Here are two games that came out of this project. There were other games worth mentioning, but I am using these two because the groups did the best job of finishing all parts of the project, including the quizzes. The plan was to give the games and quizzes to some younger students to see if they would learn the content just by playing the games. We are still waiting on that feedback, but for now, here are the games and quizzes.
The Rainforest Journey
Click here to see the quiz for the above game.
The Producer - Felix's Journey
Click here to see the quiz for the above game.
Technology, creativity and passion in learning
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Game Design and Ecosystems - Final Assignments
We wrapped up the game design project last week. I will post some reflections and post a couple games in the next few days, but for now, here are two assignments the students had to complete before their project was done.
Playtest Assignment - Each group was required to have another group play their game and record feedback on this sheet.
Quiz Assignment - Younger students will play the games that were made in our class and then they will take quizzes created by our students. This assignment just lists the requirements of those quizzes.
Playtest Assignment - Each group was required to have another group play their game and record feedback on this sheet.
Quiz Assignment - Younger students will play the games that were made in our class and then they will take quizzes created by our students. This assignment just lists the requirements of those quizzes.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
MACUL 2012
This week I attended both days of the MACUL conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I have a lot of notes to sift through and a ton to ponder about the leadership topics that I encountered, but I also am supposed to be finishing the district technology plan this weekend. I shouldn't even be typing this short blog post at the moment!
I will just mention these two things:
I will just mention these two things:
- I started the convention in Jim Peterson's session on Creating a Culture of Learning. I decided I didn't care about tech tools. I wanted to hear about leadership and professional development. Jim's talk was a good start and it is worth clicking through the presentation posted at the link.
- I was looking forward to Kevin Honeycutt's keynote presentation all week. Somehow I missed it that he was speaking two hours after that as well. So my entire conference experience for the day was spent in his sessions. He is inspiring and that's what I needed. Last year when I heard him, he had some repetition from session to session, but this year each one was mostly new. If you are unfamiliar with his work, you absolutely must check out his site. He's doing almost everything I hope to accomplish as an educator.
Because I only listened to Kevin on Friday I missed some interesting topics, at least based on the information in the conference booklet. I will be going through the speaker handouts posted to the site this week to catch up on those and others.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Three Free iPad Apps for Flipping the Classroom or Just Teaching
I mentioned the strengths of teaching with video in my previous post. More than just as a tool for teachers, though, many are finding the benefits of having students create video tutorials. Here are three free apps worth checking out if you want to explore this on an iPad. I am including just a few thoughts on each.
ShowMe -
There's only one "slide", so to do multiple slides you have to set up the screen, record, pause, clear and set up the next screen. If you want to undo something you say, you're out of luck for the most part. There's no way to undo just the audio. It has a good community for sharing the lessons though.
Educreations -
I like how you can set up you slides ahead of time for presentations in this one, but like ShowMe, there's no way to just undo the audio. I lost a 12 slide setup twice because of this and eventually decided it's not meant to be PowerPoint. These can be shared online, but last I checked you shared only with users who signed up in your "school" community. I didn't see a way to share with the world at large.
Screen Chomp -
This is by TechSmith, makers of Camtasia. That's my screen capture software of choice, so I was really looking forward to using this app. It has a fun look that should appeal to younger students. There's also a way to share them online and you can scroll the screen too using two fingers. The scrolling makes up for the fact that it doesn't do multiple slides. The drawbacks are that you can only import one picture and one again, serious audio mistakes are going to require a complete do-over of the whole presentation. As the TechSmith site states, this is going to be good for bite-sized lessons, sort of like Jing for the iPad.
ShowMe -
There's only one "slide", so to do multiple slides you have to set up the screen, record, pause, clear and set up the next screen. If you want to undo something you say, you're out of luck for the most part. There's no way to undo just the audio. It has a good community for sharing the lessons though.
Educreations -
I like how you can set up you slides ahead of time for presentations in this one, but like ShowMe, there's no way to just undo the audio. I lost a 12 slide setup twice because of this and eventually decided it's not meant to be PowerPoint. These can be shared online, but last I checked you shared only with users who signed up in your "school" community. I didn't see a way to share with the world at large.
Screen Chomp -
This is by TechSmith, makers of Camtasia. That's my screen capture software of choice, so I was really looking forward to using this app. It has a fun look that should appeal to younger students. There's also a way to share them online and you can scroll the screen too using two fingers. The scrolling makes up for the fact that it doesn't do multiple slides. The drawbacks are that you can only import one picture and one again, serious audio mistakes are going to require a complete do-over of the whole presentation. As the TechSmith site states, this is going to be good for bite-sized lessons, sort of like Jing for the iPad.
Moving Technology Out of the Classroom - Thinking about flipped instruction
I attended a workshop last week on the flipped classroom model of instruction. The basic idea of flipped instruction is that the students get the lesson at home, usually in the form of a video, and then they work on activities or assignments in class (instead of having them as homework).
It is getting a lot of attention lately. In fact, in the four years that I have been doing this ed-tech job this is certainly the most promising trend I have seen. My own experience with it has been limited, but very positive. (I just used video for instruction and I wrote about it in this project.)
I think the strength of this teaching method stems from the fact that it allows both students and teachers to put the technology to use for what it does best. For teachers, it takes the most inhuman part of the lesson, the lecture, out of the classroom. I found while making the video lessons that I was becoming a better communicator. I started to enjoy making lessons again. I could present the material exactly as I wanted to in video tutorials without being distracted by things like individual questions or classroom management issues. ("Ryan, are you listening?" or "Girls, can that wait until after I'm done?", etc.)
And almost all evidence I have seen personally and read about indicates that the students really enjoy learning from the videos. Every student I have spoken with expressed how helpful it was to be able to watch parts of my lessons over until they understood it. No longer did a struggling learner have to raise a hand and stop the lesson for the entire class if he or she missed a step in my solution to a math problem. The videos don't have to be terribly exciting, just clear. (Case in point - the man who is probably most famous for simple video lessons)
Of course, the materials that a teacher creates or points out in a lesson do not have to be limited to video. Beyond just recording lessons, by delivering the instruction this way at home, a teacher can provide a wide range of tools that allow students to learn in the way that is best for them. And maybe best of all for later success, students will find that they can learn many things without the teacher being right there to bail them out.
Technology is best when it makes things fit. The pioneers of the flipped classroom model have found that it can be used this way to better fit the needs of learners. The results are classrooms where learning is taking place. And more importantly than technology doing its job, teachers can now work with individual students and can more effectively develop human relationships one on one with students in the classroom. In the end, the technology will go to the sidelines and this will prove to be the real advantage.
It is getting a lot of attention lately. In fact, in the four years that I have been doing this ed-tech job this is certainly the most promising trend I have seen. My own experience with it has been limited, but very positive. (I just used video for instruction and I wrote about it in this project.)
I think the strength of this teaching method stems from the fact that it allows both students and teachers to put the technology to use for what it does best. For teachers, it takes the most inhuman part of the lesson, the lecture, out of the classroom. I found while making the video lessons that I was becoming a better communicator. I started to enjoy making lessons again. I could present the material exactly as I wanted to in video tutorials without being distracted by things like individual questions or classroom management issues. ("Ryan, are you listening?" or "Girls, can that wait until after I'm done?", etc.)
And almost all evidence I have seen personally and read about indicates that the students really enjoy learning from the videos. Every student I have spoken with expressed how helpful it was to be able to watch parts of my lessons over until they understood it. No longer did a struggling learner have to raise a hand and stop the lesson for the entire class if he or she missed a step in my solution to a math problem. The videos don't have to be terribly exciting, just clear. (Case in point - the man who is probably most famous for simple video lessons)
Of course, the materials that a teacher creates or points out in a lesson do not have to be limited to video. Beyond just recording lessons, by delivering the instruction this way at home, a teacher can provide a wide range of tools that allow students to learn in the way that is best for them. And maybe best of all for later success, students will find that they can learn many things without the teacher being right there to bail them out.
Technology is best when it makes things fit. The pioneers of the flipped classroom model have found that it can be used this way to better fit the needs of learners. The results are classrooms where learning is taking place. And more importantly than technology doing its job, teachers can now work with individual students and can more effectively develop human relationships one on one with students in the classroom. In the end, the technology will go to the sidelines and this will prove to be the real advantage.
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