game-based learning

Last friday, I really struggled going for ICT class. Ha. Felt really sick throughout the week and wanted so much to take MC to stay home to rest. But somehow, the thought that I will be going to class for games and so much more fun-based learning, I decided to take the effort to travel for 1.5hrs to school to attend one lesson. A point struck me during the process. Even now as a student, I struggle to go school. But what motivates me to go for lessons is knowing that I will benefit from the class and it's not something that I will find "wasting time". Knowing that the lesson is fun and I will learn things out of it motivates me to go school despite me feeling unwell. So thoughts of how to make the lesson engaging went through my mind during the journey. I havent really figured it out though. Ha. And Dr Ashley was saying in class that if students can be addicted in gaming, what can we do to make them addicted to studying? wow. ha.

I read an article that wrote the following statement:

"Games are... the most ancient and time honored vehicle for education. They are the original educational technology, the natural one, having received the seal of approval of natural selection. We don't see mother lions lecturing cubs at the chalkboard; we don't see senior lions writing their memoirs for posterity. In light of this, the question, 'Can games have educational value?" becomes absurd. It is not games but schools that have the newfangled notion, the untested fad, the violator of tradition. Game-playing is a vital educational function for any creature capable of learning. ~Chris Crawford in The Art of Computer Game Design"

Source: Crawford, Chris. TheArt of Computer Game Design. 1 May 2007
(http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Coverpage.html)

Maybe games would be used more often in future for learning. Given that students nowadays spend most of their time on the computer after school, educational games can be one way to draw their interest to learning. Of course, there are many considerations to take note when introducing game-based learning. Read the website that Dr Ashley provided on the weekly instructions (http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=tl&rid=1859), and these are the questions that I'd have to remind myself to take note of whenever I were to play games in class. These includes:

1. Does the equipment available in the classroom meet the minimum requirement for playing the game?
   
   
2. Does the game matches the learning objectives?
   
   
3. Are there other easier and more convenient methods to achieve learning objectives besides playing the game?
   
   
4. What is the interesting factor? Is it the game itself or the interaction etc.?
   
   
5. Does students have to take a long period of time to learn the skills required for the game?
   
   
6. Are they able to access the game in their own free time besides in class time?
   
   
7. Can the teachers and students save the game at appropriate timings?
   
   
8. What other options does the game offer which can be useful? Can the level of difficulty be altered?

There are definitely more questions that has to be considered when integrating game-based learning into lessons.

Anyways, there were 2 other presentations on Friday on Skype and Youtube. For the first presentation on Skype, I was quite fascinated by the group's 2nd lesson plan. And that is if students were out on a fieldtrip, they are able to inform the updates of the group's findings to te class via Skype. This should be very applicable to one of the modules that I took before in NUS, and that is Ecology. We were out on Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, and we had to explore different plots of land, by checking the quality of the soil, measuring the level of humidity and temperature of the land, and identifying the different kind of plants that were located on the plot of land.

Looking back, Skype could have been a very good tool to use when doing that particular module. However, I wonder how relevant it is when it comes to secondary students. Will it be time-consuming to update each other about the situation on the spot or would it be better to take recordings of the results and share it in a classroom setting after doing the land survey. From the experience at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, we did not have much time to complete our results. If we were to share using online facilities, would it impede the learning progress? Personally, I would still go for the traditional classroom sharing as I think that it would be more time-consuming and practical.

Lesson plan 1 was on the whiteboard function in Skype. I guess again, meeting up face-to-face to discuss about a project would be more efficient compared to doing it in the whiteboard.

The 2nd presentation was on Youtube. To be honest, I was already half-asleep during the lesson as I wasnt feeling very well. But I think Youtube is an interesting method since almost all students are viewing Youtube videos now and then. And allowing them to visualise processes such as mitosis and meiosis and acting the process out would allow them to remember the experience and thus, remembering the process easier. As what Dr Ashley said, it's like making something that is irrelevant to them to be a real-life situation. Even issues such as abortion, by searching Youtube, they are able to gather more information. Whether the videos that they view are relevant or whether it is related, teachers would have to educate students on how to filter the information that they see. Guidelines can be given to students beforehand and illustrations can be made to them.

Then it was that we proceeded to games! I learnt about "Self-knowledge principle" in one of the stations and it was cool!! Basically it means to learn about one's strengths and potential through gaming. For example, in Wii trauma centre, if one does well in the game, it probably means that the person has stable hands and is able to consider jobs in future that requires that skills! Jobs such as surgeon, architect etc. Of course, many other skills are involved in those occupation. But it gives the students a rough gauge of their likely potentials!

So far, game-based learning has still been interesting. Enjoys listening to other groups' presentation on the various ICT tools as well! Hope to learn more!! (: