This week I am the leader of a cohort led seminar on Gamification. This all came about as an assignment for my OLTD 509 course “ Emerging Technologies” .
The first part of this assignment was to choose three emerging technology topics, ones we would be interested in researching, from a list outlined in the week 1 course plan. We also had to choose whether we wished to do this assignment independently or in a partnership or on a team with two others. We completed the form OLTD 509 Seminar Topic/Team Selection outlining our choices. Based on these submissions, our instructor, then assigned the seminar topics. I was assigned the topic on Gamification, my first choice, and I choose to do the assignment independently.
Once assigned we then completed another form, also titled OLTD 509 Seminar Topic/Team Selection, choosing which cohort led emerging technology seminars we would like to participate in. Our instructor then had the daunting task of correlating who would present their seminars when, keeping in mind that each of us would be a participant in two seminars and present one, and all over a three week period, with varying size of groups. Our instructor shared that this was far more difficult than he ever thought it would be. A good lesson for those of us who may ever look to create, a seminar style assignment, in our own teaching.
I then had the daunting task of putting together my seminar. It involved many hours of viewing videos, reading through online blogs and articles, and viewing a number of different game sites. It all came together and I presented my seminar plan.
This brings us back to this week where I am hosting, independently, this seminar on Gamification. My seminar is hosted in the Gamification folder in our Google + OLTD Shared Space (Learning Community). Here you will find my seminar plan along with discussion posts on gamification.
As a teacher and a student I am, of course, participating in my own seminar. I chose today to explore the different games I had posted, and from that list choose one or more to play. I soon came to realize I could answer one of the courses leading questions in relation to our critical challenge questions, “What are the barriers you might face in implementing a technology integration?
As I teach Math 8 I decided to look at some of the Math related games, shared in my seminar plan. First I looked at Mystery Math Museum: “MMM is an iPad app for Game Based Learning. This app designed for kids 6-12, has them helping a ghost rescue dragonflies throughout 8 museums by solving basic math equations. “ First off this is an app that can only be accessed on an iPad or iPhone. I choose to download the app, it costs $2.99. I then waited for the app to load, and waited and waited. Then a sign popped up that said “Unable to Download App”. It gave me the option to retry which I did a number of times, but still no luck. I deleted the app and then went back and purchased the app again, not sure if I will be charged twice for it, still no luck. I soon realized that along with the barrier of the app not loading, that one can only implement this technology if one has access to the specific operating system required. Further, if ones school has iPads, one still must get permission to download that particular game app. Barriers every step of the way.
While waiting for the above to load, I went and checked out The Lost Function: “An in-depth math game that has students interacting with a number of characters to solve Math equations to progress further in the game. This game takes place in a fully immersive 3D environment and has students solving a wide range of problems such as: decimals, fractions, and more.” I went directly to the site and checked out the student page, and intro video. Sounded like the game had a good hook for this age group. I then came across a great educator video on the parent page. It appears to offer all that I am looking for in online gaming for both myself and my students. Then came the barriers. First it is not a free gaming site, there is a fee for either individual accounts or class sets. I had hoped there may be the opportunity to try it free for a short period of time but no luck. So in order for me to make an informed decision there are a number of steps I will need to go through. Either purchase a single account using my own funds, or go through my administration to see if they will pay for a single use account, or see if we should contact the distributor so as to inquire what options are available. The cost related to each student account, could be a hindrance to even moving forth with this idea. Another barrier is that this game is hosted in the US. I may find that this point alone could stop the process from going any further. I have been told by a previous IT staff member that the district is not in favour of sites hosted in the US.
This has been a true learning experience for me. An afternoon where my plan was to play games resulted in another outcome, me seeing the barriers one can come across in the process. I hope my next foray into game play will be more successful.
In looking to your learning so far in this course, OLTD 509 Emerging Technologies, what is your answer to the following question: “What are the barriers you might face in implementing a technology integration?
The first part of this assignment was to choose three emerging technology topics, ones we would be interested in researching, from a list outlined in the week 1 course plan. We also had to choose whether we wished to do this assignment independently or in a partnership or on a team with two others. We completed the form OLTD 509 Seminar Topic/Team Selection outlining our choices. Based on these submissions, our instructor, then assigned the seminar topics. I was assigned the topic on Gamification, my first choice, and I choose to do the assignment independently.
Once assigned we then completed another form, also titled OLTD 509 Seminar Topic/Team Selection, choosing which cohort led emerging technology seminars we would like to participate in. Our instructor then had the daunting task of correlating who would present their seminars when, keeping in mind that each of us would be a participant in two seminars and present one, and all over a three week period, with varying size of groups. Our instructor shared that this was far more difficult than he ever thought it would be. A good lesson for those of us who may ever look to create, a seminar style assignment, in our own teaching.
I then had the daunting task of putting together my seminar. It involved many hours of viewing videos, reading through online blogs and articles, and viewing a number of different game sites. It all came together and I presented my seminar plan.
This brings us back to this week where I am hosting, independently, this seminar on Gamification. My seminar is hosted in the Gamification folder in our Google + OLTD Shared Space (Learning Community). Here you will find my seminar plan along with discussion posts on gamification.
As a teacher and a student I am, of course, participating in my own seminar. I chose today to explore the different games I had posted, and from that list choose one or more to play. I soon came to realize I could answer one of the courses leading questions in relation to our critical challenge questions, “What are the barriers you might face in implementing a technology integration?
As I teach Math 8 I decided to look at some of the Math related games, shared in my seminar plan. First I looked at Mystery Math Museum: “MMM is an iPad app for Game Based Learning. This app designed for kids 6-12, has them helping a ghost rescue dragonflies throughout 8 museums by solving basic math equations. “ First off this is an app that can only be accessed on an iPad or iPhone. I choose to download the app, it costs $2.99. I then waited for the app to load, and waited and waited. Then a sign popped up that said “Unable to Download App”. It gave me the option to retry which I did a number of times, but still no luck. I deleted the app and then went back and purchased the app again, not sure if I will be charged twice for it, still no luck. I soon realized that along with the barrier of the app not loading, that one can only implement this technology if one has access to the specific operating system required. Further, if ones school has iPads, one still must get permission to download that particular game app. Barriers every step of the way.
While waiting for the above to load, I went and checked out The Lost Function: “An in-depth math game that has students interacting with a number of characters to solve Math equations to progress further in the game. This game takes place in a fully immersive 3D environment and has students solving a wide range of problems such as: decimals, fractions, and more.” I went directly to the site and checked out the student page, and intro video. Sounded like the game had a good hook for this age group. I then came across a great educator video on the parent page. It appears to offer all that I am looking for in online gaming for both myself and my students. Then came the barriers. First it is not a free gaming site, there is a fee for either individual accounts or class sets. I had hoped there may be the opportunity to try it free for a short period of time but no luck. So in order for me to make an informed decision there are a number of steps I will need to go through. Either purchase a single account using my own funds, or go through my administration to see if they will pay for a single use account, or see if we should contact the distributor so as to inquire what options are available. The cost related to each student account, could be a hindrance to even moving forth with this idea. Another barrier is that this game is hosted in the US. I may find that this point alone could stop the process from going any further. I have been told by a previous IT staff member that the district is not in favour of sites hosted in the US.
This has been a true learning experience for me. An afternoon where my plan was to play games resulted in another outcome, me seeing the barriers one can come across in the process. I hope my next foray into game play will be more successful.
In looking to your learning so far in this course, OLTD 509 Emerging Technologies, what is your answer to the following question: “What are the barriers you might face in implementing a technology integration?