Games in Education

Describe the Instructional Technology Trend.

Games in education are not a trend on their own. The trend however has shifted to more online/web-based/technology enhanced games. Research suggests that games by themselves are not integral in student mastery of content, but can serve other purposes with benefits. Benefits include inter-personal skills and social skills when teamed with others, high level of engagement due to the interactive and exciting nature of games, and ease of mastering skills or facts when the game is repetitive in nature. 

How do you think this trend is going to impact learning/education?

The trend of gaming has already had a impact on education in the area motivation and engagement but as technology advances and more web based applications and programs are developed, games are more advanced. 

As an instructional technologist, what do you need to do to keep up with this trend?

It is critical to keep up with the trend because it changes how teachers are engaging students in the content. As a technology facilitator, I support teachers in using games in their classrooms but provide caution as the the focus of a lesson plan can not solely be on using a tool and should be objective or skill based. 

Provide three resources (an article, web url and a video) that provide more information on this trend and explain why these resources stood out to you.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/games-in-education-teacher-takeaways-matthew-farber This article is an overview of a Games in Education Symposium that highlights trends. The article also provides examples of what students are doing in the creation of games.

http://www.theedublogger.com/2015/01/20/gaming-in-education-gamification/ I chose this article because it provides insight into video games as a tool for educators and it is not an area that I am familiar with. The article provides context and definitions of areas of the gaming world for those that don't game!

https://quizlet.com/everywhere Quizlet is a resource that I have used for creating games to memorize facts, words, etc. This link gives more examples of how it can be used. 

Design one activity using this trend that can be applied for teaching and learning. 

An activity that can be used for teaching and learning is the use of http://www.kahoot.com/  Kahoot allows a user to create multiple choice questions that are answered using a players smartphone or other device and is a fun and engaging way to encourage audience participation and engagement. Kahoot also provides data on the respondents. 

Re-use information that you shared for your main post in the discussion forum (educreation, voki etc)
https://soundcloud.com/user190612296/games-in-education