Games Based Learning MOOC
Last Week Reflection
by exquisite.corpse on Nov 21, 2012 at 02:24 PM}
Have been enjoying the MOOC -- must have been a lot of work to get so many high quality presenters/videos/articles.
Yesterday spent some time with fellow faculty -- content expert on a games grant I just applied for -- wish me luck! We were thinking about gaming and how academia for the most part has not changed since the Middle Ages 00 the talking head with the students in the pews, some avidly taking notes, others falling asleep (as depicted in an early 1400s relief. We talked about having students write papers from a flea's perspective -- I exclaimed that what good papers those would be. Grading first year writing students papers can be an exercise in staying awake through their bland conclusions and unoriginal thoughts, like a massage with sandpaper more often than not. :)
I I think museums may have "got it" before some educators-- I am thinking back on some very vibrant experiences I had with walking as a passenger through the floors of the "Titanic" and seeing not only ship parts but recreations of dishes *china etc. As a steerage passenger (we were all given cards with a real passenger name, I almost felt as if I shouldn't be in parts of the "ship." At the end, my kids and I found out whether our not we (our passenger name) survived. My ultra sensitive about death kid would never tell me if he did or didn't make it alive off the Titanic. In another experience, I walked the underworld route the Pharaoh did as he journeyed to bring back the sun.
In recent papers about Second Life, my students write "I did this, I explored that" not "my avatar" -- there is something here worth exploring, this immersion.
Take care, everyone!
~XQC
Yesterday spent some time with fellow faculty -- content expert on a games grant I just applied for -- wish me luck! We were thinking about gaming and how academia for the most part has not changed since the Middle Ages 00 the talking head with the students in the pews, some avidly taking notes, others falling asleep (as depicted in an early 1400s relief. We talked about having students write papers from a flea's perspective -- I exclaimed that what good papers those would be. Grading first year writing students papers can be an exercise in staying awake through their bland conclusions and unoriginal thoughts, like a massage with sandpaper more often than not. :)
I I think museums may have "got it" before some educators-- I am thinking back on some very vibrant experiences I had with walking as a passenger through the floors of the "Titanic" and seeing not only ship parts but recreations of dishes *china etc. As a steerage passenger (we were all given cards with a real passenger name, I almost felt as if I shouldn't be in parts of the "ship." At the end, my kids and I found out whether our not we (our passenger name) survived. My ultra sensitive about death kid would never tell me if he did or didn't make it alive off the Titanic. In another experience, I walked the underworld route the Pharaoh did as he journeyed to bring back the sun.
In recent papers about Second Life, my students write "I did this, I explored that" not "my avatar" -- there is something here worth exploring, this immersion.
Take care, everyone!
~XQC
