October30

Gaming and Education: This is a hot area right now with lots of interesting questions: are kids actually learning anything when they play games? If so, what? Do games promote any kind of learning besides hand-eye coordination? We'll be playing games, including Food Force, and trying out some software packages in class this week to give you a chance to see what's out there. Meanwhile, outside of class, you'll be browsing through resources related to gaming.

Monday and Wednesday: Open Lab Days for you to try out various educational software packages and games; review one of the programs and post the review to your eportfolio. We'll have [|Food Force] available during this open lab time. You may but do not have to submit scores to the discussion forum for this page. (5 points)

Browse resources about gaming:
 * View a video of [|Marc Prensky], the guru of educational gaming (NOTE: This links to a windows media file.)
 * Browse [|Prensky's Social Impact Games] website that includes descriptions of a variety of edu-games now under development
 * Dr. James Paul Gee's book [|What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy] got a lot of press when it came out. Here are a few links to reviews and articles: [|PC GameZone], [|Wired]

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