EME 2040 Digital Badge #E Laura Guzman Moreno
Computer games as learning resources. This subject got my attention because while reading the article, I’m thinking of my son Fernando. Fernando is a 504 student. He uses to have reading difficulties. He used to get tire and bored just to look at the books that he needed to read. Fernando is an 8th grade student and since last year (7), he change his thinking about reading. At this school they have a program called achieve3000. At the beginning of this program Fernando had a test to find out his lexile level in reading. Once achieve3000 has his lexile level it gives him stories that are at his level. Also he can search the stories of his choice. Achieve3000 has passages for kiditz , teenbiz, empower3000, esci3000 coach 3000 and spark3000. Achieve3000 help with thinking strategies. It gives questions and asks his opinion about the article before and after reading the article. He also needs to explain why he keeps his first opinion or why he changed. So Fernando is practicing his writing and reading skills. He gets points for each passage that he reads at school or at home. Fernando enjoys reading in Achieve3000. Transforming Learning with New Technologies says, in schools, teachers use gamification strategies when they give individual or group recognition and reward for assignments done in class or for homework. Jeopardy-style quiz games to review academic material before a test are another form of gamification in school (169). By self-experience with my son I agree that this method of gamification really works well with students and teachers.
Computer games as learning resources. This subject got my attention because while reading the article, I’m thinking of my son Fernando. Fernando is a 504 student. He uses to have reading difficulties. He used to get tire and bored just to look at the books that he needed to read. Fernando is an 8th grade student and since last year (7), he change his thinking about reading. At this school they have a program called achieve3000. At the beginning of this program Fernando had a test to find out his lexile level in reading. Once achieve3000 has his lexile level it gives him stories that are at his level. Also he can search the stories of his choice. Achieve3000 has passages for kiditz , teenbiz, empower3000, esci3000 coach 3000 and spark3000. Achieve3000 help with thinking strategies. It gives questions and asks his opinion about the article before and after reading the article. He also needs to explain why he keeps his first opinion or why he changed. So Fernando is practicing his writing and reading skills. He gets points for each passage that he reads at school or at home. Fernando enjoys reading in Achieve3000. Transforming Learning with New Technologies says, in schools, teachers use gamification strategies when they give individual or group recognition and reward for assignments done in class or for homework. Jeopardy-style quiz games to review academic material before a test are another form of gamification in school (169). By self-experience with my son I agree that this method of gamification really works well with students and teachers.
Selection and evaluating of software and apps. This subject is a very interesting in this chapter. It is important to know what program is best for our students to use. Transforming Learning with New Technologies mention in this chapter, In many schools, teachers are not allowed to add their own software to the school system network (162). This is true. For this school, teacher do not pick what program they think or know is going to work more effectively. Teachers know better than the administration representatives what program will work better for their students. At this time the ESL teacher has been told, “This is the program we are using and these are the results we want to see.” I really like and agree with the question we as new teachers to be need to make ourselves before choosing a program, I will copy this on my notes for further use. Transforming with New Technologies reads, “Will the child program the computer or will the computer will program the child?”(Papert,1996,p.56).(162). As a mother and a teacher to be, this subject really got my attention and I want to research more on how to select and evaluate apps and software for my kids and my future students.
Another subject that called my attention is Debates about games and gaming. While I was reading aloud in my dining room, a debate started about this subject. My son likes to play games and my daughter is always against it. He have played Halo and assassin creed.(2 or 3 times in this year). It is a big controversy the use of video games, I don’t agree when
Transforming Learning with new Technologies says, “Many parents and teachers believe they should severely restrict computer use by students and some would totally ban preschoolers and kindergartens from using computers for learning of play” (169). I don’t agree with this because not all the games are bad. At preschool and kindergarten I think is ok to sue the computer or games to learn. where I agree is when Transforming learning with new technologies mentions that “there are also concerns that brain development and social skills are adversely affected by extensive game play” (169). Yes I agree with that because when these kids get obsess with the fame is like an alcoholic. They can lose themselves, more over if we think of most or all of the teens who’s been shooting classmates or even themselves, all of them have the games in common. So I think yes! Is ok to play but parents always need to check how often these kids play the same games. I agree too, when it mentions that m some researches have suggested that violent video games Cause desensitation to real-life violence among game players who appear to “get used to”- that is,
In conclusion all these subjects are very interesting and very informative for parents and teacher. It is very important to be informed of all the software and games more than anything else, that we and our kids use and the ones we are going to be using in the future with our future students.
Great reflections on gaming and software evaluation. There is definitely two sides to these issues as not all games are educational and they don't always even serve a purpose for learning. But many games are fantastic at setting up problems for students to solve and/or are based on sound educational principles. We just need to evaluate them individually to be better prepared for their potential (or not!) in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to add your textbook reference (at the minimum) to the Resource section that should be at the end of your post. And, you are still having difficulty with those photos/attribution thereof!!