by Keenan Kibrick
I decided to change the format
this week for the blog. Instead of
reading it’s time to watch. I have 2
videos for you that are both very good and about education. One is quick and the other is longer, but
both will make people think and reflect about the practice of education.
Extra Credits: Games in Education
Why I Watched It: I love so many
videos from Extra Credits and I think they are great educational
resources. I recently watched one about
Games in Education and I wanted to compare it to the idea of Gamification (the
concept) in education.
Why I wrote about it: This video
addressed a misconception about the gamification of education that I felt
needed clarification. When people first hear about the concept of gamification
of education their first thought is it means bringing games into the
classroom. In reality, it’s about making
the classroom a game. This video
reflects why bringing games into the classroom isn’t necessarily a plan for
success. It focuses on the aspects about
video games that make them so enjoyable to play, and highlights that bringing
them into the classroom may hinder a games appeal. The choice of playing a game impacts a
student’s desire to play games, and the piece focuses on how a classroom
requirement might reduce that choice. If video games are placed in a class for
a grade or credit then the students lose that choice over their actions and the
game becomes ineffective in the classroom.
Technology in education is great for the future of education, but we
need to be cognizant about how we implement technology in the classroom. Imposing technology is like imposing games,
it’s not as effective as allowing technology to naturally blend into the
classroom. This is another great
commentary on education and technology and I recommend all read it to spark
creativity on ways to implement games in the classroom.
It’s perfect for: Wanting to implement games in the classroom,
Technology implementation best practices, Favoring pedagogy over technology and
letting learning lead technology implementation
Why I watched it: I
know the interviewer Tim Green very well.
He was my professor when I was in Graduate School at CSU: Fullerton. He posted up this interview and at first it
was just interesting about creativity, however by the end when they discussed
merging technology and creativity it became a video that I began taking notes
on to help apply to classrooms.
Why I kept reading it: It was research
based, and it focuses on defining the word creativity and trying to help
standardize the terminology in terms of the education community. It gives example of how to phrase questions
for students to evoke creativity in their writing, and helps faculty be
cognizant about question writing on assignments. Around 16 minutes in is a great discussion
about how a 15 word instruction for assignments hindered creativity for an
entire class. The realization of this
gave me pause, and helped me reorganize the words I use on assignments. 20 minutes into the video they begin the
discussion of technology and creative output which is also fascinating, and
really helps guides the academic discussion about the online community as a
place that fosters creativity.
It’s perfect for: Rethinking learning, wanting to improve creativity in
the classroom, researched/tested methods of incorporating creativity
