Gamification(Jesse Schell parts 1-3 and Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world)

Question #1: What do you think is the most significant point Jesse Schell makes in Part 1 of this three part video series? (Hint: highly subjective and multiple different answers are possible.)

I think that Schell is trying to show people the potential profits/revenue of the gamification industry, which is happening now and its possible impact in the future.  The way Schell prove his point by using facts, math and humor made me realize how fast this industry is really growing and its potential.  I was surprise at how fast gamification is growing and how big a part it’s going to play in our future.  I always knew that online games make a lot of profits but I had no idea that they made so much and in such a little time; the possible future for this could be endless.  I think that Schell is trying to also show how websites, like Facebook, use gamification to increase there profits/revenue, which can be a good or bad thing.
Question #2: Why is psychology an important part of game design and what examples does Schell provide of how psychology has informed game design?

Psychology is very important in promoting and marketing games.  Schell says that playing a game online on sites like Facebook, that lets you play with your real friends and shows the results of everyone, makes it seem more real and authentic.  Why? Because the players are thinking that it must “worth while” because “I spent time on it” so it “must be valuable” because time and possible money have been gone into playing this game.   However, the problem with this is that people go to games to escape from reality but instead games are breaking through to reality with games such as guitar hero and webkinz.  Schell even show how simple everyday reality has been made into a game with things like the point system in Weight Watcher’s, a game within a game like Fantasy football and a game with a prize at the end like Geo caching.
Question #3: Schell proposed that “school is a game.” What does he mean by this and how are you already using gaming principles in your classroom based upon his assertion?

I agree with Schell that “school is a game” because in a way, schools give out grades, that sometimes come from points, that will determine if a student fails or passes and move on to graduate.  I plan to become a mathematics teacher and it will be easier and even fun for my future students if  I somehow incorporate games into my lesson plans.  Converting grades into points, having reward systems, and having lesson plans that include games or entirely made up of games will increase student attendance and grades.  Why? I think that it is because students like to play games because they are easy to understand and fun to plat.  For the teacher, it becomes easier to track progress and convert the points to grades.  In addition, students and teachers can use this system to get out of old boring routine and increase involvement.

Question #4: Do you believe in Jane McGonigal’s assertion that games can make a better world? Defend your stance with examples and ideas from the video and your own personal experience.

Jane McGonigal video was very interesting for me because I don’t know much about games nor do I  play them.  I was really surprise at how she describes the emotions and facial expression on a gamer who is about to get a sure epic win.  I agree with her in saying that gamers “feel that we are not as good in reality as we are in games.”  This is why I do not fully agree with her assertion that games can make a better world.  She says that games get people motivated, to achieve more, to share, and ready to get back up when they are playing a game even if they fail whereas in real life when we face challenges or failures we do not feel the same way.  I believe that the reason for this difference is because people, gamers or not, know that there will be true consequences of failures/mistakes in real life, that it is not a game where you’ll have a replay or retry or undo bottom.  I believe that McGonigal’s assertion kind of downplays on the problems of earth because it turn them into a game that has no real consequences.  I agree with her idea of making those trying to solve the problem feel self-motivated and that the problem is solvable, McGonigal calls this urgent optimism

Socialization within EDET 620

I realized a long time ago that I will have a little bit of difficulty adapting to the online world.  As a college graduate student, some of my classes will be entirely online…my success in those classes and possible future ones will depend on the tools that the class offers so that I feel like I am in an actual classroom.  I perform better in my online classes when I get to know my fellow online classmates.  Reading their blogs, pages, and comments as well as sharing information and ideas with them online gives me a strong sense of being involved with them in a sort of socialization process.  Everytime I do these reading, I get to know my classmates and “interact” with them, so much so that I sometimes forget that I have not meet them in person yet.

My EDET 620 class has done this for me in so many ways.  For one thing, each student is required to create their own website and be active on it week by week by using WordPress.  Because each student puts a picture(s) on their profiles, it is easier for me to put a face to the name which sometimes eliminates the feelings of isolation.  It is also fun to realize that I know some of them from our non online classes.  Google+ is another tool we use in my EDET 620 online class. I am new to it so it is fun learning all these new things about it and ways to use it for my future classroom.  It makes sharing information with others in the class easy and stress free.  I can share files, links, and videos with everyone in the class without worrying about missing one person or incorrect email addresses.

Learning how to do all of this will not have been possible without the help of Dr. Dunleavy, my online class teacher.  He has slowly been showing me how to use the vast amount of information online in a productive and safe manner.  I know that what I have learned during this class will be use in my future.  Instead of simply giving us the information, Dr. Dunleavy has taught me how to get it for myself just as Lao Tzu said “If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime.”   I feel that he has done this in a way that maes the students in the online class to socialize with each other by sharing ideas and information on our Google+ and WordPress websites.

Google Earth in the classroom

I have been researching ways to use Google Earth when teaching math in the classroom and I came across a website that has many kmz files that shows how to teach some math topics using Google Earth.  The site is http://www.realworldmath.org/concept-lessons.htm

I think that this site is great because it shows ways mathematics teachers can use Google Earth in their classrooms.  I believe that using this site kmz files to help teach mathematics topics such as currency exchange rates, line graphs and estimation will make it easier for the students to understand.  One of the benefits is that the lessons get to become more interesting because they show students how they are use and relate to the real world.  So many students taking math fail to see its connection, or even relation and relevance, to their daily lives or even in the world. But thanks to Google Earth, we as mathematics teachers can close that gap.

For example, I can use the site “Time zone” kmz file to help teach the students about the different time zones and there relation to other parts in the world.  This will help them see visually the different time zones and also help in engaging them with the topic.  I could have the students in groups pick a location and have them answer questions relating to time topics.  I believe that doing this will make the topic more real and relevant to them, especially if they have family and friends living in different time zones whom they want to communicate with at the appropriate time.

Below I’ve listed some of the Virginia SOL objectives that these kmz files will address.

• Computation and Estimation
  • Focus: Whole Number Operations
    • K.6 The student will model adding and subtracting whole numbers, using up to 10 concrete objects.
• Measurement
  • Focus: Instruments and Attributes
    • K.7 The student will recognize a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter and will determine the value of a collection of pennies and/or nickels whose total value is 10 cents or less.
    • K.8 The student will identify the instruments used to measure length (ruler), weight (scale), time (clock: digital and analog; calendar: day, month, and season), and temperature (thermometer).
    • K.9 The student will tell time to the hour, using analog and digital clocks.

  Focus: Proportional Reasoning

  • • 7.5 The student will
      • describe volume and surface area of cylinders;
      • solve practical problems involving the volume and surface area of rectangular prisms and cylinders; and
      • describe how changing one measured attribute of a rectangular prism affects its volume and surface area.

  Focus: Problem Solving

  • 8.6 The student will
    • verify by measuring and describe the relationships among vertical angles, adjacent angles, supplementary angles, and complementary angles; and
    • measure angles of less than 360°.
  • 8.7 The student will
    • investigate and solve practical problems involving volume and surface area of prisms, cylinders, cones, and pyramids; and

  Reasoning, Lines, and Transformations

  • G.3 The student will use pictorial representations, including computer software, constructions, and coordinate methods, to solve problems involving symmetry and transformation. This will include
    • investigating and using formulas for finding distance, midpoint, and slope;
    • applying slope to verify and determine whether lines are parallel or perpendicular;
    • investigating symmetry and determining whether a figure is symmetric with respect to a
    • line or a point; and
    • determining whether a figure has been translated, reflected, rotated, or dilated, using coordinate methods.

Online Education: positive or negative

I think that online learning can be either a good or bad thing depending on the student and situation. I don’t think that diverse learners or unmotivated students, regardless of grade level, would do as well as the regular and motivated students on online classes.

I do not think that all online education is a good thing, especially for elementary, middle and some high school children/students. I think that to have children, especially those who are able body and in the elementary and middle school levels, go to online schools is a disadvantage to those children. As mentioned by Anya Kamenetz, students need content and socialization as well as interaction with others outside of their homes and away from family so that they learn more about themselves, their likes, dislikes, interests, passions and form friendships. Schools provide the environments necessary for such developments and in some cases schools are the only environments that a child has to explore. I cannot see how a child who “goes” to an online school will benefit in other areas outside of academic.

An article in Edutopia suggested that many can access the online courses as long as they have access to the technology needed to do so. I think a situation where a student does not have access to teachers in subjects such as STEM subjects, as was the case in Georgia that had a lack of physics teachers, can use online learning to have access to teachers who are will to teach online. This will give the school much-needed qualified teachers and also save them some money that can be used for needed programs or technologies that can help benefit the school.  But all this saving will only occur if the school does the program and the hiring of teachers themselves.

I do not agree with Nick Trombetta who called cyber schools the “great equalizer in education” on the PBS NewsHour video.  A student will be at a disadvantage for online learning if he/she is easily distracted, does not have the right home/room learning environment and/ or support (ex: the student being constantly disrupted) or is multitasking or even disable in any physical and/or emotional and/or developmental/health wise way.  These students will not succeed in online learning or even a physical school unless they get the special attention and support they need which will cost more money for the school and the online learning provider.  But since online learning simply has an instructor and assumes that all students are able bodies with no special learning needs, it fails to prepare its’ instructors for such a student and they in turn go unheard, end up failing, and return to public schools.  But the public schools cannot help because their funds are being sent to online learning schools who claim to be better at educating students.  In the end, the students are the ones who end up losing because they lose getting a fair and equal education.

I do not agree with the Edutopia article about online learning being able to help and meet the needs of all diverse learners.  For one thing, those students need more help, guidance, and face-to-face time with their teachers and/or helpers than other students.  I fail to see how online learning helps or how it can make education easier for them.  These are the students who actually need a physical school and learning environment for them to succeed because of all the special attention they need and will get from trained, patient, and educated professionals.  How can online learning provide these people for them?  I also fail to see how an online learning program can replace the face-to-face, individualized, and personal agenda made for each of these students by their teachers and/or personal trained teachers/professionals needed in order for them to succeed?

Online education will only work if the student has self-control, is motivated and has someone who is going to make sure that the student is paying attention and is focus on the class being taught instead of on all the distractions that comes with being on the computer.  Online classes will or should I say they are actually having a difficult time educating these unmotivated students as was implied by the PBS NewsHour video. Until we find a way to make sure that those students taking online classes are not being distracted or multitasking or unmotivated, we have to limit it use because we are not solving the chore problem of getting unmotivated students motivated.  Instead we are sending them to online schools where their chance of success is even lower and their chance of getting the attention and one-to-one chance with a teacher is lost.  A possible way to solve this is to first educate children before they get a computer about the dangers and advantages of having a computer and using the internet.  Another solution is to have train educators who specialize in diverse learning to teach to diverse learners in a technique that works for that student. But to do this will cost more money and the hiring of many more teachers.

Digital Nation on PBS

Hello, my name is Mabel and I’m getting my Masters in Math Education at Radford University.  In my future, I hope to become a great math teacher who makes math fun and easy for her students.  Besides math, I also love to hang out with my family and friends, read books and manga/cartoons, watch anime, and cook especially mixing African and American foods.  I recently watched Digital Nation on PBS and below are some of my responses to it.

In the video, Douglas Rushkoff states that the latest data shows that adolescents are spending more than 50 hours a week with digital media.  This does not come as a surprise to me because every day I experience this, even though they are with adults.  Personally, I prefer speaking to and communicating with people face to face as opposed to being on the computer or even on the phone.  I don’t know why I like this form of interaction however what I do know is that I get a better sense of sending my message across and getting the others persons’ message and a sense of closeness whenever I walk away from speaking with someone or a group.  Technology, especially online social networking websites and cell phones, sometimes gets in the way of this for me by disrupting and/or distracting.

I do not make it a priority to check my social networking web accounts thus I do not do things such as reading the latest comments people make or make comments or upload pictures.  As a result, I may visit them once a week if I think about them and have the time and energy.  But yet I still get messages on them, such as Facebook, from family and friends that are about them worrying about the reasons why I haven’t  been on them or reply to their messages/comments/invites or my thoughts on the new game/topic.   I cannot tell you how many times I have told people that if they really needed to talk to me or inform me about anything that is happening then they need to either come visit me or call me on my cell phone and that I’ll do the same.  Over time, those close to me have finally realized this and so they always call or text (something I had to get use to) me on my cell instead of on my social networking web accounts.

Another example is whenever I go visit someone or we meet somewhere, it kinds of irritates me that they spend half, sometimes more, the time on their cell phones.  I just don’t get it, what could possibly be so important that you have to check/text/call/comment on?  Can’t it wait until after you leave?  What could they possible miss in one or two hours?  The reason for my frustration is that I took the time and effort to come see you so that “we” can talk, hang out and have fun not so that I can see you spent time on your phone.  If you were going to be on your cell why bother inviting me in and wasting both of our time?  Over the years, I have learned to simple walk away and go be with others who want to spend time with me because the message I am receiving when someone does this is that they will rather be on their cell than with me.  So why should I sit there looking like a fool and being bored when I could be elsewhere having fun?

Needless to say that they always get mad when I start to walk for the door but after I briefly explain this to them, they get it and are surprised because they did not realize their actions.  It has become a habit for them to multitask except that sometimes doing it gets in the way and is inappropriate; as mentioned by Clifford Nass in Digital Nation on PBS.  I did not saw the dangers of multitasking until when I was doing my undergrad and one of my classes allowed the use of laptops in class.  I thought it would be easier to take notes and research while in class with a laptop as opposed to none.  It didn’t take long for me to notice that I had MS Word, solitary, Google, MySpace (at the time) and YouTube all on during class and that I wasn’t really giving the class and professor my full attention.  Accordingly, I stopped bringing my laptop to class until I learned how to control my use of it which did not occur until after some time.  But to say that I am completely cured of multitasking will be false.  I still multitask however I do not do it in an academic setting nor in situations where I will not like someone to do the same to me.

It has all been a learning process for me in learning how to use technology and where my boundaries are regarding its’ use and involvement in my personal life.  I don’t know if and when I will get use to communicating with people completely using technology but I do know that it will take me time, patience, getting use to and getting the hang of it, like it did with texting for me which I now like.