[Yr7-10it] games

[Fawcett - Le Rossignol, Jamie E]

Hi all,

I came across an article about using a MMORPG for learning.  It appears
that a college in the UK is using Never Winter Nights to teach 
"Using NWN for basic learning skills"
(http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/01/17/using-nwn-for-basic-learning-skill
s/)
A BBC article about it
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6254989.stm)
http://nwn.bioware.com/players/profile_west_nottinghamshire_college.html

The company now developing the software is Altered Learning
(http://www.alteredlearning.com/), but a school licence can be a
expensive. 

Jamie




-----Original Message-----
From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of victor rajewski
Sent: Monday, 10 December 2007 5:06 PM
To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: [Yr7-10it] games

Hi all,

Last Friday I hosted a games night for my students at school. This
involved students bringing a variety of games into the school, then
loading them onto the network or hooking up to the projector. It was a
great bonding experience, and I'll be doing more of them in the future
as a reward for positive behaviour. But what really grabbed me was
seeing students playing Quake Team Arena. Now, I've read research on how
good games are for student learning, multi-tasking, etc, etc. But I was
quite blown away at actually seeing it. One student, who has
considerable difficulty with just about all unfamiliar task, was quite
shaky at the start of the game. Within an hour, he had found his feet,
and within two hours was up there with the best of them (having passed
my own abilities some time before). Keeping track of that many things at
the same time, working together with others, learning by himself, are
all things he typically struggles with in the classroom. Yet here he had
learnt a considerable amount all by himself in a very short period of
time. OK, so the context is violent. I have mixed feelings about this,
but in the context of my particular school, we are trying to discourage
this. So, the question is: "how can we harness this learning potential?"
Ideas I've come up with are by making games - that link to Alice seems
really interesting, but probably aimed more at higher levels. But where
are the immersive 3D educational environments? I want a a Quake where a
student has to solve a logic problem, or paint a picture, or write
something, or analyse a piece of text or something before they can get
to the next stage... Is there anything like this? Is anyone working on
this?

/rant

vik

Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.