3D GameLab Day 2: Getting Down with Dr. Z

A lot of exciting things and real learning happened for me on Day 2 of 3D GameLab online teacher summer camp.  Allow me to share some highlights:

• Reward mechanics in quest-based learning

I had an interesting chat in Second Life with Leigh Writer, or Dr. Z., as he’s known on his blog.  He had worked through many quests on day 2, and said he hadn’t yet received any feedback and was trying to figure out what to do to earn a gold star.  Now the gold star is interesting, because it is a manual reward granted by the teacher, at the teacher’s discretion!  I was intrigued that this highly intelligent, cutting edge professor was motivated by the reward from the teacher.  We spoke about how he enjoyed the automated badges and achievements, but still wanted the personal connection with feedback and/or awards like stars, an acknowledgement from the teacher that he was on the right track.  We talked about the balance between awarding too many stars, and trying to make them scarce to give them more value and meaning.

After our chat, I went back to gamelab and had 20 quests to approve.  I made sure to leave comments on each one, even a short sentence was better than no sentence.  I find I’m saving my stars for truly deep thought, an extra effort, or someone trying to help the community.  I am rewarding the behavior and culture we are trying to cultivate in the community, a purposeful rewarding.

• Creating connection through voice and video (real time and recorded)

Dr. Z also turned me on to Audioboo, an audio recording website where you can record feedback for students and embed it in their feedback, instead of written text.  He said his students LOVED getting and giving audio comments.  My goal is to test it tomorrow, and see the response.  I’ve been looking for a tool like this for awhile, very excited to find a web-based platform for it.  I’ll need to be sensitive to hearing impaired students to ensure I’m not limiting their experience, as well.

Just for fun, here’s a voicethread I started today in the opening of the Virtual World Builders group.  Love the comments and variety of people, interests and experience reflected in it!

http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=2169454

• Understanding what it’s like to work at a Help Desk

I did anticipate a little chaos in launching a new technology.  I had no idea on the number of emails I would receive with questions about logins, registrations, email and passwords not working, and not being able to sign up for events.  Tech support on a new technology product is something that should be planned and I missed the boat on this one entirely (which is funny considering I ran a department and hired tech support in various forms for years–you’d think I’d know better!)  As a result of the hundreds of emails I’ve sent out over the last two days and countless Skype and Vent chats, I have a much stronger appreciation for people who work at Help Desks, and I promise to always be calm and nice in the future!

• Questing means assessment in “bits”

I’ve been enjoying reading students’ quests and leaving feedback in “bits.”  I can sit down, do a few quests, go wash dishes, come back and do a few more, go to a Skype call, come back, etc.  I have the ability to do more realistic just-in-time feedback compared to my regular online classes where I may let the “weekly” assignment pile up until the weekend when I sit down to grade a big batch of projects.  This process is mirroring the mobile lifestyle that I find myself living more and more, and I think is more helpful to learners, as they’re not sitting around waiting for me to grade their work.  The number of items I have has increased, but they are quick “bits,” easy to run through in short periods of time.  While I have always been thrilled to get engaged with my students’ work, the idea of “grading” projects was laborious to me.  Have I finally found a solution??

How was your day in 3D GameLab?

3D GameLab Goes Live…and WOW!!

What an amazing opening day in 3D GameLab online teacher summer camp, and the launch of our closed beta quest-based learning platform!!  Players logged in at midnight, and ran strong all day long. On our first day, 150 players logged in and completed over 750 total quests.  The feedback has been fantastic.  Chris Haskell (my co-inventor) and I were busy throughout the day meeting new players, participating in the mobile learning Skype chat event, hanging out in Ventrilo and chatting, leaving feedback and approving quests, reading blog and Facebook entries, sharing resources, answering LOTS of questions, and a little (haha) bit of tech support!  Whew.

What the Players Have to Say

• This fits my learning style. I learn by “doing,” so thank-you for allowing us to discover how all of this works, in our own time frame.
• 3D is super cool.  I am totally loving this and can’t wait to get going and building some quests for me to try with my students.
• This is an incredibly engaging way of directing learning, encouraging personal responsibility and developing community. Congrats to the team at Boise!
• I can’t stop questing, I’m addicted!
• I’m having the best day playing on 3D Game Lab. Am I really at work?
• Creating a Quest to the Top – 21st Century Learning: Those of you who have started to lay the foundation for us to create a 21st century curriculum, I thank you. You have given us the tools to change our educational delivery system into something that will allow all students active, successful participation in their learning.
• Enjoying what I have seen and experienced in the 3d Game Lab workshop so far. I can’t wait to start developing for my group.
• So much fun.  I have really enjoyed Gamelab so far. It is very easy to navigate around the site. I really like the status bar so I can keep track on my completions. The badges and rewards are nice incentives that I am striving for also
• Praise for multiple ways to succeed! This is so well thought out! Having several ways to remedy a problem is so important. I can see how students would persevere longer knowing that they could get assistance in multiple ways.
• Interface feels natural, easy to learn and navigate.

I have so much to say, but I think Chris’s closing video sums it up for both of us.  More reporting on day 2.

 

 

Jambox + Pandora = Big WIN!

WOW, I’m blown away!  I originally bought a Jawbone Jambox to support wireless conference calling on-the-go.  Little did I know that this little, portable, seemingly indestructible beauty would open up a world of music to me that I had never considered available before. 

I love music, all kinds of music, but I’m lazy.  I don’t want to pay for iTunes, I don’t like to catalog and collect music, the whole syncing thing drives me nuts (I own too many devices and none of them seem to sync to the right computer at the right time).  The radio is annoying because of commercials and talk.

Along comes my bluetooth-connected Jambox. After purchasing, I start experimenting by placing calls.  It’s pretty cool.  Jambox will talk to you, let you know the know the number of who’s calling you, and if you answer, you can conference call using the speaker unit.  It goes anywhere in the house.  So if I’m on a call, I can leave my phone, take the speaker with me, do dishes, etc.  But wait…it gets better…

Imagine having the Pandora app on your phone, streaming your favorite style of music for free (which is streams for you based on your own listening preferences) straight to the Jambox.  It doesn’t replace a true stereo speaker system, but man, this little box is a powerful speaker!  I love turning on Pandora, and listening to music on the Jambox.  Then, if someone is calling, it is smart enough to stop playing music, announce the caller ID, and wait while I determine whether or not I’ll accept the call.  When I’m done talking, it automatically starts playing music again.

Jambox is small, it fits in my hand, it travels in my purse, it’s a party-on-the go combined with conference capability, so I can transition from conversation to listening enjoyment very seamlessly.  What seemed to be a handy tool for work has turned into a fantastic new addition to my lifestyle.  Love it, love it!

Immersive Learning Innovation: Thanks to NSTA!

Many thanks go out to Al Beyers, Flavio Mendez, Dayna Anderson and the great folks at NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) for hosting the Immersive Environments for Science Education strand at ISTE in Philadelphia last week!  I particularly enjoyed the ability to dialogue with Al, Chris Dede and Greg Jones using an optimist/pessimist approach in our panel, Immersive Environments for Science Education: Hyper-learning or Over Hyped Learning. If you know me, I tend to wear the optimist hat a lot–I’m always pushing for the vision of what could be!

In my session on Quest Based Learning Across Immersive Learning Environments, it was fun to explore the design of an open-learning environment that provides student choice and access using 3D GameLab, our new quest-based learning platform that aligns informal and formal learning activities, including the use of immersive worlds, games, and sims, to science standards.

If you have an interest in cutting-edge science education, be sure to check out the NSTAs Learning Center, a professional development site with thousands of resources, many of them available at no cost, as well as a social learning community for connecting with other innovative science educators.

Assessment Innovation Not Super Tests

Tom, thank you for sharing this article. It’s been a long time coming. I like the idea of an assessment ecosystem, it’s a step in the right direction. I do think we should be cautious of replacing paper and pencil multiple choice assessment­s with online multiple choice assessment­s, and calling that innovation, however.

The best assessment­s are those that are reflective of what the student can do with knowledge, how they can apply, reuse, remix, create, and innovate with their knowledge. I am most supportive of assessment that allows learners to understand their own learning, assessment that captures examples of real-life work, such as writing a story or in blogs, providing community service, creating simulation­s or models, completing complex tasks, performing to an audience, inventing something that didn’t exist before, etc. In our 3D GameLab project, we are seeking to map genuine, active learning and performanc­e that learners authentica­lly engage in across the meta-verse to common core standards, and then provide the learner a scorecard showing evidence of those achievemen­ts.

To create a nation of innovators­, we must give our students the freedom and opportunit­y to innovate. Assessment must be for the individual­’s own learning, not a check-off in the process of compliance­. Online systems are smart enough to capture this evidence. We must refocus our thinking about assessment in the best interest of the learner, and not for the system that drives educationa­l policy. The data we need as policymake­rs can be extracted. Design for the learner…­not the system.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Games, Sims & Quest-Based Learning – ISTE 2011

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I have the wonderful opportunity to give several talks about the importance of educational games, sims, virtual worlds, and my current favorite topic, quest-based learning. For those of you looking for copies of my talks, you can find them here.

Immersive games & sims, oh my!

Next week I have the privilege of participating in four presentations at ISTE discussing the value of games, sims, and virtual worlds for today’s educational environment.  Having never given three talks in one day, I’m wondering if I’ll be energized or exhausted by the time it’s all over.  If you’re heading to ISTE, please say hello!

If you’ve been following our work on 3D GameLab, Chris has produced a new video showing a student’s perspective of quest-based learning.  Let us know what you think.  I’ll be sharing more highlights from our work in GameLab while in Philly.  Hope to see you there.