Wed., July 19, 2017
On an infamous Star Trek Next Generation Episode, the "Borg" repeatedly said to all, "Resistance is Futile, prepare to be assimilated." I remember at the time that my response was balderdash, technology does not have the power to be such a major part of who a person is. Of course, there aren't true "cyborgs" as was on that episode, but there are students who live in a totally, and I mean totally different world than we do.
As classroom teachers, and principals, banning games or at least ignoring them is futile. We must embrace them, learn them (as challenging as it is), and begin a conversation with our students about them. As James Gee mentioned, students talk physics without being "required" to. Learning can truly be in different formats, and gaming is one strategy whose time has come.
One of the questions that's been in the back of my mind during the Games and Sims class is "What's next?"
ReplyDeleteThe games/sims we've been delving into have all been around for quite a while, which is, of course, great for the purposes of the class as they're well-tested and have lots of support and content. But what's been launched in the last year that's going to be as big as them? What's coming a decade from now?
Artificial intelligence developments making in-game interactions with bots even more convincing? Better graphics or virtual reality headsets as another route to greater immersion? Something like Google Glasses to bring the simulation more directly into the real world?
Our students' students will be in a different world to our students too.
Yes, the Borg Collective! An awesome display of connectivism as well. I had decided that getting to know a game like Minecraft was important for not only my knowing what types of things my students were doing outside of school, but also learning how I could use it in the classroom to help them learn. It worked great for me for the few years I used Minecraft. We could converse about Minecraft and make connections about what they were doing in the classroom at the same time....and I saw a BIG jump in interest of learning by the students when we were in our "virtual classroom" called Minecraft Edu.
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