Games Can Make "Real Life" More Rewarding In her 2011 book, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, game development expert and author Jane McGonigal describes a number of ways that games can improve our lives by using experience and research to link games with feelings of connectedness, self-worth, fulfillment and happiness. For instance, McGonigal describes her experiences with using the Nike+ app while running. If you use Nike+ with an iPod or Smartphone, it will give you real time feedback on your progress. You can even share your progress on social media while running, and if your friends leave you an encouraging comment, the app will read the comment to you. Foursquare is an app that allows you to "check in" at locations based on your GPS, leave comments, post photos, locate any of your friends that may be in the area, and compete with total strangers for the title of "Mayor" of your favorite spot. Augmented Reality games overlay games on top of "real life."
School Change: Make Room for "Wrongdoing" Photo credit: iStockPhoto British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often." In schools, we ask kids to change all the time, from one class and teacher to the next, and from one school year to the next. In fact, we often have kids change every 40-50 minutes during each school day. During these transitions, they have to change gears as they readjust to new behavioral, academic, social and neurological demands and expectations. Kids are not perfect. As educators, we have high expectations for our students -- and we should have these expectations. A former colleague of mine used to say, "We don't want them all baked and cooked. Learning by "Wrongdoing" Blogger Bruce Dixon quotes author Seth Godin, who writes about "learning from doing things wrong." Wrongdoing is where the good stuff is. Too often, schools can view wrongdoing as the square peg instead of recognizing that the hole itself is the wrong shape. Growth as a Process
Progress, Not Perfection: Three Tips for Your Journey "A goal is a dream with a deadline." - Napoleon Hill I'm a goal setter (and a teeny bit of a perfectionist). Although I don't always reach my goals, I know it's important to set them. Visions of Perfection When I was a new teacher, the goal to have the "perfect" classroom was top of my list. And that's not all. How in the world did I ever manage that? With all that time spent on perfect classroom decor, the perfect lesson plans followed close behind, starting with the planning system. So there I am: new teacher in the perfect classroom with the perfect lesson plan, hoping to be that perfect teacher. So when did I finally stop and take a breath? Savoring and Learning from the Experience It’s important for me to share this background, because I want you to know that I made it harder on myself than it needed to be. Take a look at three tips with me today on how to chart -- and enjoy -- your early teaching progress: 1. The process is simple. 2. 3.
How To Cite A Tweet In Academic Papers Twitter is a big part of education and technology. But what happens when it needs to be included in an academic paper? Until now, you had to do your best to guess the proper citation for tweets in academic papers. That all just changed. Official MLA Twitter Citation Format The Modern Language Association ( MLA , yes that MLA format) just released its official usage for citing tweets in academic papers. MLA gives an example using the famous tweet that acknowledged the attack on Bin Laden’s compound in May: Athar, Sohaib (ReallyVirtual). They go on to elaborate on one of the biggest issues with citing tweets: time. The date and time of a message on Twitter reflect the reader’s time zone.
All The Project-Based Learning Terms You Should Know Project-based learning is far and away one of the most popular strategies teachers are discussing right now. Whether it’s at conferences, on social media, or in the school hallways, it’s easy to see that this trend is not slowing down. The effectiveness of having students collaborate around projects, get their hands a bit dirty, and explore concepts with their classmates is just too good to be true. So that means it’s probably time everyone should start getting on the same page in terms of project-based learning terms. The following public Google Doc from BIE breaks it all down for you. The Definition and Usage of ‘Project-Based Learning’ Definition: A theory of learning that promotes students learning by doing in order to answer a complex question. The Definition and Usage of ‘Project’ Definition: All the things students will do in order to learn the standards encompassed by the Driving Question. The Definition and Usage of ‘Discovery Approach Learning’
How to have more meaningful iPad professional development By Tom Daccord Read more by Contributor July 23rd, 2013 Effective professional development requires less of a focus on the ‘nuts and bolts’ of technology, and more on the pedagogy of using it. “Leading Change” column, July/August 2013 edition of eSchool News—In last month’s column, I argued that the power of the iPad in education lies in harnessing its creative and mobile abilities through the use of versatile, “evergreen” apps and the web. Yet, by and large, school leaders aren’t doing enough to put teachers in a position to excel in iPad classrooms. Many school leaders simply give teachers iPads and expect them to integrate them in innovative ways. The real challenge for educators is not learning a particular device or app. When I begin a workshop on iPads, teachers quickly learn how to take a screen shot and record a video—among other skills. (Next page: What educators need instead)
Doing More with Less (and Other Practical Educational Technology Tidbits) Another year of school is upon us. My son, who just turned three, just started his first school. He excitedly talks about it, plays pretend school with his Superman and Thomas the Train toys, and loves to carry his new backpack around our house. Watching his eagerness, I hope that, in some way, we all feel that way about this new school year. And why not be excited? However, sometimes we need some help getting started. 1. Oftentimes new initiatives, whether they be related to educational technology, incorporating a new program for math, or even something as simple as a new district policy regarding attendance, these can all throw us for a loop. We need to embrace and try these new initiatives, while realizing that it's okay to fail. But in school, where there are often a multitude of constraints and demands on the teacher, their students, and the time that they have -- it is difficult to try, not succeed, and then take the chance to try again in the hopes of an alternate result. 2. 3.
Three Google Sheets Scripts That Help Teachers Save Time One of the great things about technology is that it can help use do things more efficiently which in turn means we get to spend more time on the more enjoyable parts of teaching, like working with students instead of working with paperwork. If you're a Google Apps user there are three Google Sheets (spreadsheets) scripts that I recommend trying. These scripts can help you save time on on sorting, grading, and assessing students' work. Flubaroo is an easy-to-use script that will grade multiple choice quizzes for you. gClassFolders is a script that will create folders for you for as many course sections as you need. Doctopus is a Google Spreadsheet script that can help teachers manage the flow of shared work in in their Google Drive accounts.
The Difference Between Learners and Students As academic standards shift, as technology evolves, and as student habits change, schools are being forced to consider new ways of framing curriculum and engaging students in the classroom. Project-based learning is among the most successful and powerful of these possibilities. As both a planning and a learning tool, PBL challenges teachers to make new decisions about how they plan student learning experiences, while simultaneously empowering students to take a more active role in the learning process. In this context of trying to make sense of exactly what progressive learning was, in 2009 I sketched out a graphic that visualized 9 Characteristics of 21st Century Learning, and recently created a follow-up framework, the Inside-Out Learning Model. The four primary goals of this model of learning are: Authentic self-knowledgeDiverse local and global interdependenceAdaptive critical thinkingNew media literacies The Background Learners vs. What do I mean by the "form" of the school?
Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset: Which One Are You? | Michael Graham Richard Here is an excerpt from an article about Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University: Through more than three decades of systematic research, [Carol Dweck] has been figuring out answers to why some people achieve their potential while equally talented others don’t—why some become Muhammad Ali and others Mike Tyson. The key, she found, isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed. To anyone who is into personal growth and self-improvement, this seems obvious. But clearly, it is not obvious to everybody: look at this diagram by Nigel Holmes representing the two types of mindsets and I’ll sure you’ll recognize the attitudes of many people you know. Fixed Mindset Let’s have a look, starting with the Fixed Mindset side: People who hold these beliefs think that “they are the way they are”, but that doesn’t mean that they have less of a desire for a positive self-image than anyone else.
A Note from George Lucas: Celebrating Unsung Heroes in Education George Lucas, founder and chairman of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, owns the preliminary pencil sketch of Norman Rockwell's "Happy Birthday Miss Jones". Credit: Happy Birthday Ms. Jones illustration © 1956 SEPS licensed by Curtis Licensing, Indianapolis, IN. All rights reserved. Today, on Teacher Appreciation Day, I want to send a word of thanks to a group of devoted individuals who, apart from my parents, have done the most to shape my life -- my teachers. For more than twenty years, my educational foundation has joined forces with teachers, parents, students, administrators, and business and community leaders to illuminate the most innovative learning strategies to be found in K-12 classrooms across the country. Through Edutopia, we identify these great educators and the learning strategies that are working in schools. We know that many of you who are reading this have done amazing things.
Debates about Gamification and Game-Based Learning(#GBL) in Education by Justin Marquis Ph.D., from OnlineUniversities.com There is a tendency in life to see things in absolutes. Sensationalist media thrives on the love/hate, friend/enemy, smash hit/trash it dichotomy. The proposition of including games in the classroom at any level is no different. The Negatives Those who have both feet firmly in the anti-gamification camp most often argue that there are no empirical studies that demonstrate real learning from games or that the skills learned in game play do not translate to the real world. Cost – A fully game-based curriculum, or even one that relies heavily on games, represents a substantial increase in cost over standard book/paper/pencil education. The Positives While the limitations above are daunting and require significant shifting of educational and societal priorities in order to be overcome, they are worth addressing, particularly if weighed against the positive effects of gamification. Still Open for Debate/Research