Two recent blog posts on leadertalk.org caught the attention of “my parent of a teen” head and my “educational technologist” head too.
Leadertalk is a group blog written by school leaders for school leaders. The insights shared on this blog can reach much further than than they realize.
From Scott MacLeod
He talks about the learning experience of playing video games. The worst thing for a gamer to say about a game is it is too easy. Do you hear them complain in the same way about homework?
“When our students, nearly all of whom have grown up immersed in video game experiences, complain about school not being interesting or engaging, they’re not just looking to be entertained (as many teachers claim). They’re looking for learning experiences like they have at home that are individualized, authentic, and intellectually complex. Figuring out how to make that happen in our K-12 classrooms is the challenge for us as leaders as we consider what forms 21st-century learning environments need to take.”
Read more here
http://www.leadertalk.org/2008/08/video-games-and.html
From Mark Stock
“After my posting went up on the blog I received a voice mail from a Marketing Director hired by a major software consortium that wanted to line me up to speak at Software Association Meeting,
His main point? He wanted me to know that the education field is the next untapped niche ripe for talented software makers to appeal to the new students who have grown up on video games.
The major hurdle? Educators who actually select the textbooks and resources don’t put much stock yet in what students think about the school’s selection of learning materials.
Interesting.”
Read more here
http://www.leadertalk.org/2008/08/more-on-video-g.html
These two posts made me think that as parents do we encourage and empower our children to talk about their gaming as a skill they are proud of, or do we dismiss it as a waste of their time? To level up in a game players have to continually learn through online research, collaboration with others and overcoming obstacles that initially seem impossible. Encouraging reflection on how far and how quickly they have advanced may be more valuable than bemoaning the amount of time they play. Can you see “fluency in Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs)” being at the top of many a teenagers resume? I can. Especially if the software developers are interested, as in the above quote, in their target market’s opinions. Many a teenager dreams of getting a job in the gaming industry. Contacting fledgling educational software companies and offering their opinion may be one way into the world of game testing. How about it http://www.muzzylane.com/
Other interesting views and visits
Ewan Mcintosh’s post “Thinking outside the xbox”
http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2007/10/thinking-out-of.html
and from that inspiration, one teacher blogs about how students worked together to figure out a complicated game and then use their experience as a stimulus for creative writing.
http://kpericles.edublogs.org/2007/06/10/samorost-day-1/
As an educator with some influence over curriculum and purchasing their is a lot in the above to absorb and formulate into plans that can manifest in the classrooms to the benefit of the students and their craving for more individualized, authentic and intellectually complex learning scenarios. In the meantime, that teen is going to get a resume template off googledocs and start working on his transferable skills list.
fyi: I now offer tech help packages, find out more at
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