Introduction
Video games are a really big
business. Any student that is in school now plays at least one game. That can
be on a smart phone, a tablet, a video game console, or lastly a PC. The point
is that they are now an ingrained part of the society. We ask
students to leave that word of reward and come to school. Then we criticize them
for not completing work and having critical thinking skills, but spending too
much time on games. The truth is that I would rather spend time playing games.
I do not fault them for doing the same thing. I read Lee Sheldon’s book “The
Multiplayer Classroom” and really latched on to the central thesis, which was
that we needed to change. This last year has been an experiment to see if this
model can work with a class like chemistry. What I learned from this experience
is that this process not only works but provides a much needed buffer to help
kids not only grasp the concept better, but do more with it.
Diversification is the buzz word lately in education. It is educations equivalent to synergy, a nebulous term that means something different to each person. The idea is there, but the implementation is not. How to I help a kid that is struggling while I have a kid that is so far ahaead that they are now ready for the next unit? How can manage this process? If a student switches on a game a week after his friend does there is not the same groan that comes when a student decides to enroll in a class late. The idea of differentiation is much different than the implementation.
When I read this I was taken aback by how I would implement a game in the classroom. There is always the creation of a spreadsheet and tracking progress through that point, but I needed something with a lot of infrastructure behind it. The last thing that I wanted was this to be a lot of extra work. Even with the small group of 56 that I wanted to try it out on. 3DGamelab helped to solve that problem for me. I am attending a session this summer on the newly minted Classcraft which launched this last year. I will see if that offers some features that 3DGamelab is missing,
Diversification is the buzz word lately in education. It is educations equivalent to synergy, a nebulous term that means something different to each person. The idea is there, but the implementation is not. How to I help a kid that is struggling while I have a kid that is so far ahaead that they are now ready for the next unit? How can manage this process? If a student switches on a game a week after his friend does there is not the same groan that comes when a student decides to enroll in a class late. The idea of differentiation is much different than the implementation.
When I read this I was taken aback by how I would implement a game in the classroom. There is always the creation of a spreadsheet and tracking progress through that point, but I needed something with a lot of infrastructure behind it. The last thing that I wanted was this to be a lot of extra work. Even with the small group of 56 that I wanted to try it out on. 3DGamelab helped to solve that problem for me. I am attending a session this summer on the newly minted Classcraft which launched this last year. I will see if that offers some features that 3DGamelab is missing,