Terrell E. Heick III's Posts - Classroom 2.02024-03-29T04:42:03ZTerrell E. Heick IIIhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/TerrellEHeickIIIhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1950415146?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=11c85xv3wbw0b&xn_auth=no10 Specific & Practical Ways Of Teaching With Video Gamestag:www.classroom20.com,2013-01-04:649749:BlogPost:9005812013-01-04T21:14:55.000ZTerrell E. Heick IIIhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/TerrellEHeickIII
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974064407?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974064407?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>by Terry Heick, <a href="http://www.teachthought.com" target="_blank">TeachThought.com</a></p>
<p>The idea of teaching with video games is an exciting concept leading to a challenging practice.</p>
<p>Right off the bat the topic is a bit polarizing, the whimsical connotation of “games” juxtaposing harshly with the rigorous tones of classical academia. But past that,…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974064407?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974064407?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>by Terry Heick, <a href="http://www.teachthought.com" target="_blank">TeachThought.com</a></p>
<p>The idea of teaching with video games is an exciting concept leading to a challenging practice.</p>
<p>Right off the bat the topic is a bit polarizing, the whimsical connotation of “games” juxtaposing harshly with the rigorous tones of classical academia. But past that, there is the larger issue of practical integration. Even if you’re soundly convinced about their merit and place in learning, how can you consistently integrate them in the classroom?</p>
<p>As much as any other theme, the 21st century classroom is about diversity–infinite possible pathways between content and students, resulting in self-directed learning as much as data-driven “teaching.” Video games can be a significant part of that.</p>
<p>But you’ve probably heard the rhetoric before. You want to know how <em>exactly.</em></p>
<p><b>Technology in the Classroom </b></p>
<p>Integrating technology in the classroom is a multi-faceted affair that can seem overwhelming. There is the matter of curriculum—what is being learned, and how does that align with necessary learning experiences?</p>
<p>There is the matter of instruction—what is the teacher’s role? What should be guided and what should be self-directed by the learner?</p>
<p>And assessment? How do we measure what has been learned in the increasingly sandbox approach of video games?</p>
<p>There are also more minor but equally important issues of Wi-Fi access, extension cords, high-definition cables, mature and often violent content, parental concerns, and even the significant cost that comes with higher-end, popular games that may resonate strongly with students—especially struggling male students.</p>
<p>These kinds of issues have kept video games out of formal learning environments for years, but with the increasing convergence between media forms, and the improved gaming ability of everyday mobile devices, it will only be a matter of time before they’re a part of every classroom.</p>
<p><strong>Exactly How To Teach With Video Games In The Classroom: 10 Specific And Practical Ways </strong></p>
<p><b>1. </b><b>Play them in school</b></p>
<p>Play them on mobile devices, such as the iPad, Android smartphones, iPhones, or other mobile devices. Who decides what to play, you or the students? Why not both? Why does that part matter?</p>
<p>You can also play them on consoles from the Sony PlayStation 3 to the Microsoft Xbox 360—many projectors and screens accept high-definition cable hook-ups, and the Xbox 360 can be had for as little as $99 brand new. PC gaming is also a possibility—browser-based games played right in your Google Chrome browser (e.g., <a title="Age Of Empires Online" href="http://age-of-empires-online.browsergames.co.uk/" target="_blank">Age of Empires Online</a>), or played through <a title="Valve's Steam Store" href="http://store.steampowered.com/" target="_blank">Valve’s Steam service</a>. Unlike years past, PC gaming has never been more streamlined or affordable. (<a title="Bastion on Steam" href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/107100/" target="_blank">Bastion is literally $3.75 right now</a>.)</p>
<p><b>2. Have students play them at home</b></p>
<p>If playing them in the classroom doesn’t make sense for you in your setting, students can also play them at home.</p>
<p>Through project-based learning, screen capturing software, or well thought-out writing and multimedia assignments, students don’t <i>have </i>to access the games in the classroom to access game-based learning. Equity concerns remain, but they’re no reason to abandon the idea altogether. This is 2013. Figure it out—or better yet, empower students to figure it out.</p>
<p><b>3. </b><b>Watch them played</b></p>
<p>Not every student has to have access to the game. In fact, there are excellent walk-throughs and play-throughs viewable on YouTube that have been recorded by players as they play the game, often hours long. Simple, done, and ready to be displayed on your projector screen tomorrow.</p>
<p>Model tactics in strategy games, think-aloud approaches towards resource management, or pause and think through the problem-solving of key scenarios.</p>
<p><b>4. </b><b>Analyze them</b></p>
<p>The video game industry is a powerful one that has surpassed the film industry in total sales. This has spawned a digital media cottage industry of folks who create high-quality content that reviews games, their developers, their development, their trends, and so on.</p>
<p>This media, in the form of video reviews, text-based reviews, feature articles, tweets, their <a title="The Art Of Video Games" href="http://videogame-art.com/" target="_blank">related art</a>, <a title="Video Game Fan Fiction" href="http://www.fanfiction.net/game/" target="_blank">fan fiction</a>,<a title="Cosplay example from IGN" href="http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/12/03/bioshock-infinite-cosplayer-becomes-official-face-of-elizabeth" target="_blank">cosplay</a>, and so on, all can be used to analyze not only the games, but their creators, competition, and target audiences. <a title="Video Games Used To Teach Critical Thinking" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128081896" target="_blank">Critical thinking</a> through comparing, contrasting, analyzing, evaluating, deconstructing, reconstructing—this is the marrow of learning, yes? (See our post, “<a title="6 Video Games You Can Teach With Tomorrow" href="http://www.teachthought.com/technology/6-video-games-you-can-teach-with-tomorrow/"><strong>6 Video Games You Can Teach With Tomorrow</strong></a>.”)</p>
<p><b>5. </b><b>Reimagine them</b></p>
<p>How we communicate and express ideas are limited by local prevailing technology. Right now, video games sit near the periphery of this practice, but soon they will be closer to the middle, and something else will replace them as “edgy.”</p>
<p>Like any good <a title="Dystopia RAFT Assignment" href="http://www.essayforum.com/speech-writing-8/dystopia-raft-assign-speech-writing-please-help-44152/" target="_blank">RAFT assignment</a> (Role, Audience, Format, Topic), video games can be re-imagined in different forms—the video game Bastion as a novel, the narrative of Portal 2 as a film. They also can be re-imagined taking on new roles (didactic versus playful), for new audiences, covering new topics.</p>
<p>Re-imagining a video game requires sustained critical thinking skills, analyzing its design, understanding its key characteristics, and evaluating the ultimate impact of those changes, similar to the branding changes when Macintosh morphed into Apple.</p>
<p><b>6. </b><b>Design them</b></p>
<p>Designing anything creates a considerable cognitive demand on the designer. But video games especially require macro-level perspective and micro-level attention to detail—and that’s just the planning stage.</p>
<p>Pushed further, an entire unit could be spent researching markets and demographics, analyzing the current demand for certain genres, evaluating existing trends in gaming, pitching an idea for a game, collaborating on its creation (real or imagined), planning its marketing, and so on.</p>
<p>Whether a cross-content unit involving math, science, social studies and English Language Arts, or a new kind of “class” altogether, there are countless options here.</p>
<p><b>7. </b><b>Actually make them</b></p>
<p>Actually designing a game, whether <a title="How Minecraft Can Be Used To Create A Video Game" href="http://www.teachthought.com/featured/how-minecraft-can-be-used-to-create-a-video-game/"><strong>crudely with Minecraft</strong> </a>or something more in-depth with <a title="GameMaker via Steam" href="http://store.steampowered.com/appofficialsite/217370" target="_blank">GameMaker</a>, actually creating a video game is actually attainable for students as young as elementary aged. Easier said than done, yes–but more possible than ever.</p>
<p><b>8. </b><b>Mash them with other media</b></p>
<p>Mashing is the processing of combining two distinct and separate “things” (usually a medium of some sort)—a song with a movie, a video game and a book, two songs (melody from one, words from another, etc.) This is a kind of remnant from our “remix” culture—so apply it to video games. Mashing requires would-be mashers to understand what makes a medium unique, whether in form, content, theme, tone, use of literary devices, etc.</p>
<p>This process can also be extremely learner-centered, allowing them the opportunity to find the media, decide how to mash them, whether in form, content, theme, tone, use of literary devices, etc.</p>
<p>This process can also be extremely learner-centered, allowing them the opportunity to find the media, decide how to mash them, decide<i> why </i>to mash them, and analyze the impact of said mashing. They can then share their work with their peers, often to great amusement and engagement.</p>
<p><b>9. </b><b>Watch trailers, developer diaries, gameplay samples, and walkthroughs</b></p>
<p>Can’t actually play the games themselves? As we mentioned in #3 and #4, YouTube, blogs, and social media are chock-full of video game related content that allows teachers to integrate them into lessons and units. And when students complain that they want to be able to play them—to share them and create them—challenge <i>them </i>with the issue of logistics.</p>
<p>They might surprise you with their problem-solving skills after all.</p>
<p><strong>10. Confront pressing social issues</strong></p>
<p>Video games are increasingly being used to confront social and cultural issues that are otherwise problematic to address with a raging troll-fest. Terrorism, racism, poverty, <a title="Child Abuse Confronted in Papo y yo" href="http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/21/comforts-of-violence-in-papo-and-yo/" target="_blank">child abuse</a>, and other sensitive themes are consistently covered in games in a way many students can relate to.</p>The Inside-Out School: A 21st Century Learning Modeltag:www.classroom20.com,2012-11-20:649749:BlogPost:8931682012-11-20T22:41:13.000ZTerrell E. Heick IIIhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/TerrellEHeickIII
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974064650?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974064650?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>As a follow-up to our<strong> <a href="http://www.teachthought.com/learning/9-characteristics-of-21st-century-learning/" title="9 Characteristics of 21st Century Learning">9 Characteristics of 21st Century Learning</a></strong> we developed in 2009, we have developed an updated framework, <strong>The Inside-Out Learning Model.</strong></p>
<p>The goal of the model is…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974064650?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974064650?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>As a follow-up to our<strong> <a title="9 Characteristics of 21st Century Learning" href="http://www.teachthought.com/learning/9-characteristics-of-21st-century-learning/">9 Characteristics of 21st Century Learning</a></strong> we developed in 2009, we have developed an updated framework, <strong>The Inside-Out Learning Model.</strong></p>
<p>The goal of the model is simple enough–not pure academic proficiency, but instead authentic self-knowledge, diverse local and global interdependence, adaptive critical thinking, and adaptive media literacy.</p>
<p>By design this model emphasizes the role of play, diverse digital and physical media, and a designed interdependence between communities and schools.</p>
<p>The attempted personalization of learning occurs through new actuators and new notions of local and global citizenship. An <em>Inside-Out School</em> returns the learners, learning, and “accountability” away from academia and back to communities. No longer do schools teach. Rather, they act as curators of resources and learning tools, and promote the shift of the “burden” of leanring back to a more balanced perspective of stakeholders and participants.</p>
<p>Here, families, business leaders, humanities-based organizations, neighbors, mentors, higher-education institutions, all converging to witness, revere, respond to, and support the learning of its own community members.</p>
<p>The micro-effect here is increased intellectual intimacy, while the macro-effect is healthier communities and citizenship that extends beyond mere participation, to ideas of thinking, scale, legacy, and growth.</p>
<p><strong>The 9 Domains Of the Inside-Out Learning Model</strong></p>
<p><strong>1. Five Learning Actuators</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Project-Based Learning</li>
<li>Directed and Non-Directed Play</li>
<li>Video Games and Learning Simulations</li>
<li>Connected Mentoring</li>
<li>Academic Practice</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>2. Changing Habits</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Fertilize innovation & design</li>
<li>Acknowledge limits and scale</li>
<li>Reflect on interdependence</li>
<li>Honor uncertainty</li>
<li>Curate legacy</li>
<li>Support systems-level and divergent thinking</li>
<li>Reward increment</li>
<li>Require versatility in face of change</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>3. Transparency</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Between communities, learners, and schools</li>
<li>Learning standards, outcomes, project rubrics, performance critera persistently visible, accessible, and communally constructed</li>
<li>Gamification and publishing replace “grades”</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>4. Self-Initiated Transfer</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Applying old thinking in constantly changing and unfamiliar circumstances as constant matter of practice</li>
<li>Constant practice of prioritized big ideas in increasing complexity within learner ZPD</li>
<li>Project-based learning, blended learning, and Place-Based Education available to facilitate highly-constructivist approach</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>5. Mentoring & Community</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>“Accountability” via the performance of project-based ideas in authentic local and global environments</li>
<li>Local action –> global citizenship</li>
<li>Active mentoring via physical and digital networking, apprenticeships, job shadows and study tours</li>
<li>Communal Constructivism, meta-cognition, Cognitive Coaching, and Cognitive Apprenticeship among available tools</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>6. Changing Roles</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Learners as knowledge makers</li>
<li>Teachers as expert of assessment and resources</li>
<li>Classrooms as think-tanks</li>
<li>Communities not just audience, but vested participants</li>
<li>Families as designers, curators, and content resources</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>7. Climate of Assessment</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Constant minor assessments replace exams</li>
<li>Data streams inform progress and suggest pathways</li>
<li>Academic standards prioritized and anchoring</li>
<li>Products, simulation performance, self-knolwedge delegate academia to new role of refinement of thought</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>8. Thought & Abstraction</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>In this model, struggle and abstraction are expected outcomes of increasing complexity & real-world uncertainty</li>
<li>This uncertainty is honored, and complexity and cognitive patience are constantly modeled and revered</li>
<li>Abstraction honors not just art, philosophy, and other humanities, but the uncertain, incomplete, and subjective nature of knowledge</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>9. Expanding Literacies</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Analyzes, evaluates, and synthesizes credible information</li>
<li>Critical survey of interdependence of media and thought</li>
<li>Consumption of constantly evolving media forms</li>
<li>Media design for authentic purposes</li>
<li>Self-monitored sources of digital & non-digital data</li>
<li>Artistic and useful content curation patterns</li>
</ul>
<p><em>The Inside-Out Learning Model Central Learning Theories & Artifacts: Situational Learning Theory (Lave), Discovery Learning (Bruner), Communal Constructivism (Holmes), Zone of Proximal Development & More Knowledgeable Other (Vygotsky), Learning Cycle (Kolb), Transfer (Thorndike, Perkins, Wiggins), Habits of Mind (Costa and Kallick), Paulo Freire, and the complete body of work by Wendell Berry</em></p>