Games in ICT

Everyone who checked out our presentation last week would have been amazed!

We discussed the options of using World of Warcraft, Age of Empires, Call of Duty, Battlefield and a range of other exciting computer games that students would like.

I highly encourage teachers in the future to make these games part of their text so that when students actually go to play these computer games, to which they spend something like 10,000 hours, they are thinking critically about the content.

In my next post, I'll post some examples that can be used within the class. At the end of the day, the students will end up playin computer games... so as teachers why not make this "playing" time relevant to classroom content!

Search for the positives, don't be a doom-sayer!

Comments, Since I cannnot comment on other blogs ><'

http://amandasictsecondaryblog.blogspot.com/

Reading Amanda's blog and in regards to her VELS discussion, I saw many similarities between her and myself. I too was a bit of a skeptic and didn't feel comfortable using technology in the classroom.

However, the difference was that I somewhat knew how to use the programs like PowerPoint. Not like it was anything advanced though!

I think once you take those first steps to trial technology in the classroom, you really begin to see its value. The level of engagement one can achieve from simply using a computer with visiual and interactive component is just amazing!

I really hope Amanda that you can continue to take those baby steps with ICT in the classroom, because it can be such a powerful tool. In terms of what you listed in terms of contact, collaborative learning, engagement etc.

I cannot wait til I can have my own classroom and interchanging seemlessly with ICT and other classroom activities!

Wow... using WOW for your resume!

I am actually looking forward to my presentation for the second assessment of this subject!

I found this very interesting and relevant article whilst researching my topic of games in education.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/learn.html

I encourage anyone who stops by to have a look at this article!

It reveals how a senior management position was given to an individual who played a computer game. This is because 'World of Warcraft' elicits certain skills that can be transferred to real life situations.

- "The day may not be far off when companies receive resumes that include a line reading "level 60 tauren shaman in World of Warcraft." The savviest employers will get the message."

I found this astounding, so perhaps there is a place for these sorts of games within the education system. There are many more arguements FOR and AGAINST the use of such a game in the classroom. However I think it is an interesting topic to debate!

So for anyone stopping by my blog, What are your thoughts on the idea of games such as World of Warcraft and its use in the classroom?

Blog Frustration!

Hey guys!

It is almost impossible for me to comment on your wonderful posts if all the blogs are set to private.

Help a brother out? =P

-Matt

Spanish ICT Music Video

Check out these youtube links!

It reveals the point I made in the VELS post about integrating ICT and Spanish.

These are extremely funny and looks as though the students had a good time creating them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZB7VFXqu_0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4SZp7RfopY

ICT & VELS

“ICT supports knowledge-building among teams and enables team members to collaborate, inquire, interact and integrate prior knowledge with new understanding.” (VELS, 2009)

Today my blog will be looking to address the above statement in regards to Information and Communication Technology and L.O.T.E (Spanish). So far throughout the blog [first time blogging experience], I have been talking about various new activities that I have come across and have randomly thought about. Although this block placement I am not teaching Spanish, my interest with ICT is in regards to Spanish. So a lot of this blog is a reflection based on last semester, thinking about all the different things I could have done. However this hasn’t stopped me looking at other L.O.T.E classes and seeing how they experience language and ICT. Also generally I have kept a keen eye out to see if I could merge ICT activities from other subjects into a L.O.T.E classroom environment.

The ICT activities were extremely diverse and often the end product was fairly fantastic. One assignment of note was assessment for a year 8 science class which had the students create a video about sound and music. Not only was the final product amazing and quite humorous, it was also very detailed and covered the content required on the topic of sound. This assignment required that students work in teams. When watching the video that the students had created, one could visibly see the enjoyment they had making it. It was also obvious based on the content that they were learning, but they were just having so much fun doing it! They drew upon their own prior knowledge of sound and music by choosing their favourite songs, but then they explored how sound travels through different densities. Overall it was just a fantastic team assignment that really involved everyone in the group. Also viewing one of the classes in the computer lab to see the students working on their video editing, not only were they discussing key concepts like density and sound travel. The students were also enhancing their knowledge for ICT, needing to save and file different types of files. There also appeared to be a high use of file sharing and emailing which further encourages the idea of team collaboration. The music videos also required the students to add text and information, because they didn’t speak at all during the clip. I honestly couldn’t believe year 8s created such a task. Amazing!

This activity, now seeing the results, is definitely I could see adapting to a language class. I could perhaps have the students create a music video for a Spanish song, in which they have to listen and interpret the lyrics and create the right scene out for the song. This is definitely something that could turn out to be very fun, all the while students taking in new vocabulary, new verb structures and so forth. It is just amazing to see how much team work and enjoyment occurs when using ICT activities. These sorts of activities also encourage students to take risks and be as creative as possible, because their imagination is limitless and this is what you want to encourage in a Spanish class or any class. The reason why it is particularly useful in a Spanish class is because that sense of flexibility and informal manner of assessment allows students to use the language without fear (Harmer, 2007). This is highly important because it is a big issue in language classes trying to get confidence in the students to speak/use the language (Hamer, 2007).

Overall the idea that ICT supports knowledge-building among teams and enables team members to collaborate, inquire, interact and integrate prior knowledge with new understanding couldn’t be any clearer. This type of assessment proves this point. Not only this, but ICT explores student development in many more different aspects. This could be shown through the use of ICT creating confidence in students to use language where other forms of assessment may seem intimidating. Allowing students to be flexible, creative and working in teams creates a fun and enjoyable learning environment. So as the students are having fun, they are also learning the subject matter and all things ICT.

Honestly, in terms of ICT and how interlinks with many other learning areas in VELS I could go on about it forever and how it impacts each area. However, I have got assignments to correct! Life of a teacher.

I’ll see if I can find the assignment the students created, as apparently they uploaded it onto youtube! Might be a great resource for all you science teachers!

Harmer, J. (2007) Speaking (Chapter 20). In, The Practice of English language teaching -4^th ed. (pp.343-363). London: Longman.

VELS (2009), Domains, Information Communication Technology. Revised edition October 2009.

[Still haven't worked out how to comment on other people's blogs. It keeps doing this weird "try logging in again" thing. *Sigh* sometimes techonology refuses to be friendly!]

Busy Block!

So I haven't exactly had time to update this blog since the start of the block placement. However there have been many opportunities to use ICT in the classrooms at this highschool.

This highschool is actually so into the whole ICT in the classroom that the ICT teachers even set up workshops to give other teachers new and exciting ideas on how to incorporate things into their classroom.

They range from using blogs, portals, prezzi, websites, emails, facebook and so on!

However since I have been teaching a Renaissance class to year 8s I had an idea for an assignment that would be heaps of fun for everyone. Although I didn't give it to my year 8s here at this school, simply because time doesnt allow me to do it. Anyways... my idea was since we have been watching a documentary on the Medici Family, I had the idea that perhaps the students could create a classroom documentary on the Renaissance. The idea is that instead of doing an oral presentation, booklet, posters etc, this could be something completely out of the ordinary and has the whole class working to one goal.

The students would choose a number of famous figues from the Renaissance and in a video [using windows movie maker or whichever the school has] create a documentary detailing the life of these famous individuals. Students would have creative freedom if they wanted to make it like an interview, they would dress up... someone would do the voice over like a narrative of the documentary. Hence by the end of it, the students would have covered all the neccesities of any other assignment... but they would have picked up the skills to use windows movie maker and it would be a great team/class effort.

So thats just one idea that i'll be saving for when I start teaching! -- What does everyone think? Any other grand ideas?