| Mobile Games and Technology Changing The Way We Teach |
| As a primary teacher I have noticed that the students who are coming into our classrooms come in with knowledge that is far superior to the students who have just graduated from our primary… |
| Go to this Sway |
For my A3 I have created a presentation using Microsoft Sway. My topic was mobile games and technology for primary classrooms. I have never created a sway before but I highly recommend trying it out. I found it easy to navigate and create my presentation. One thing I will say is that I had a hard time putting video clips from YouTube into the sway as it only let you upload the videos that they had in their collection from Youtube. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my A3. * I created this project using Sway which is best viewed using your mobile device, however you can also click on the link if using your computer.
-Thanks for checking it out,
Tyler
Hi Tyler, I really liked your Sway presentation. I need to look into if I have access to the software too, it was such a beautiful flow and the design wasn’t too bad on the eyes either. Great work. I was immediately drawn to your topic when I saw it listed among the other A3 submissions as game-based learning is something that I am particularly interested in. It feels like such a natural transition to bring in games into our educational settings since some of the first moments of learning came about when were playing as children? Children learn through play right? Then you wonder why there is all this resistance to incorporating games into educational settings. Are we still stuck in a mentality of the factory model of schooling? Your OER does a great job of showcasing the positive effects that a change not only in incorporating games but mobility too can bring about. I hope you get to share this with many more people.
Hi Carla, thanks for taking a look at my A3. You are so right “children do learn through play.” I believe that and I have done many professional development days on this topic. It is very rewarding to let your students play and explore while you just observe and listen, especially in primary. The things they come up with are amazing. Now when you toss in technology you get an entire different way of play. They are still exploring and you can still observe, however they now have something that they can touch and play with. It still boggles me that some people are not comfortable with giving up that “control” to allow students the freedom to explore. Thanks Carla!
Hi Tyler,
Your Sway indeed looks very nice and is informative and interactive. Mobile games/ gamification of learning is gaining more and more popularity and a lot of educators found it very useful especially during remote/hybrid learning, as you mention in your A3. Creating games especially can be a great venture into constructionism and having students be the creators of knowledge artifacts they are proud of. You also mention that “Rather than think they are playing a game for fun they will be tricked into learning about the environment around them.” While I see the value in stealth learning (sometimes), I am not actually a big fan of it. Do the kids have to be “tricked” into learning – why can we not be more open about it. I mean they know they are at school and even if they are playing games, what if we just asked them to tell us what they could learn from it? To create something to represent what they learn? Or to discuss with each other? (You also mention that one would not get to play FPS style games at school – again, why not? I do see educational value in FPS! ;))
Overall, some great ideas to think about going forward. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Binal, thanks for checking my A3 out. I used the word “tricked” as I was thinking about my primary students who had come in with the idea that tablets and computers are associated with free time and they can play games like they do at home. So when I introduced Minecraft to them, they knew it was a game but had no idea that we would be using the game as a tool to learn. As for FPS, as a public school teacher in a primary classroom, knowing your audience is key. I wouldn’t allow violence in my classroom and on top of that have to explain to angry parents why I allowed that in the first place. So I would rather leave FPS out in primary setting, especially when we all know they are exposed to that at home.
Thanks for clarifying, Tyler. I understand what you’re saying and can sympathize – however, I still think that play time can be fun and playful and it need not be overtly “educational” in the traditional sense, yet result in a lot of meaningful learning almost as a by-product! In fact, understanding the educational value of games like FPS and accepting them into a controlled, safe setting may reduce the stigma, obsession and negativity associated with them…. but that’s just me!
Hi Tyler,
While we’re discussing how mobile technology is threatening the face-to-face interactions among us, one of the comments made by VTT in the first video stood out to me: “sending an SMS to the teacher is more personal than discussions in the classroom”. Is this true? I asked myself, and the answer from me might be “yes”. As more and more people tend to socialize online, certain human communication features such as asking questions, interrupting one another, or verbal communication are stunted.
It is true that mobile games/technology can help with the differentiation and support of different learning styles, and promotes self-directed and informal learning through blurring the boundaries between the school world and leisure time. However, I noticed that a lot of mobile games are played solitarily although there are some collaborative ones. I wonder what are your thoughts on this? Will students’ communication/social skills be impacted by playing solitary mobile games, even if they are educational?
Finally, it is a great idea to integrate technology training into teaching qualification programs at the university level. Thank you for sharing your insights with us! Love your Sway presentation. It is so neat and professional.
Hi Ceci, thanks for taking the time to check out my A3. For your first questions I believe that if a student can send an instant message to a teacher asking for help on what they are learning can be more personal as they are one-one communication. I know nothing can replace the classroom one on one experience however what I learned during our online teaching time when a student asked me a question I was able to communicate with them clearly, not rushed and gave them my full attention. When in the classroom, a teacher has a million things running through our heads and all of our eyes looking for the next fire to put out. For your second question, I have used Minecraft this year in my grade 1/2 class and they loved it. They went from a quiet bunch of kids to having discussions out loud and conversations, from shouting, to asking questions of each other. Another game I tried was Kahoot and the same thing happened. I try not to use games that are only one player and don’t allow for the entire class to play for that reason. Thanks for checking this out, and thanks for the questions 🙂
Thank you, Tyler! My students are really into Minecraft and Kahoot as well. Some of my grade 7s were trying to code their own Minecraft game incorporating the language content we learn, which was quite amazing!
I find it interesting how grade 7’s love to use Minecraft. I taught summer learning last year and used Kahoot with the grade 7s I had and they loved it. There is something about bringing a group game like that into the classroom. It really opens students up to be vulnerable but they love it, even if they get the wrong answer.
Congratulations Tyler for putting together such a thoughtful and helpful OER. My first thought is your Sway is great! Something struck me in reading your work and thinking about the delivery of your presentation. I feel presentations like yours should become the new standard for academic papers as we transition from paper journals to digital press. Why not embed video, live links to sources and dynamic charts/graphs and interactive polls?
To be honest, at first I wasn’t going to comment on your OER, as I am not a teacher but your points and arguments apply to both post-secondary education and parenting – two subjects I am relatively familiar with. My sense is your presentation should also be sent up to instructors so they could see value/change needed and in light of the pandemic/our move to digital learning of all kinds. I especially appreciated your discussion of the trend towards digital learning and the need to support teachers and instructors in their own e-learning journey. As we all know there is a real danger of technology becoming a “surrogate teacher”. That was really well done.
I have one recommendation. I think it would be useful to your readers to include information on the growing bank of resources available to teachers through corporate partners such as Google Play (https://youtu.be/0sZ5jsjmlxc) and Minecraft Education (https://education.minecraft.net/blog/microsoft-extends-access-to-minecraft-education-edition-and-resources-to-support-remote-learning/) This growing public/private social dimension towards digital literacy will take on the utmost importance in the post-COVID 19-world as corporations, civic organizations and educational institutions discover the many possibilities of digital learning which have been ignored by many until this recent crisis hit.
Well done Tyler!
Hi Jamie, thanks for checking out my A3. Thanks for sharing the links for more resources I will check them out.