My E- Learning Blog

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I have just read an interesting artcicle by Shiang-Kwei Wang and Seungyeon Han called The Six C’s of Motivation. In this article the authors refere to Turner and Paris (1995)  Six C’s of Motivation: choice, challenge, control, collaboration, constructing meaning, and consequences and apply it to their own instructional design.

The Six C’s of Motivations is a teaching strategy that I will definitely try to use towards by last practicum. I will keep you up to date with the outcomes of the lessons.
 

This article looks at Constructionism, a theory pioneered by Seymour Papert. The theory of constructionism emplies that “children learn best when they are in the active roles of designer and constructor”.

The author Idit Harel, offers readers to experience a virtual beach called Shell Park. Her rational for this website is that children and parents can explore the beach and construct their own meaning.

This is the basis of Constructionism theory, if we give our children and students experiences in the classroom or in the home environment of active roles as a designer and constructor we are giving our students the best possible focus of learning and sharing in an age of technology where we can share our thoughts, meaning, our work to the world.

Found  a great blog caled the Learning circuit blog where the author has put together a selection of questions that teachers from around the world have asked. Some questions that were address were;

1. “Are computer games inherently counter-cultural?”

Blogger: “To the digital generation, computer games are very much a component of the culture. (Except that ‘computer games’ are so last week… the console is where gaming, and a lot of social networking, is really hapening, because it is cheaper and a lot more powerful)”.

2. “Are some computer games bad for children?”

Blogger: “Yes. So are some TV shows. And some diet sodas. And some fast food. And some urban air. And some popular music. And some education policies”.

3. “Do computer games herald a revolution in education?”

“Maybe, but not necessarily in the direct sense of teaching-through-gaming. I think we can learn a lot from games about the motivation to learn, about structuring tests & rewards, and about using interactive media seductively”.

Perhaps it would be suitable for all teachers to list some questions that are tugging away at them, to get down to the core issues why or what is stopping them from using gamming and asimilations in their classrooms.

Some clear fears that teachers may have; are games and assimilations valid for classroom instruction? How do we assess these ICT activities? How much extra IT training will i need to teach/ help the class? How do I know which games to use in the classroom….

If every teacher would be able to clearly list their core issues, they in retrospect would become proactive in changing their minds on how they view ICT in the classroom.

In an article written by Clark, Quinn (2005) questions how to design a game  that is reliable, systematic and fun.

He came up with the core foundations of the learning list for eduactional games. They should be:

Contextualized – the learning should be in a setting where the learners actions make sense.

Clear Goal – the learner should have an end state that they are motivated to achieve. (

Appropriate challenge – the level of difficulty has to be beyond the learner’s capability, but not so far that the learner can’t accomplish the task; learning happens best in the space just beyond the learner’s capability where, with some effort and support, they can accomplish the task.

Anchored – the actions that the learner takes have to have a meaningful effect on the outcome. There can’t be meaningless actions by the learner after which the story proceeds, but instead there have to be real consequences in the story line of the actions they take. Learners learn best when they’re operating in ways they recognize are meaningful.

Relevant – in addition to the actions taken being meaningful to the story, the story and actions have to be meaningful to the learner. We need stories that appeal to their interests and motivations. Learners learn best when the setting is one they viscerally care about. 

Exploratory – the environment has to have a wide variety of possible choices (or at least a perception of same), and the ability to try different things and explore the internal relationships. Learners learn best when they have to make choices and face the consequences of those choices.

Active manipulation – a related facet is having the learners active in exploring those relationships, and operating on the world in ways that are similar to the way you operate in the real world and that reflect the story setting. Learners learn best when there is minimal overhead between their intentions and the actions taken to achieve them.

Appropriate feedback – the feedback from the world has to come in a way that makes sense in the world. They need to know they’ve acted, even if they don’t immediately get to know the final outcomes of their action. Learners learn best when they get feedback about how they’re doing.

Attention-getting – the action can’t be totally deterministic, there needs to be some randomness and probability. Total determinism isn’t desirable. Learners learn best when their attention and curiosity is maintained.

Clark Quinn has given some very clear objectives fof what Game-Based eduactional games should all contain. Perhaps these are excellent key points for teachers to acknowlege that these games can offer to our students when deciding on what programs or games would be beneficial for our students and schools.