Computer Simulations

Published Online: October 30, 2007 Published in Print: October 31, 2007 Computer Simulations Hone Leadership Skills By Lynn Olson Lowell, Mass. An $11 million executive-training course for principals, modeled after best practices used in the corporate, medical, engineering, and military worlds, is starting to gain traction among states. Developed by the National Institute for School Leadership, or NISL, a for-profit company based in Washington, the program is now used widely in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania, as well as in individual school districts in five other states. Computerized simulations designed to help prepare principals who are instructional leaders lie at the heart of the 14-unit curriculum. “War games, exercises, simulations are at the core of any culminating experience,” explained Robert C. Hughes, the president of NISL, “because it requires the application of knowledge to a new scenario.”

Possible Resources for Instructional Materials

http://www.topicseducation.com/print-new-media/print-new-media.cfm?gclid=CLT0q_TPuY8CFRGCGgodKF2wcw http://www.solution-tree.com/Public/Media.aspx?parent=topic0&node=topic0All&ListProducts=true&Topic=Assessment&ProductType=allproducts

Media Use In Educational Design

3 Interesting Articles in this edition of TC Record. http://www.tcrecord.org/ Media Comparison Studies: Problems and Possibilities by Bryan R. Warnick & Nicholas C. Burbules — 2007Background/Context: Media comparison studies aim to compare the relative effectiveness of different media at promoting educational outcomes. While these types of studies remain popular, they have been under attack for more than two decades. Critics of media comparison studies claim that continued studies are unhelpful because a great number of research projects have already shown that media produce “no significant difference” in learning outcomes. They also claim that the studies that do find a difference among media are flawed because of a conflation of “media” with “method.” These claims suggest the need for conceptual clarification. Information Literacy in the Laptop Classroom by Mark Warschauer — 2007Background/Context: Technological and economic changes have put a high premium on developing students’ information literacy and research skills. Previous attempts to deploy educational technology toward these ends have proved disappointing because K–12 teachers have difficulty integrating shared computers into instruction. In response, numerous schools and districts have piloted one-to-one programs, in which each student has access to a laptop computer connected wirelessly to the Internet throughout the school day. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This paper analyzes the information literacy and research practice in a purposely stratified selection of 10 one-to-one laptop K–12 schools in California and Maine. Software Infrastructure for Teachers: A Missing Link in Integrating Technology with Instructionby Yao-Ting Sung & Alan Lesgold — 2007Background: Based on analyses of the difficulties encountered during the process of integrating technology into instruction and the efforts made by researchers to overcome barriers to such integration, we propose that the efforts made to date (e.g., increasing the availability of computer equipment and enhancing computer literacy, support, and training) are not sufficiently comprehensive to achieve the goals of improving teaching efficiency and developing innovative teaching methods. Objectives: The objective of this research commentary is to highlight the importance of the software infrastructure for teachers (SIT) to promoting the integration of information technology into instruction.

Google Book Search --Reigeluth (1999)

http://books.google.com/books?id=AbJc4Kg6XQoC&pg=PA425&dq=The+elaboration+theory:+guidance+to+scope+and+sequence+decisions&ei=SfAnR5KzBaOGpwL49f3rDA&sig=8ii7IwbNzjnf5egDp6eKPbQPiAQ

Reigeluth, C. (1999). The elaboration theory: Guidance for scope and sequence decisions. In C.M. Reigeluth (ed.), Instructional-design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory, volume ii. (pp. 425-459). Hillsdale, N. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Clark N. Quinn

Really liked the Engaged Learning book by Clark N. Quinn...Here's the weblink that compliments the book http://www.engaginglearning.com/index.html. I also liked the Learnlets http://blog.learnlets.com/wp/index.php In addition to game design, Quinn works as a consultant for business organizations through Quinnovation http://www.quinnovation.com/index.html

My latest FREE tools discovery: UStream.tv, Veodia, Blabber, SlideShare, SmileBox, and SLiPod

Ustream.tv http://www.ustream.tv A platform that provides live interactive video for everyone. Anyone with a camera and an Internet connection can use Ustream to broadcast to a global audience. Seriously, no need for an IT background with this one. This could be used similarly as vodcasting (just easier I think) and so the educational applications are similar to podcasting (video version): portable, accessible, mobile, download-able educational materials.

Veodia (http://www.veodia.com) The live TV studio in your browser. Currently, Veodia distributes limited free accounts to test the beta version. Great interest in this tool in the SL community for conferencing live, or posting lectures (archiving, etc). I just got mine yesterday. So I'll get back to you all on how this is really useful and accessible as a teaching/training tool. Some SecondLifers are already at work modding the application so that it is your avatar's head and not your RL likeness that shows up on the vid. (Many SL members are adamant about keeping their SL and RL lives completely separate.)

SLiPod (IM Unmitigated Gal in SL for your copy) an application that behaves like an iPod in Second Life. I finally got my copy on Friday....too late to demonstrate it to my ESL and foreign language educators' audience at the AECT conference...but I am getting really excited about this for language and culture instruction purposes. I am planning a project with the SLiPod creator so that we can disseminate this tool in the educational community with an emphasis on global awareness. Next project: to mash SLiPod and Veodia for powerful inworld conferencing and archiving (this has already been done, but I am interested --again-- in this application for global exchange)

The Blabber (SL in-world instant translator): choose your outgoing language (Japanese) and your incoming language (English). The computer-based translation has sometimes some funny/awkward or downright wrong translation...but that's material for more conversation :)

Smilebox (http://www.smilebox.com) Create animated scrapbooks, photobooks, slideshows, postcards, and ecards for any occasion, and email them to anyone. You can also add music to your creations. The Club Smilebox has a free one-month trial. I have not subscribed to the Club because my Kodak Gallery account (free also) does just as well (but Kodak Gallery does not offer animation options to my albums).

SlideShare (http://www.slideshare.net) Share powerpoint presentations online, slideshows, etc. "The world's largest community for sharing presentations on the web." I finally got around to activate my account yesterday. This is a much easier way to share ones presentation after a conference, a training, etc. People can go back to the ppt on their own time. The ppt is downloaded on slideshare's servers and become part of the "YouTube"-like community of ppts.
You can view my first ppt at http://www.slideshare.net/sreljic. You can also find a lot of the folks that you've been Twittering for a while in there (for me, that's Alan Levine aka Cogdog, Sarah Robbins aka Intelligirl, etc.).

Online Glitches Frustrate Test-Takers in Va. Schools

Michael Alison Chandler, Amit R Paley - Washington Post Staff Writers. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: May 17, 2007. pg. B.1

Online testing became a problem . It was felt that since there was so much chaos, disruption and anxiety, that online testing was not a good thing," One person said, "You have to coordinate a lot of moving pieces, you have to acquire a lot of expensive equipment, and you have to dodge the many opportunities for glitches to emerge in the system."

University of Louisiana at Monroe Chooses Moodlerooms for its Learning Management System

The University of Louisiana at Monroe has chosen Moodlerooms for its Learning Management System. They formerly used Blackboard and are now in the process of converting to Moodle. They comment that "Moodle is very powerful. It gives us total freedom to design and deliver our courses".
This article can be found at: http://proquest.umi.com.libproxy.sdsu.edu/pqdweb?index=0&did=1370374301&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1193447001&clientId=17862

Link does not work

Hi,
Just wanted to let you know that I tried the top link and it does not work. I was wondering if it would given it's a member site. The second one does. It's actually the better more informative article(s).
Stay safe, See you next week.

Second Life Arrives in the Corporate Training Room

Over the last few months a lot of attention has been given games and simulations in the training world by the two leading training world journals; T & D and training, the first published by ASTD and the second by Nielsen Business Media publications. I have included two links below. The first is about Second Life. I thought you might enjoy it Sabine.

The second has lots of information about Second Life, Protoshpere, who boasts more professional looking avatars than Second Life, and Forterra whose vice president of marketing claims, "It takes what used to be e-learning and creates one-on-one modules that let people practice what they learn in a context-specific environment." There is another company called Virtual Heroes who has been designing games for the military. Another article in this issue highlights companies that have used games to train, e.g., Cingular/AT&T, the ASAP Bio Pharm Council, Blockbuster Inc, and Learning Tree.

All in all they are interesting articles. Maybe you will be able to find the time to scan through.

http://www.astd.org/NR/rdonlyres/51215E61-9C71-49FC-A0D4-BC1818B329A8/12903/76070844.pdf

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/training1007/

The institution of education examined in several countries

Increased access to and achievement in education helps individuals as well as their countries. A recent report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states that more widespread university education means prosperous economies. In our increasingly global society, it is important for us to learn more about other countries and their major institutions. One key institution is that of education. OECD has a very interesting publication called "Education at a Glance 2007" that examines the educational systems and outcomes of several countries. It focuses on some key areas, including:

Participation and achievement in education
Public and private spending on education
The state of lifelong learning
Conditions for pupils

It also examines how the socioeconomic status of students relates to their educational experiences and educational outcomes.

The report is available at: http://www.oecd.org/document/30/0,3343,en_2649_201185_39251550_1_1_1_1,00.html

The Schools Interoperability Framework Association (SIFA®) and Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL®) Announce Formal Relationship to Develop Schools Fo

Partnership activity will focus on the development and implementation of a new version of SCORM specifications and quidelines for school software applications by enabling its use with the successful Schools Interoperability Framework Implementation Specification.
http://www.adlnet.gov/News/articles/index.aspx?ID=437

Moodlerooms - support for Moodle

Schools can download Moodle for free and have their expert or non-expert IT departments maintain it. But many instructors choose to have Moodlerooms optimize and support the software, so they can concentrate on teaching. Moodleroom's mission is to provide the services and support universities, colleges, schools, businesses and associations need to take full advantage of Moodle.
Their site can be found at: http://moodlerooms.com/?moodlead=moodlerooms.training

One-Minute SCORM Overview for Anyone

Here is a "Reader's Digest" Overview of SCORM to add to the presentation on last week. It can be found at: http://www.scorm.com/resources/oneminuteoverview/OneMinuteOverview.htm

Here is the beginning:
"What do you know about SCORM?"
This is frequently where we start with people who call us. Many of these people know only that their boss has asked them to "find out about SCORM and how it affects us," or that a prospective customer insists it is necessary for their success.

For some, SCORM is simply an obstacle on the path to a sale. For others, SCORM is a tool that enables effective, efficient online training. At its core, SCORM allows content authors to distribute their content to a variety of Learning Management Systems (LMS) with the smallest headache possible.

NPD study: Finds some kids spending more time gaming

Study Finds Some Kids Spending More Time Gaming

GameSpot reports that a new study from the NPD Group found that 1/3 of kids are spending more time playing games than they did a year ago. Does that mean the other 2/3rds are spending about the same amount of time gaming as last year or less time?

Of the nearly 3,500 children between the ages of 2 and 17 that the NPD surveyed, one-third responded that they are spending more time playing games than they did a year ago. As of press time, an NPD representative had not returned GameSpot's request for comment on how the habits of the remaining two-thirds had changed.

The report also found that PCs are the primary gaming platform for kids, with children starting to game on the system at age 6, and continuing through the age of 17, the longest stretch of time of any gaming system measured. According to the NPD, the "gaming lifecycle" begins with kid-focused systems.

As boys get older, they migrate to plug-and-play TV games, then previous-generation consoles and handhelds. At age 10, they move to cell-phone gaming and the current crop of systems from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. On the other hand, girls tend to leave gaming behind as they get older.

NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement that the switch from casual to core gamer happens between the ages of 6 and 8, which suggests that this span of time is "a critical age at which to capture the future gamers of the world."

Kids in the 12-17 year range spend about ten hours each week playing video games according to the study. A press release about the study can be found here on the NPD Group's website.

...Flash news from GamersGame.com blog (via Twitter)

University 2.0

The last few editions of training mag and T&D, the two leading training industry publications, have been devoted to virtual training rooms, games and simulations. Here is the link to one such article http://www.trainingmag.com/msg/content_display/publications/e3i69540729a42288c478f128167752e4ca

Expect more from me as I take a closer look at the articles. It is all so very interesting and so very scary for trainers.

Second Life account --where to start--Try NMC Campus

http://www.secondlife.com is the most obvious choice: Register, login, download the client, ready to go and meet your nOOb avatar. Second Life usually suggests that new members teleport directly to the Orientation Island in order to get an handle on the platform' affordances. People have gotten frustrated and lost.

There's better: NMC Orientation.
Go to the NMC Campus wiki (http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/Main_Page). Click on "Join the NMC Campus".
The link get you to the NMC Campus Observer blog (http://sl.nmc.org) where you can create your SL account and join the NMC community at the same time.

All free. This really is very useful as the NMC Campus will not recognize your avatar if you want to teleport on the NMC island for conferences, workshops or even exploring.

Both sites have lots and loads of info on how to get started in SL, how to personalize your avatar, suggestions for class or group meetings on NMC campus, how to use the NMC campus, teachers workshops, video and other resources, etc.

Back to the beginning: you want some sort of non-stressful orientation experience: NMC Campus has its orientation island (read about it at http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/Orientation_Island, then teleport there)

Do realize that the SL platform is primarily set up for exploratory learning. So you might find some help here and there (look into Groups, attend events and IM people, etc..., people are very helpful inworld), but you will develop familiarity with the world only by doing (yes, the learning by doing theory thing). So one can show you how to fly, how to search for freebies, how to do basic scripting, etc...However, you will develop a "SL-sense" only as you explore and try.

No matter what, don't panic (unless you've got a room full of people watching you crash...ok, even then.) Things will happen, your avatar will start swimming under ground, you'll teleport someplace and your avatar shows up with her hair on her butt, you'll try a new face and can't get the word "demo" off your face for a week....oh, well, keep a journal and publish it under "The funniest moments in my avatar's life." Technically speaking: log off. Go get yourself a cup of coffee. Log back in.

Happy SLing,

http://www.eschoolnews.com/ Contents Copyright 2007 eSchool News. All rights reserved. Solution aims to transform math assessment Already revolutionizing early-literacy assessment via handheld technology, Wireless Generation seeks to boost elementary math By Laura Devaney, Associate Editor, eSchool News October 17, 2007 In school systems across the country, teachers are using handheld computers and a software solution from Wireless Generation, called mCLASS, to administer the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) to elementary-age students. The technique has helped boost students' reading scores dramatically. Now, the positive impact this approach has had on reading soon could be replicated in math. Wireless Generation, along with the Teachers College at Columbia University and the University of Missouri-Columbia, recently received a four-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to develop a math-related version of mCLASS. As with the company's reading solution, mCLASS Math would allow teachers to administer one-on-one assessments with K-3 students, while recording results and observations on a handheld computer. Teachers use the Palm-based software to guide themselves through the assessment process and record students' responses. Once an assessment is completed, teachers sync their handheld with their desktop or laptop computer to transfer the data to a secure web site, where they can examine the results almost instantly to inform their instruction. The math version of mCLASS seeks to enable teachers not only to screen for math proficiency and monitor students' progress, but also to learn about their students' thought processes. The system works by giving students a math problem and instructing them to solve the problem any way they want. During the assessment, students are asked how they came up with their answer. Although Wireless Generation is not the first company to develop a handheld-based solution for math assessment, the company might be the first to target the K-3 level. To understand how children learn math, it's worth examining their thinking processes as early as kindergarten, explained Herbert Ginsburg, a professor at Columbia University Teachers College and co-developer of mCLASS Math. "We find that little kids, starting in kindergarten and going through third grade, have very interesting ways of thinking about math, and teachers need to learn about that," Ginsburg said. Young learners, Ginsburg said, might have certain systemic ways of using strategies that can result in mistakes. "What teachers need to learn is that if a child gets a wrong answer, there may be a reason why, or a strategy behind it," he said. Ginsburg's beliefs led him to connect with Wireless Generation. Starting out with a grant from the National Science Foundation, Ginsburg and Larry Berger, Wireless Generation's co-founder and CEO, began working on ways to use handheld computers to help teachers interview students about their knowledge of math concepts. Berger said Wireless Generation's customers were asking if the company offered an early math assessment similar to its widely successful early reading assessment. In districts throughout the nation, such as Chicago Public Schools and Florida's Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), mCLASS Reading is having a profound effect on reading achievement. At OCPS, the solution has enabled teachers to get assessment data back in a third of the time, allowing them to adjust their instruction accordingly and target students' weaknesses far faster than they could by using paper-based assessments. For mCLASS Math to have the same effect on math achievement, its assessment tool must effectively pinpoint students' strengths and weaknesses. The four-year, $1.5 million federal grant is intended to help Wireless Generation develop these assessments and gauge their efficacy. The primary goal of this research is to look at the adequacy of the assessments from a scientific standpoint and determine whether they are reliable, as well as if their scores are predictive of how students will perform later. "Just like in reading, ... there are many things that you can identify in kindergarten and first grade," Berger said. "We see that as the highest leverage point in the whole education system, because it's expensive and difficult to remediate problems that have been allowed to get worse and worse by fourth grade--by then, cognitively, our brains are less flexible, and emotionally, kids have sometimes figured out that they are not good at math. At ages four and five, it's rare that [students] have emotional barriers to success. That's why we've focused on that [age]." Ginsburg said his research has revealed that children seem to fall into four groups when it comes to math problems. The first group of students will get the answer right and will understand the process behind the math problem. A second group arrives at the correct answer, but students in this group can't always determine how they arrived at the right answer. Students in the third group have a good understanding of the process, but get the answer wrong owing to sloppy mistakes. And students in the fourth group, Ginsburg said, get the answer wrong and don't seem to understand the process or might need extra help. "I see this as helping the teachers to understand the kids better--it's not just to get a score," Ginsburg said. "Don't think of your students only as people who get the answer right or wrong; they have concepts and strategies, and that's what we have to focus on. Once a teacher finds out a student has one concept but not another, then we try to link all this up with instructional suggestions for teachers." Leslie Koske, a math consultant at the Region 14 Education Service Center in west Texas, is working with five districts that are piloting mCLASS Math. Those districts already were using Palm computers to administer the Texas Primary Reading Inventory assessment, so teachers were familiar with the hardware and only needed to learn the additional software. "We know that an earlier intervention, in kindergarten or second grade, is far more helpful than in high school," Koske said. "With this tool, we can evaluate weaknesses early enough to have a lasting impact on student learning." Koske said officials plan to evaluate the math test scores of students on third-grade state assessments. When second-graders who have used mCLASS Math reach third grade, they will have their test scores compared with the previous year's third graders who did not use mCLASS Math, to determine the product's effectiveness. "We do believe it's going to impact student performance," she said, adding that mCLASS Math has been well received in the pilot schools. Above all, students seem to enjoy the assessments, Ginsburg said. "It's hard for some people to understand that this isn't a math test; this is a teacher talking with a student about how he or she solves a problem," he said. "Kids love that attention and like talking with an adult who takes them seriously." He added: "I think we really are doing something interesting and unique." Links: Wireless Generation Teachers College, Columbia University University of Missouri-Columbia http://www.eschoolnews.com/ info@eschoolnews.com 7920 Norfolk Ave., Suite 900 Bethesda, MD 20814 (800) 394-0115 - Fax (301) 913-0119 Privacy Policy Manage your FREE eSchool News eMail subscriptions here Contents Copyright 2007 eSchool News. All rights reserved.

New Media Consortium

Two sites we will be visiting for the presentation on NMC are listed below:

http://www.pachyderm.org/

http://virtualworlds.nmc.org/

Thanks,
Jane

Advise from David Merrill

While researching my expert briefing topic on Component Display Theory I came across this article written by David Merrill the creator of Component Display Theory. I thought you all might enjoy this paper in particular, the title is Write Your Dissertation First and Other Essays on a Graduate Education. Here is his intro on his website, "For over 40 years I have been engaged in graduate education. These essays contain my advice for how to have a more successful graduate experience. Hope you find them useful." (Dave Merrill) Here is the link http://cito.byuh.edu/merrill/text/papers/GraduateEducation.pdf

The Instructional Use of Learning Objects

I'm still purusing resourses on learning objects and found this very informative online book, "The Instructional Use of Learning Objects." You can read the full text of the book here for free. In addition, you can participate in discussions of book chapters with the authors and other readers, submit corrections, and discuss other issues related to learning objects, instruction, and learning. http://www.reusability.org/read/

Second Life educator tools

ok, brag time's on:
I am so excited with these little gadgets that I went to bed way too.....early the next day (that's when I wonder if Second Life is indeed working at taking over my first life). Anyway.

1-I've got a "beach ball" looking prim that I suspended in mid-air in my SL office. The ball is an instrument for survey/test/quiz use that emails the answers directly to the address I programmed it with. Results: I get the answers to my survey/quiz/test immediately sent to my personal email.

2-I set a "suggestion box" on my office's table that accepts notecards. The box, in fact, can be used as a dropoff location for assignments. Students write their assignments on a notecard that they create in their inventory, save and drag onto the box. Done. I show up and collect the notecard at my next office visit (open prim, drag notecards into my inventory, done).

3-class chair: a seat (black square) that allows the avatar to raise or wave his/her/its hand when attention is sought, during a conferencing type of event.

and other stuff. You can go and try them at CPCC Campus (116,245,33) -my SL office-, the survey is not complete as I just played a little with it.
Enjoy

Twitter titbits

OK, you already know about Twitter (paragraphs 1 and 2 below). But do you know who's using it besides your friends? (paragraph 3 below)

"Twitter mashes up elements of social networking, journaling, and text-messaging to create a platform for people to stay in touch via quick updates of up to 140 characters.

Registered users receive their friends' messages instantly via mobile phone, web, or an RSS-reader-style desktop app [see Twitter apps under options. Mine's Twitbin]. And it turns out you can cram all sorts of info into such a small space.

The BBC twitters its headlines.
Online discounter Woot.com twitters its latest sale item.
Barack Obama and John Edwards twitter campaign messages."
Retrieved WIRED Geekipedia (oct 2007)

Have you notice the new action-words being used now? MUVEing, twittering, etc....Last time I checked, the Heritage American Language Dictionary does not recognize these ....yet ;)

Google Mars

Visit Mars through the familiar Google map app at http://www.google.com/mars/
Learn about the Regions, Spacecrafts, and Stories related to Mars.

Also
A Google video of a 3D fly-by of Mars biggest canyon with a narration from a ASU professor where the NASA Mars work was done (http://themis.asu.edu/valles_video)--click on the first video link on the right side of the page--

GOOGLEVERSE

Google's mission to free it all

"Not content with conquering the Internet, Google continues to expand.
Google Apps (doc, ppt, mail, notebook...) are threatening Microsoft's desktop primacy.
Google Book Search is inhaling the world's great libraries.
Google's YouTube is short-circuiting Hollywood, bringing video from the masses to the masses.
Google Maps' Street View is peering to your windows.
Not to mention Google Health, Google Earth, and Google Mars.
Does all this make you want to crawl under your bed and call the authorities? Tough luck. With its acquisition of Internet switchboard operator GrandCentral, Google is about to take over your telephone too."
Retrieved from WIRED Geekipedia, p25 (Oct 2007. a supplement to WIRED)

Some companies are already switching their traditional apps to Google's free applications and server space, not bothering to install the on-the-shelves softwares, or worrying with memory or disk space. Considering that Skype had over 9 million people logged in and "phoning" when I was "conferencing" for free last Wednesday morning with people from Finland, Ethiopia, China, Spain, and South Africa, I wonder about the impact of a Google phone service onto the traditional service (ground line and wireless) or if it will be a similar hype or scare as when the first computer-to-computer phone communication was offered. Will it have a similar impact on the traditional communication business/economy as email threatened the post office? (real and unreal) or will it merely be a competitor to Skype and the like?

Virtual Integrity: Do Online Students Cheat? The Remote Proctor

Software Secure is an educational testing software company that more than 300 academic institutions rely on to ensure academic integrity. Troy University has been testing out the company's Remote Proctor for use in proctoring exams, investing more than $40,000 in the venture. Priced around $150, the Remote Proctor verifies the test-taker's fingerprints, ensuring that they match the prints provided at registration. A 360-degree camera records the entire test-taking experience, ensuring that the student taking the exam is the same one providing the fingerprints. Some universities add on an additional protection, requiring students to hold up a picture ID, which is recorded by the camera.

I wonder what this experience feels like.

Gaming literacies: a game design study in action

In our New Literacies class, we did not discuss gaming literacy. This article overviews the pedagogy and development process of Gamestar Mechanic, an RPG (Role Playing Game) style online game designed to teach players the fundamentals of game design. This article states that designing digital games—(being a game designer) gives a platform on which to build technical, technological, artistic, cognitive, social, and linguistic skills suitable for our current and future world.
Read the article at:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Gaming+literacies:+a+game+design+study+in+action.-a0167294848

Learning Objects

A good resource for Learning Objects from the Center for International Education. Incudes tools and an object repository. http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CIE/AOP/learningobjects.html

Got Game?

http://www.stagecast.com/index.html
Stagecast: make your own video games, share them with friends, make and explore simulations, learn thinking skills. (Demos, Games, Simulations, Educators, etc.) ex: explore Tom Sawyer (G7-9), Explore Coin Flip (G5-12), Explore Diffusion (G 6-9), Explore Flower Garden (G3-8), etc.)
Stagecast educators: http://www.stagecast.com.school.html (demos, lesson plans, Quicktime testimonies, Tutorials, Standards...)

http://nwn.bioware.com/builders
Neverwinter nights for builders: the Aurora Neverwinter Toolset allows users to create their own content in the form of modules and environments for use in their own games.

http://lejos.sourceforge.net
LeJOS (Sourceforge Java Lego) -Java for LEGO Mindstorms- yes, you can program a Lego robot with Java! (LeJOS download free)

http://www.zoesis.com/corporate/n-index.html
Zoesis Studios "the future of interactive advertising and entertainment". Zoesis believes a new medium is emerging, based on a deep mixing of artificial intelligence, robotics, character animation, and drama, which is yielding a potent form of art, entertainment, and education."

http://py-universe.sourceforge.net/
Python Universe Builder: a set of Python modules for writing text-based adventure games or interactive fiction.

The International Journal of Computer Game Research, Game Studies (htp://gamestudies.org/0601)
Sims, BattleBots, Cellular Automata, God and Go, a conversation with Will Wright by Celia Pearce (http://gamestudies.org/0102/pearce)
Game analysis: Developing a methodological toolkit for the qualitative study of games, by Mia Consalvo & Nathan Dutton (http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/consalvo_dutton)
Learning to Play or Playing to Learn -A critical account of the models of communication informing educational research on computer gameplay, by Hans Christian Arnseth (http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles.arnseth)

instructional design and cross-cultural implications

http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/MAR02_Issue/article03.html
"Web-based learning design: planning for diversity," by P. McGee

http://www.baychi.org/tutorial/20000922/
"Cross-cultural user interface design" by Aaron Mracus

http://www.eurodl.org/materials/contrib/2004/Graff_Davies_McNorton.html
"Cognitive Style and cross cultural differences in internet use and computer attitudes", by M. Graff, J. Davies, and M. McNorton

http://hci.stanford.edu/publications/2004/CrossCultBelievability0304/CrossCultBelievability0304.pdf
"Toward Cross-Cultural Believability in Character Design", by H. Maldonado & B. Hayes-Roth

(K-12 game examples: Tigrito: High-Affect Virtual Toy (http://www.stanford.edu/~kiky/TigritoHighAffect.pdf), The Funki Buniz Playground (1999) (facilitating: multi-cultural affective collaborative play))

I have been reading about distance learning and online instruction in the context of global education. One question keeps coming back: As education's audience/participants is/are getting more global (geographical location, culture, etc), how can instructional designers integrate cross-cultural traits into their online courses? or How can cultural awareness/sensitivity/ be a part of the learning system design? Is there a universal learning system design that would take care of all (most?) cultural misunderstanding possible during a distance instruction event?

I've got some resources, but I'm still looking for a "model." Suggestions? Comments?

thinkature tutorial

Thinkature has a tutorial workspace, but if you like tutorials, take a look at this video:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=b116388b50d48c6955f2

thinkature in action

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LDNL4qqrQAY

Jim Julius links to info on Gen Y

Since this is the age group we are targeting, I thought you would find these sites from Jim Julius helpful as we design our teaching tool

Great sites about Gen Y

I had the good fortune to teach Gen Y to 4th and 5th graders last year. It may not provide an instant revolution in technology use in your school, but what a powerful model for meaningful organizational change: empowering students to partner with teachers. As expert learners with technology, students (even elementary-age students) help teachers acquire technology skills and assist in the development of a technology-infused lesson. Teachers (expert learners with pedagogy) help students develop their leadership skills.

http://www.bigchalk.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WOPortal.woa/wa/BCPageDA/pg~GenYes
This is a very nice starting point ... includes a video, an animated demo which includes information about how the Gen Y website works, staff development information and various testimonials

http://www.genyes.org/genwwwy/
the "official" introduction and overview ... there are many links and pages to look at from here

http://www.iste.org/geny/
includes a brief overview of Gen Y's government acclamations and an article and video from the Edutopia site

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edtechprograms/generationy.html
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edtechprograms/generationy.pdf
government Educational Technology Expert Panel's report on Generation Y as an exemplary program

http://www.ericit.org/newsletter/Volume22-2/harper.shtml
http://www.iste.org/L&L/27/2/features/harper/index.html
overview articles by Dennis Harper

http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,37234,00.html
http://www.convergemag.com/magazine/story.phtml?id=3030000000006767
good overview articles

http://www.usd435.k12.ks.us/Ed_Center/grant/geny/mcclain.pdf
student article on Gen Y

http://www.4teachers.org/testimony/mercer/index.shtml
a "teacher testimony" about Gen Y

http://www.4teachers.org/kidspeak/genY/index.shtml
high school students' perspectives on Gen Y

http://stmikes.olywa.net/gen-www-y.html
a school site with more anecdotal information about Gen Y from teachers and students involved (5th-7th graders)

http://www.topeka.k12.ks.us/robinson/msgeny/
middle school page with links to projects produced by Gen Y participants


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Learning Systems Design

I was looking for information on Learning Systems Design to augment what we're doing in class, in preparation for the creation of learning objects/lessons/topics...and found this page that I wanted to share http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/sat3.html

ConceptShare and Thinkature

Products that enable collaboration are becoming more powerful and easy to use. Two companies entering into this market with compelling, but markedly different, products are ConceptShare and Thinkature Here's a nice overview http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/11/08/conceptshare-and-thinkature-two-approaches-to-visual-collaboration/

Savant Syndrome

As a continuation of the Autism topic, here are two more videos highlighting autistic people with extraordinary talents.

Savant syndrome, Beautiful minds
After a brain injury in early childhood, Alonzo Clemins develops special abilities in sculpting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkDMaJ-wZmQ&mode=related&search=

Savant Syndrome - Daniel Tammet
After seizures at the age of four, Daniel Tammet develops special abilities in mathematics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bVVQ0FZeys

Autism Facts

Cindy's post motivated me to search for more information on Autism. The extraordinary talents that many autistic people have are fascinating. Learning design with this diverse population, especially aided by technology, is an area where good tools are needed. I searched for a comprehensive facts page to begin with and found this one to be nicely organized. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm

Benefits of Online Testing

Researchers report that tests conducted over the Internet yield similar results to standard paper-and-pencil tests in a traditional classroom, leading to the conclusion that online tests can be as valid and reliable as any other kind of exam. This article describes some of the benefits
of online testing and identifies special consideration for Web-based
testing.

http://www.ssd.org/Education/jae/articles/jae200365043105.pdf.

Brain Age- Adult Game

I heard on the radio, an advertisement for Brain Age –A brain stimulation game for adults put out by Nintendo.

“Exercise is the key to good health, both for body and mind - and now there's finally a way to make mental exercise simple, fun, even competitive. Inspired by the work of prominent Japanese neuroscientist Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, the Brain Age games feature activities designed to help stimulate your brain and give it the workout it needs like solving simple math problems, counting currency, drawing pictures on the Nintendo DS touch screen, and unscrambling letters.”

http://www.brainage.com/launch/what.jsp