Session 7 (17/2)

This week, Demo groups E and F presented their ICT tools to us. So far, I think the ony group that left a deep impression on me was Demo Group F. Firstly because they looked rather well prepared to me, and the whole presentation made me feel rather comfortable. Secondly, I think the ICT tool they introduced was really good and interesting. It's Dabbleboard. I'm guilty to say that that was the first time I know about this online tool. I tried using it myself and it's really user friendly and suitable for students to build concept maps. Nice!

Our group visited station 5, and due to some technical problems on the class wiki page, we could not edit the stuff in it. So we just stayed at the station to read some stuff. After that, Dr Tan introduced mindMeister to us. It is another tool for collaborative concept mapping. Each group was assigned one of the games we played throughout these few weeks to expand on. Our group was assigned the Mcvideogame. I should say that we were rather familiar with the game as a few of us went home and played the game, so we progressed quite fast. As for the tool itself, we had some problems initially, but after some trial and errors, we got it. It was rather user friendly as well. However in my own opinion, I feel that kids will prefer dabbleboard to mindmeister as it is more visual. But anyway, I have not really fully explore both tools, so I'm not really in the position to comment too much on this.

After all these group stuff, we were shown a video on James Paul Gee.

Educational Gaming:

• solving problems
• an assesment; to move on to harder stages
• game over implies the "inability" to solve problems
• fun way to solve problems compared to school work
• allows people to do and explore things that are too expensive in the real world, so that people can still learn from it
• kids want to produce, and not just to consume
• fan fiction sites allow kids to showcase their creativity, to be exposed to different genres of stories, and build up on grammar and vocabulary at the same time (people learn english from there)
• we don't learn a lot from something, we learn a lot more by learning with someone else. This can be done in class when digital or technological tools as incorporated in lessons. Teacher and students learn together.

these are only some of the points mentioned. I believe I'll be able to experience more of these in future..

Session 6 (10/2)

We (Demp group 7C) had our presentation that day. I should say that everything went rather smoothly, which was good.

Anyway, for the games, our group went on to station 3 (the flash games) and station 4 (Wii sports).

On the whole, the flash games in station 3 were rather boring to us. We switched games a couple of times, and didn't play long for each. I guess the reason is because these games emphasize more on the education aspect instead of the fun factor. We expected everything to be fun. However, personally, I would say that there was this particular game that caught my attention. It is the Free rice game. The game states that for each answer we get right, we donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. On the whole, the game looks just like any games I find on the internet, but the difference here is the meaning behind playing this game. I think it's very meaningful, and it gives people motivation to keep on playing and earn more correct answers. I've tried playing it at home, and so far I've donated 4020 grains of rice.

The other games in station 3 like the one on the weather, or the other racing game that requires basic math knowledge are rather suitable for little children. In the course of playing these games, thay are learning at the same time. So while it seems a bit boring for us 20 yr olds, it should be able to attract the kids' attention.

As for station 4, Wii Sports, I could say that our group totally enjoyed ourselves. That was my personal favorite. The games really tested on our reflexes and patience and all. But there was one thing that was insufficient: time.

Anyway, I came to this website on How to choose and use appropriate computer games in the classroom. There was this table which compiles the different genres of games with examples and descriptions. This to me seems to be rather useful. It helps teachers (to a certain extent) who wish to incorporate games in class to choose the right games that benefit students the greatest.

Also, under the section "Issues for Classroom Use", it brings across some possible problems that could occur during the course of playing, or issues on the different features of the games.

Game-based learning is really not as easy and straightforward as it seems...

Session 5 (3/2)

This week's lesson is absolutely fun! We had our lesson at MXL, and that was my first time there. In fact, I've not heard of that place before.

Anyway, the first part of the lesson was a presentation by Demo Group 7B, consisting of Xuan Hui, Bernice and Li Ting. They introduced the Hot Potatoes to us. I've tried using it before, but I did not explore all of the functions, I don't even know how to export the quizzes and all. After the presentation, I got to know a lot more about, so that's quite useful. Xuan Hui was late as she was caught in a traffic jam (I think), and she was still panting away while presenting. Despite that, she was still able to present her part relatively well. That was commendable~


Next week is my group's turn to present. We'ew doing on Youtube. Hope that everything will go right.

The second part of the lesson was tremendously fun and interesting!! We got into groups and went to different stations to play games. There's Jia Le, Jessie, Shi Ling, Kelvin and I in the group. We went to station 1 and 2. The first game was a McDonalds game, funny game, especially the corruption part.

After lesson, I went home and played that game, and I was hooked. Ha. The next day I went back to school, I learnt that a couple of my friends went back and play as well. =)










3 corrupted officials. Ha, but I don't do this in real life.
http://www.mcvideogame.com/


The second game was Darfur's is dying. This game doesn't seem that fun compared to the McDonalds game, but I think it indirectly makes us understand that kind of real life situation that's happening in the game, and it's created by students, if I'm not wrong.
http://www.darfurisdying.com/


The last game we played was Nintendo Wii (Trauma Center). We were supposed to perform an operation on a patient. We played for a couple of times (I played twice), but we did not manage to save the patient even once. That was fun too!! A pity I don't have it, but there's PSP and Nintendo DS at home, so it's not that bad. But Wii's really fun.

I'm looking forward to next week's lesson! (The games, not the presentation. ha)