Traci J Best - Special Educator

Friday, February 19, 2021

EDUC 630 Video Discussion Board Week #5: Gaming

VDB Wk 5: Gaming EDUC 630

Utilizing gamification in the classroom has definite advantages and disadvantages. Gaming can be used in many ways such as to connect to prior knowledge at the beginning of a whole group lesson or facilitate group review of a lesson or a whole unit of study. In these types of applications gaming activities can be not just fun but motivating because students often enjoy competing with each other. The nature of this collaborative application also encourages interactivity and offers immediate feedback for correcting wrong answers.

There are challenges though to using gaming in the classroom. Not just any game is going to necessarily be a good fit for a lesson. Roblyer and Hughes (2019) remind us that the objectives or purposes of some games may not align with the learning goals and objectives for our lessons. Also, it is always possible that students may start to lose the purpose for which they are gaming and be more focused on the competitive fun’ aspects as opposed to keeping the focus on learning and be tempted to get too rowdy and out of control.

Personally, in my classroom, I like to keep control of gaming activities by utilizing things I know are going to be teacher-directed such as a Kahoot game. I recently used this app to run through a 47-question unit review for my English 9 class. It was a fun way to cover the material that will be on the unit test, fix any misconceptions the students have about the material and expose my students to test wording prior to the actual exam. This bolsters confidence in test-taking and eases testing anxiety. It also allows the students to practice test-taking strategies.

Gaming is probably not going to be appropriate for testing itself, or graded work, particularly in the virtual school environment. Often internet connections are interrupted, and students may make mistakes in responses that would be difficult or impossible to change in that format rather than a traditional written test. Additionally, gaming-based testing might be ill-advised due to the possibility of programs being vulnerable to hacking for the purpose of cheating.

Resource

Roblyer & Hughes (2019) Integrating educational technology into teaching. New York, NY: Pearson.

Monday, June 22, 2020

Professional Deveopment Presentation - EDUC 630

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Video Discussion Board #3 - EDUC 630

Video Discussion Board 3 EDUC 630

Where once computers were looked at as the potential teachers of future generations, now we know that software, apps and other educational gaming platforms are actually “empowering teachers rather than replacing them” (Roblyer & Huges, 2019, pg 156). One function of educational software is drill and practice. Drill activities are known to provide effective continued practice that students need to commit newly learned skills into long-term memory, achieving automaticity, and laying a foundation for higher-order skills to follow. Using bits of time here and there for practice that would otherwise be wasted has the benefit of extending and enhancing instructional time in the classroom. Unfortunately, educational gaming can also be misused in the classroom when educators mistakenly assign drill and practice apps or software “as a way of introducing new concepts rather than for practicing and reinforcing familiar ones” (Roblyer & Huges, 2019, pg 163). It is always inappropriate to use gaming software meant for reinforcement as a mode of direct instruction in instructional settings.

In order to make certain that gaming time in the classroom is productive, I make sure and play the game myself in order to determine that the game is aligned with the learning goals for that lesson. I am also looking for the ability to control content and make adjustments for individual students. Is the game easy to use, and is it engaging enough for students’ enjoyment in the content therefor ensuring learning is happening? (Guido, 2016)

Resources

Guido, M. (2016) 5 Steps to Implementing Game-Based Learning in the Classroom. Retrieved from: https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/implementing-game-based-learning-in-the-classroom-examples/

Roblyer & Hughes (2019) Integrating educational technology into teaching. New York, NY: Pearson.