wrong. I wonder how many Olivias there are out there though. Hmmm
Application to our teaching?
To engage our digital natives, it becomes imperative that our lessons are not too structured or linear. Allow students to explore the concepts and issues in any manner they are comfortable with. Provide students with the end goal/skill which they have to acquire.
Using game techniques in lessons can also attract and appeal our students.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Some thoughts on Game Based Learning
My group had tried all the stations except the Wii Sports station. The station which left the most impression was the Wii Trauma Centre. It requires two players to operate on a patient who was attacked by a bear and in the next stage, a patient with stomach tumor. For this game, the more you play the better you will get the hang of it. This game is also collaborative in nature in which two players collaborate to perform the operation. It tests the coordination and the chemistry of the team and I think that it would make a good team bonding game. Overall, the "gaming" experience was fun and I had a totally new perspective on gaming. Gaming when utilised in a proper way can bring about more meaningful and experiential learning to the students.
I do agree with Dr Tan that most of the time, the games played would not be linked directly to the contents taught in the curriculum. It would be difficult to find a game that fits totally with the contents of the syllabus unless it is specially created for content related purposes (e.g. The World of Temasek which explores early Singapore history developed by Magma Studios). So, how can we utilise game based learning when it is not directly link to the content in the curriculum?
In this aspect, I agree with Fatma that game based learning can be used to teach students values. I think that game based learning can also be utilised to teach skills. For example, the Macdonald game which we played can be used to teach and inculcate economic and financial literacy. By playing the game, students would better appreciate the concepts of running an enterprise, bankruptcy, profit as they experience it themselves by playing the game. This is better than just giving them a lecture and handouts on what is brankruptcy, what is profit making and how to run a business. This traditional approach may bored them and they would not absorb a lot.
At the end of the day, we should not adopt game based learning for the sake of fun and entertainment in the classroom. It is also important to mitigate the negative aspect of gaming when used for education. More importantly, there should be some key take aways and these games should be beneficial to student learning. A sharing session with the students at the end of the lessons could help reinforce the key take aways.
I do agree with Dr Tan that most of the time, the games played would not be linked directly to the contents taught in the curriculum. It would be difficult to find a game that fits totally with the contents of the syllabus unless it is specially created for content related purposes (e.g. The World of Temasek which explores early Singapore history developed by Magma Studios). So, how can we utilise game based learning when it is not directly link to the content in the curriculum?
In this aspect, I agree with Fatma that game based learning can be used to teach students values. I think that game based learning can also be utilised to teach skills. For example, the Macdonald game which we played can be used to teach and inculcate economic and financial literacy. By playing the game, students would better appreciate the concepts of running an enterprise, bankruptcy, profit as they experience it themselves by playing the game. This is better than just giving them a lecture and handouts on what is brankruptcy, what is profit making and how to run a business. This traditional approach may bored them and they would not absorb a lot.
At the end of the day, we should not adopt game based learning for the sake of fun and entertainment in the classroom. It is also important to mitigate the negative aspect of gaming when used for education. More importantly, there should be some key take aways and these games should be beneficial to student learning. A sharing session with the students at the end of the lessons could help reinforce the key take aways.
Friday, September 18, 2009
reflect on what you learned from the activities
This week my grp played Trauma Center on Wii and (attempted) some flash games in station 3.
Trauma Center was fun, but wish we mastered it earlier so we can move on! anyway, I belatedly realized (after observing another grp) that we could have collaborated further by getting all 4 members involved! But i suppose we were 'by the book' and followed instructions (i.e. one on right hand, the other left). Or we are just not creative enough ;)
The next station was a little frustrating because the games we picked either had to be downloaded, came with a worksheet (!!), or didn't make much sense to us. After the initial tries, we opened a few games in separate tabs, and ended up with a Forensics game, and one about Conquests. We ended up not achieving much since we could not figure out how to advance for the second game (we only got to far as sending our army to invade another country, but couldn't figure out if we won or lost!, and didn't download the accompanying worksheet for the first.
I think game-based learning can be beneficial provided students can see the link between the games and their curriculum content. Will definitely have to scout around for games relevant for History (fellow HY teachers, we can look forward to one which will be released in a year's time!) if I were to incorporate games in my lessons. But for now, I will probably leave it to teach values to students. Highlight how losing should motivate them to try harder instead of giving up, etc.
The report regarding the use of games in learning is an interesting read reinforced what we learnt in class. It looks at incorporating computer and video games more commonly associated for entertainment and recreation (as opposed to games created for learning in lessons as highlighted in the article highlighted by Dr. Tan).
As Dr. Tan mentioned during the debrief, the report highlights the pertinent need to highlight the link(s) between the games, lessons learnt, and its application to the students' daily lives. One way to do this would be to get students to share their experiences after playing the games, and pick out learning points which are applicable to the real-world.
As we all know, there are always two sides to a coin. While I found the idea that games affect students' thinking most compelling in advocating for the use of games in classrooms, I realize that the subtle messages that students get from games (and generally the media) may be negative ones. Hence it becomes imperative to teach them to be critical thinkers and one way to do this would be to get them to articulate what they see/notice in the games, and question how are those issues/portrayals applicable to the world around them.
This week my grp played Trauma Center on Wii and (attempted) some flash games in station 3.
Trauma Center was fun, but wish we mastered it earlier so we can move on! anyway, I belatedly realized (after observing another grp) that we could have collaborated further by getting all 4 members involved! But i suppose we were 'by the book' and followed instructions (i.e. one on right hand, the other left). Or we are just not creative enough ;)
The next station was a little frustrating because the games we picked either had to be downloaded, came with a worksheet (!!), or didn't make much sense to us. After the initial tries, we opened a few games in separate tabs, and ended up with a Forensics game, and one about Conquests. We ended up not achieving much since we could not figure out how to advance for the second game (we only got to far as sending our army to invade another country, but couldn't figure out if we won or lost!, and didn't download the accompanying worksheet for the first.
I think game-based learning can be beneficial provided students can see the link between the games and their curriculum content. Will definitely have to scout around for games relevant for History (fellow HY teachers, we can look forward to one which will be released in a year's time!) if I were to incorporate games in my lessons. But for now, I will probably leave it to teach values to students. Highlight how losing should motivate them to try harder instead of giving up, etc.
The report regarding the use of games in learning is an interesting read reinforced what we learnt in class. It looks at incorporating computer and video games more commonly associated for entertainment and recreation (as opposed to games created for learning in lessons as highlighted in the article highlighted by Dr. Tan).
As Dr. Tan mentioned during the debrief, the report highlights the pertinent need to highlight the link(s) between the games, lessons learnt, and its application to the students' daily lives. One way to do this would be to get students to share their experiences after playing the games, and pick out learning points which are applicable to the real-world.
As we all know, there are always two sides to a coin. While I found the idea that games affect students' thinking most compelling in advocating for the use of games in classrooms, I realize that the subtle messages that students get from games (and generally the media) may be negative ones. Hence it becomes imperative to teach them to be critical thinkers and one way to do this would be to get them to articulate what they see/notice in the games, and question how are those issues/portrayals applicable to the world around them.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
COTF
First up was the presentation where the group used Facebook as the ICT tool. I liked how we thought of how to use the distractions in FB to our advantage in lessons. But of course, monitoring by teachers to ensure they use these tools productively is imperative to ensure they are focused on their task and not using lesson time to surf their friends' pages. After all, we adults lapse into that at times too! ;)
Which brings me to something I heard on Class95 a couple of days ago. Two girls were trapped in a drain and used their handphones to update their FB status, caught the attention of a friend who alerted the police. (read news article here) A case showing how useful FB is? Yeah maybe. But why didn't they use their use their hps to call the police instead?
I remember reading that some of the hostages of the Mumbai terrorist attacks used their Blackberries to update their families and friends about their predicament. But that makes sense as they probably wanted to remain as quiet as possible to avoid detection.
But updating FB status instead of calling the police when you are stuck in a drain? hmmmm
Playing games during ICT class was fun. What did I learn?
The first station my group visited reinforced what we already know: technology can be really unreliable. We stood there, trying to login to the class Wiki to edit the page but to no avail. In addition, the touchscreen wasn't responsive (or we were really lousy!) and that was frustrating. But good ol laptop came to the rescue and we managed to type in some of our thoughts. Yes, MUST always have a Plan B.
Next, we played flash games and Shobi and myself bankrupted McD twice -_- tsk. shame on us! First up, we weren't sure how to play (i.e. how to win), and that was frustrating as we clicked around without knowing why/how/what. We could have been more patient and wait and observe instead of frantically trying to make our cows and crops grow asap. Further, we were distracted and did not notice that our money was depleting. I suppose we were too fixated on the end but not the means?
Which brings me to something I heard on Class95 a couple of days ago. Two girls were trapped in a drain and used their handphones to update their FB status, caught the attention of a friend who alerted the police. (read news article here) A case showing how useful FB is? Yeah maybe. But why didn't they use their use their hps to call the police instead?
I remember reading that some of the hostages of the Mumbai terrorist attacks used their Blackberries to update their families and friends about their predicament. But that makes sense as they probably wanted to remain as quiet as possible to avoid detection.
But updating FB status instead of calling the police when you are stuck in a drain? hmmmm
Playing games during ICT class was fun. What did I learn?
The first station my group visited reinforced what we already know: technology can be really unreliable. We stood there, trying to login to the class Wiki to edit the page but to no avail. In addition, the touchscreen wasn't responsive (or we were really lousy!) and that was frustrating. But good ol laptop came to the rescue and we managed to type in some of our thoughts. Yes, MUST always have a Plan B.
Next, we played flash games and Shobi and myself bankrupted McD twice -_- tsk. shame on us! First up, we weren't sure how to play (i.e. how to win), and that was frustrating as we clicked around without knowing why/how/what. We could have been more patient and wait and observe instead of frantically trying to make our cows and crops grow asap. Further, we were distracted and did not notice that our money was depleting. I suppose we were too fixated on the end but not the means?
Friday, September 11, 2009
Singapore's Obsession
When school officials from across the world come here to learn why Singapore's students score so well on international science and math tests, it doesn't take them long to discover the secret -- a national obsession with education.
It even shows up on its dollar bills. While U.S. and Latin American currencies portray images of national independence heroes, Singapore's 2-dollar bill -- the most widely circulated since there is no smaller denomination -- shows students in a classroom listening to a professor, with a university in the background. Underneath, there is just one word, ``Education.''This is a piece from the Miami Herald about Singapore's education system. Despite the positive light shown on our public education system, I find myself troubled by some of the opinions given.
At the Rulang Primary School, a 2,100-student public elementary school specializing in robotics teaching, teachers looked at me somewhat puzzled when I asked whether letting a 7-year-old child know that she is the worse of her class isn't putting too much pressure on her too early in life.
``No,'' school principal Cheryl Lim shrugged. ``We rank them in a way to tell them that this is their ranking at this point in time, and that they can do better next year. It's not to tell them that they are the worst in their class.''
...
``By the time you are 10, you are put on a stream,'' says Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and one of the country's best-known intellectuals. ``No brain is wasted in Singapore.''If I was in a race and my results were open for the world to see. And it showed "Adam Chan. Last out of 40 in Division 3". How deep within must I search myself to find motivation to win the next race? Honestly, if I wanted to protect my self-worth, I'd just quit and find some other activities that I'll be better at. Now that's from a 26 year-old but what about a 7 or 10 year old kid? Would they quit even faster? And what options of other 'competitions' do they have but the PSLE?
No brain is wasted in Singapore. Is the human brain's only function to pass exams? I think not. And I think we are wasting our most precious resource doing things this way.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
"You have been captured by the militia..."
For today's lesson, we did game-based learning at NIE's Classroom of the Future. One of the games I played was called 'Darfur is Dying'. In this Flash-based computer game, players took on a role of a Darfur child who had to bring back water to his village. The challenge was not to get caught by the militias through running and hiding. It's basically a Pacman game. Pacman runs around trying not to get eaten by the Ghosts. Darfur kid darts around trying not to get kidnapped and abused. Some of my friends could be heard shouting and screaming while playing it as though they really got run over by the militia's evil evil jeep. I think that is where game-based learning is most powerful. It allows a person to be drawn into a world which he or she may never step into if not for the power of games. A good book or a movie also does the same thing but a game requires that you interact. A two-ways street where you participate and be a part of that world, even for just a few minutes. This I feel makes learning much more personal and intimate. If you wanted your students to learn what life is like in a war-stricken country, and you had to choose between a reading material, a video and a game, which would you pick?
Monday, September 7, 2009
E learning summary: before, during, after
After reading the blog posts, I came to realise that in order for effective learning in an ICT-mediated environment to occur, the teacher should consider what happens before, during and after the lesson.
The following are the questions the teacher may consider when it comes to planning, executing and following up on an ICT-based lesson:
How do I plan an ICT-based lesson? Fatma has aptly pointed out that prior detailed planning is essential. This involves preliminary work. For example, Mrs Xing was unaware that some of her students did not know how to surf the internet. As Eugene suggested, she could have surveyed her students prior to her lessons on their computer literacy levels.
What am I trying to teach? The teacher has to keep in mind the SIOs set out for the lesson. ICT should only be incorporated insofar as it benefits the teaching of a particular subject. If the topic is something new for students, the n it would make sense to provide hard copy instructions or articles for the students to browse through before the lesson.
What do I look out for? As Adam mentioned, it is also important to understand repercussions of an ICT-based lesson. For a lesson that requires students to do research online for example, it would be wise to highlight the issues of Cyberwellness to the students face to face. According to Adam, relevant websites can also be given to the students to reinforce the concept of Cyberwellness.
Who are my students? Are they familiar with ICT? Will they be receptive towards a lesson that involves contributing to an online mind map for example? How about something more ambitious such as maintaining a website? The teacher has to be aware of the attitude and aptitude of his/her students. Perhaps it is useful here to adopt the ABDC approach when it comes to crafting tasks during the ICT-based lesson. This can help in the crafting of an appropriate lesson plan, as well as class room management during the lesson itself.
Why integrate ICT? Would this benefit my students? Would this help in the learning process? Do the students know how to use the online application needed for the lesson? If not how will I teach them? It is important not to allow oneself be carried away by the use of ICT in a lesson. The teacher has to consider the importance of non-ICT tools as well in helping with classroom management and the teaching of any subject. This was clearly shown in the Secondary school e-learning video we were tasked to watch.
Finally, how do I ensure that my students have benefited from an ICT based lesson? Once again, I liked Adam’s suggestion of doing reflections using the 3-2-1 method or the KWLQ framework. A good lesson necessitates following up on what the students have learnt. It also helps if the teacher himself or herself does a bit of self-reflection and ponder over what went wrong or right during the ICT-based lesson.
Jin Xun
The following are the questions the teacher may consider when it comes to planning, executing and following up on an ICT-based lesson:
How do I plan an ICT-based lesson? Fatma has aptly pointed out that prior detailed planning is essential. This involves preliminary work. For example, Mrs Xing was unaware that some of her students did not know how to surf the internet. As Eugene suggested, she could have surveyed her students prior to her lessons on their computer literacy levels.
What am I trying to teach? The teacher has to keep in mind the SIOs set out for the lesson. ICT should only be incorporated insofar as it benefits the teaching of a particular subject. If the topic is something new for students, the n it would make sense to provide hard copy instructions or articles for the students to browse through before the lesson.
What do I look out for? As Adam mentioned, it is also important to understand repercussions of an ICT-based lesson. For a lesson that requires students to do research online for example, it would be wise to highlight the issues of Cyberwellness to the students face to face. According to Adam, relevant websites can also be given to the students to reinforce the concept of Cyberwellness.
Who are my students? Are they familiar with ICT? Will they be receptive towards a lesson that involves contributing to an online mind map for example? How about something more ambitious such as maintaining a website? The teacher has to be aware of the attitude and aptitude of his/her students. Perhaps it is useful here to adopt the ABDC approach when it comes to crafting tasks during the ICT-based lesson. This can help in the crafting of an appropriate lesson plan, as well as class room management during the lesson itself.
Why integrate ICT? Would this benefit my students? Would this help in the learning process? Do the students know how to use the online application needed for the lesson? If not how will I teach them? It is important not to allow oneself be carried away by the use of ICT in a lesson. The teacher has to consider the importance of non-ICT tools as well in helping with classroom management and the teaching of any subject. This was clearly shown in the Secondary school e-learning video we were tasked to watch.
Finally, how do I ensure that my students have benefited from an ICT based lesson? Once again, I liked Adam’s suggestion of doing reflections using the 3-2-1 method or the KWLQ framework. A good lesson necessitates following up on what the students have learnt. It also helps if the teacher himself or herself does a bit of self-reflection and ponder over what went wrong or right during the ICT-based lesson.
Jin Xun
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