Morrowind used in middle school classroom. Teacher had students write a choose your own adventure story about the characters in it. Started with Setting, then finished with the story. She used Choose your own adventure, because it is much like Roleplay.
Anarchy Online used in a Technical writing classroom to teach the “fuzzy” stuff. Students roleplay within the game. Game is the situated context for learning.
As I sit in my sessions and my statement that teens are producers sinks in I realize that if we want kids to learn how to use databases, and online catalogs, they need to make guides on how to use it.
You truly learn how to use something when you have to make a guide for it. We as librarians would also be able to use the best guides to have in the library for student reference.
If we did it in the first week of school with the new class entering the school would we be able to really minimize plagiarism and allow teens to really enjoy the creation?
If anyone wants to take my idea and do something with it go ahead. I look forward to seeing what people make of it.
One of the Workshops I went to we spent the time working on this Wiki. It is a collaboration of different researchers, gathering information about games in one place.
There are some interesting pages related to educational games teachers have used, and different academic resources available. This looks like a great start for bibliographies.
When the webcasts of the conference are posted this is another session librarians should listen to. Jeremy McCall is a history teacher that has used games to explore the accuracy. His model would be a very interesting way to present information literacy.
Another think I was impressed with was the true strength of history games. This is one of the most developed educational genres. Some of the games mentioned “Rome:Total War” and “Making History” are two games that have more educational capabilities than Civilization.
This is a topic I hope many academic and school libraries explore.
Tonight all presentations will be podcast, but for now some highlights:
JAMES GEE
Media Literacy
Based on the idea people are dupes
It makes you look at technology in a way that you won’t be duped
Studies today show that young people don’t believe anything
The only person that is truly duped is the media literacy specialist
Young people no longer want to be consumers, but want to be producers.
Modern technologies allow young people to produce at a high level, a Hollywood level
This productive level is one of the crucial skills that a economy might need in the future.
Games are a great site, when you put them in the right environment, you can think like producer.
Already this medium makes you think like a designer to play it.
IN chivy robo, you get to be a four inch robot.
Take any area that is design, and realize there is a grammar.
There is a structure to any design (architecture,
When you are four inches tall you think about the design space completely different
You have to get people to think about things in a different way.
Another thing that is happening. Media literacy is being separated from traditional literacy
Media literacy issues are as important as traditional literacy, scientific literacy…
All [literacies] are married to each other.
Pick Science by tool
We are in a world where the divide between technology art and science don’t exsist anymore
Worlds we put people in pours right into games
The single variable is not learning phonics. The most important is the childs ability to handle complex language (biology, technology)
Kids and their video games face more complicated languages than they see in the classroom.
Look at the Yu-Gi-oh website, and listen to the arguments of 7 year olds about rules.
KURT SQUIRE
In school and after school programs with historical games
Why work with games?
There are at least 3 characteristic take into account
Today’s media environment is about production not consumption
Simulation- literate with simulation is a key part of consumption
Get kids the opportunities to think about historical events.
Makes interesting introductions
Games Provides opportunities to get teachers to talk to their students about history
WE LOST TECHNICAL CAST IN MY ROOM SO I MISSED SOME HERE
CONSTANCE STEINKUEHLER
Science is not a bunch of facts, its a way of reasoning about the worlds.
Pulled thread about Druid’s class points off of WOW forums
Had over 300,000 views
Looking at Scientific views.
Model based reasoning.
MMOs are about grasping a complex system.
When you start to look at classrooms
1 in 5 have basic scientific literacy, despite the fact that we mandatory science education
Why?
The kind of science we teach in school, and the course of instruction
It engenders the opposite of science.
Science is not about facts, its about structure.
In Lineage, some players were collecting data and creating excel sheet to determine the best way to beat a boss.
They didn’t know they were doing science, they thought they just were cheating the game.
April issue of Wired Will Wright. Mastering the game system means doing some basic scientific reasoning.
BETTY HAYES
We have a problem in this country.
Our economy is going to be in trouble between of the gap of people we need to run our advanced computer systems and the number of people educated.
Young people are just as bad as most people about finding information. Learning about information technology at school is not enough.
Gaming is a key experience for getting people interested in further education.
Constance Steinkuehler
Last year they focused on starting to get academic focus on games. This year they want to have a conversation.
hightlights:
Constance Steinkuehler
Focus research questions
Studying a new phenomenon
Studying something on its own terms mean getting innovative
Questions of genuine depth lead themselves to a variety interesting research
Wow its past 7am, and I’m going to finish up homework then begin my road trip to Madison for The Games Learning and Society Conference.
For all of those who are un able to make it, I will post a review of the day, if not a summary of the sessions.
for now check out the Flickr group
I will do my best to NOT appear in the photos, so don’t look for me 
.
Hope you enjoy my rambled notetaking, I will try to do the honored speakers justice
Big Games: Large-Scale, Multi-Player, Real-World Games
Podcast by Kevin Slavin
“A Big Game might involve transforming a city into a giant board game, hundreds of players roaming the streets looking for invisible treasure, or a TV show built on real-time audience interactions.”
Serious Games
Podcast by Steven Berlin Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good for You
“Johnson argues that judgment of video games should consider the intellectual and problem solving skills they require.”
E3 2006 Nintendo Conference Wii Video 1
I was looking for different videos on YouTube when i found this. If you look closely you can see how the controller will work.
It will be a long time before the Wii comes out, but I think it will be great. Odd, but great.
NCTE has created many materials for teachers to use that allow students to create different products that resemble popular entertainment. I was looking at their site, when I found this:
A character Trading Card Creator
This software seems perfect to use for middle school students who might enjoy the option to translate one of the characters from a book they read into a playing card.
Have fun with the site.
The possibilities are limited with the software, but the teens could have fun creating it on their own as well.
