Tag: engagement

The digital native has been part of the gaming world most of their lives. Can games help prepare them for their future?

From “The Gamer Disposition” by John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas, I realized that there are multiple characteristics that can also prepare gamers to be leaders in the business and education worlds. The multiplayer online games expect users to be quick, be able to adapt and evolve as games change, and know the rules, tips, and even make the rules as they progress through this new type of social system.

Brown and Thomas share five key attributes as character traits that players bring into their games:

1. They are bottom-line oriented. Games have embedded assessments where gamers compare with one another where they rank, their title and points, and they share with each other how they can improve their ranking.
2. They understand the power of diversity. Teamwork is the only way a gamer can work in this social system. They need to talk to each other and determine what strengths each member has on their team so they can improve their score.
3. They thrive on change. Games are evolving during the game. Gamers have to think on their feet while they make quick decisions and actually have to be in charge of managing change.
4. They see learning as fun. The fun they experience is learning how to overcome obstacles, seeking out problems and then letting other gamers know the strategies they used to solve the problems.
5. They marinate on the “edge.” Gamers look for alternative strategies and innovative solutions for a better way to solve problems. They are making it up as it happens so they cannot only understand the game, they can reinvent the game.

Consider in the World of Warcraft, a Guild Master has all the fundamentals of a leader. They create a vision with a set of values that attract others; find and recruit players that fit with their vision; they form apprenticeships for new players; they coordinate and manage how the group is governed; and mediates any disputes.

In ongoing conversations about gamers, the question that keeps rising to the top is “are gamers born or made?” Thomas and Brown reframe that question in the context of the challenges emerging for the 21st century workplace. It really doesn’t matter what skills you have to play a particular game; it is how talented you are in attracting the right people to work with you on your quest.

If we take this a step beyond to education and what classrooms look like today, gamers or those with gamer characteristics are lost and their talents are not tapped. This is the same with teachers who think out of the box, who develop an open environment where there are no right or wrong answers and allow creation of questions that encourage more questions. This is happening in pockets within public and private schools with creative and innovative teachers and administrators who are willing to take some risks that demonstrates that this type of learning environment engages students in the learning process and motivates them to want to learn more.

How do we tap teachers’ and students’ talents?

This post is not about using games in the classroom. It is how to identify the characteristics of gamers and transfer those disciplines to the classroom. A teacher can be more like the Guild Master who runs a democratic environment where there is shared leadership and ownership in what is to be learned. Consider that certain games’ characteristics include non-monetary performance incentives, data transparency, temporary leadership roles that give people the chance to practice their leadership skills – make it easier to be an effective leader. [Hemp, 2008]

One implication for real-world organizations and schools: There may be large and untapped reservoirs of leadership talent that you don’t know you have right in your classroom, school, school community, and the global classroom.

So should we think about these characteristics for future teachers and administrators? Will ongoing assessment strategies look like these games so students rank themselves, compare their results with other students, and work collaboratively to help improve the results?

Maybe the same can be true for collaborative professional development. K-12 and Higher Ed is also in a state of flux. Things are going to change. Why? Because of the economy, job loss, changing demographics, and a huge need for thousands of high quality teachers in the next few years. High quality teachers does not mean teaching to the test. Teacher education institutions can be the playground where the faculty and students do the research and development to design these new learning environments. Let’s rethink what is a school. How about a P/K-20 learning work and play center? Maybe consider the school as the learning center for the community open all hours of the day where all stakeholders are involved in the design and implementation of the curriculum.

Resources

Brown, J., and Thomas, D. The Gamer Disposition. Harvard Business Review. Feb. 14, 2008. Online. Available. March 9, 2008.

Hemp, P. Does your Leadership Strategy include the World of Warcraft? Harvard Business Review. Feb.19, 2008. Online. Available. March 10, 2008.

This post was first posted on Rethinking Learning March, 2008 and even more relevant today.

This Edutopia article by Grace Rubinstein gives you tips and strategies how to do project-based learning from a rural school district in Georgia that transformed the way its students learn using the inspiration and mentorship provided by San Diego’s High Tech High. Check out the tips and examples from Whitfield Career Academy, in Dalton, Georgia, where they are in their second year of shifting to High Tech High-style project-based learning.

Teachers going through this transformation don’t expect their schools to emerge from it looking exactly like High Tech High. Each school has its own unique teachers, students, culture, history, and setting, and its path to change must uniquely match those. Read more

Being creative doesn’t seem to fit with school and business today. As I was thinking what I was going to write about being anti-creative, Bonnie Bracey- Sutton just shared this video on Facebook about the Anti-Creative Checklist.

My Anti-Creativity Checklist from Youngme Moon on Vimeo.

If you are the creative type, you will get this. If not, you may be scratching your head wondering what’s all the fuss about. Probably will seem very normal for you. Kids today are wired different and their brains work creatively. They grew up with technology that encourages this type of thinking.

Being ant-creative is how my generation was raised. (I’m a grandma so that gives you an idea that I’m older than you think). People of my generation were told to keep our hands on the desk, only raise our hand when we knew the one right answer, and be quiet. Actually, this sounds like lots of classrooms today. Ugh!

A creative classroom is like controlled chaos — there’s alot of noise or buzz happening. Watching a classroom where students are finding problems, trying to figure out some solutions, and sharing, brainstorming, and getting excited about learning is mind blowing. After you teach in an environment where students are engaged and motivated to learn, it is too difficult to go back to traditional lecture mode. Same with people like myself who are entrepreneurs and designed their own product or service. It’s hard to work for someone else who doesn’t think like you. So here I am writing about creativity and anti-creativity. I vote for being curious, creative and innovate. How about you?

students collecting data

Project-based learning (PBL) is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges. With this type of active and engaged learning, students are inspired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they are studying. [Edutopia] PBL is an approach to learning focusing on developing a product or creation. The project may or may not be student-centered, problem-based, or inquiry-based. The main focus is engagement and being motivated to learn something they are interested in learning about.

Think about your own education and what made a difference in your life. We need to get back to how we learned in preschool – it used to be how we learned in Kindergarten, but now these beautiful young children are learning how to fill in a bubble on a test.

Enough! We are draining the creativity and curiosity out of our children. Children love to learn when they are young. They are so curious and want to learn their letters and numbers. We need to let our children ask “why is the sky blue” and “why do we need oil for our cars?” We want our children to ask questions why a certain problem is happening and if they can figure out the solution. Why children can figure out things probably better than adults is that their brains are not clogged with all the thousands of tasks, daily problems, and more that we have as adults. They are born with inquisitive minds and want to use them. However, they need guidance on how to develop critical thinking skills so they can effectively problem solve. Watch project-based learning in action:

For more videos on PBL, check out this library online.

Here’s a few sites on project-based and problem-based learning:

Explore the following websites as needed for more information:

• Introducing Project-Based Learning from Edutopia.
• The Guide on the Side
• Project-based Learning Overview
• Project-based Learning
• Challenge 200 Project-based Learning
• The Project Approach
• Problem-Based Learning – California
• Problem-based Learning – Southern Illinois School of Medicine
• Center for Problem-Based Learning

Looking for lots of examples to share and schools that want the best type of education for their children. This is a moral issue now. Our children are not prepared for their future and are in need of high level critical thinking skills. They need to learn how to work collaboratively and use technology effectively. We are not preparing them for their future. Look at our college graduates who are not getting jobs. Maybe we should we be teaching entrepreneurship and innovation. It is time to look at what engages children in the learning process and to provide an education that they will need for their future NOW!