Being away from my studies for the Thanksgiving holiday has reminded me of how easy it can be for students to become disconnected from their studies over long holiday breaks. How much learning capital is lost during such breaks? Can it ever be measured? We can determine how much time is lost reviewing content that students have lapsed on, and then use that number as a measure of lost learning potential. After all, time spent reviewing something (which otherwise would not need to be reviewed except for the holiday) is time lost learning something else, something new.
How can educators leverage technology to keep their students' minds fresh during periods of school breaks without becoming intrusive and burdensome during the time that students want most to take a break from their studies?
The answer might not be so complicated and perhaps rather ordinary. Let's first consider what students like to do most when out of school on holiday. In addition to spending time with family and friends, I imagine they would want to play games.
I challenge the upper echelon of entertainment gaming companies, the ones that dole out the big bucks making blockbusters, to put their dollars in education. Educational games can be fun and it sure beats not playing it and learning the old school way, but what if students saw no entertainment difference between that blockbuster game and the educational game. What if they were one the same? Who says it can't happen? I predict it will.
As a teacher who would want his or her students to keep afresh of academic material while on break, if I had such an educational blockbuster, I would want the ability to have the content my class was working on seamlessly integrated with the game. Forget the notion of a homework assignment. Their new task is their game mission assignment.
But wait, you say may ask, why would such a game be limited to holidays? It wouldn't. There will be nowhere to hide from learning for our students! Everywhere they look and turn, that game will be calling to them to play it and learn. Learning curriculum has become patently addictive. Is gaming addiction so bad if kids are learning? Who would own the patent? Would the owner of the patent control our children's education? Do we want that in the hands of private industry. Of course not. Such a game would be developed with collaboration and support of teachers, parents, and students. All can be involved in the ability to create in a Minecraft sort of way. But who would be the one controlling the quality or accuracy of the information/experience? Do we want that blockbuster educational game to be as trustworthy as Wikipedia? Would it be such a bad thing? Perhaps if our students' minds were still being engaged intellectually it may not be entirely so bad. We can mitigate accuracy concerns with some kind of a reliability rating system where teachers rate material as accurate or correct. Material in question can be highlighted so to speak.
I await the arrival of Homeworkcraft.
Photo titled "Addiction" by Ben Andreas Harding via Flickr
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
How can educators leverage technology to keep their students' minds fresh during periods of school breaks without becoming intrusive and burdensome during the time that students want most to take a break from their studies?
The answer might not be so complicated and perhaps rather ordinary. Let's first consider what students like to do most when out of school on holiday. In addition to spending time with family and friends, I imagine they would want to play games.
I challenge the upper echelon of entertainment gaming companies, the ones that dole out the big bucks making blockbusters, to put their dollars in education. Educational games can be fun and it sure beats not playing it and learning the old school way, but what if students saw no entertainment difference between that blockbuster game and the educational game. What if they were one the same? Who says it can't happen? I predict it will.
As a teacher who would want his or her students to keep afresh of academic material while on break, if I had such an educational blockbuster, I would want the ability to have the content my class was working on seamlessly integrated with the game. Forget the notion of a homework assignment. Their new task is their game mission assignment.
But wait, you say may ask, why would such a game be limited to holidays? It wouldn't. There will be nowhere to hide from learning for our students! Everywhere they look and turn, that game will be calling to them to play it and learn. Learning curriculum has become patently addictive. Is gaming addiction so bad if kids are learning? Who would own the patent? Would the owner of the patent control our children's education? Do we want that in the hands of private industry. Of course not. Such a game would be developed with collaboration and support of teachers, parents, and students. All can be involved in the ability to create in a Minecraft sort of way. But who would be the one controlling the quality or accuracy of the information/experience? Do we want that blockbuster educational game to be as trustworthy as Wikipedia? Would it be such a bad thing? Perhaps if our students' minds were still being engaged intellectually it may not be entirely so bad. We can mitigate accuracy concerns with some kind of a reliability rating system where teachers rate material as accurate or correct. Material in question can be highlighted so to speak.
I await the arrival of Homeworkcraft.
Photo titled "Addiction" by Ben Andreas Harding via Flickr
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/