Game-based learning

Quite often, when I listen to presentations on game-based learning, it is touted as the magical and potent solution for learning innovation. I have never actually question this perception before until I started playing RPG games on Facebook. These games have a tendency to encourage you to gather and link up with other users of Facebook (most likely for the financial gains of the developers) to accomplish the missions or quests. I do not complain about this because I always keep the games from taking anything out of my pocket. ;-) I also like the idea of having a common interest which I can share with peoples from different countries and background. It's kind of like a virtual United Nations.

What I notice from the nature of the gamers is they have different tendencies and methods to solve any gaming tasks or issues they face. These methods and solutions are not much different from what we do when we learn or study for a course as a student. Some are generous and share in detail what they have learned to the point of preparing extensive manual guides to all other gamers. On the opposite end of the spectrum will be those who are quick to start a totally new forum just to get quick answers without even bothering to check whether the questions raised have already been answered by others in earlier forums. Therefore, the knowledge base generated for the benefit of all is not utilized. There are those like me who would take the time to look through the forums to check for possible answers and contribute in meagre ways what we know to the general audience and feeling satisfied and happy when we are given a praise or two.

On how the game is played, some will actually study the details and do the mathematics simply for the fun of learning about the game. These are usually the ones who would also be eager to share what they have learned. On the opposite, some are in it just for the rush of the moment, to complete all the missions and get the emotional high out of it. Knowledge about the game is not important, only the fun element is essential. Of course, sandwiched in between the two opposite ends would be the in betweens like me and many others.

This observation gives me an anecdotal conclusion that despite what is often said about game-based learning, the games do not actually dictate how the gamers will respond. The characteristics and tendencies of the gamers still play a large role on how they will learn from the process. Not doubt, gaming will enhance positive elements of learning but it can also do the same for the negatives. Getting the right mix and hoping for a correct response from the learners will still be an elusive solution that most of us in the educational field hope to achieve.

Resistance against new Facebook?

I am actually quite surprised by the negative reaction from a substantial group of people judging from the number of groups set up just to protest about the Facebook layout and features. Personally I find the new layout extremely practical and easy to use e.g. the ability to make comments to updates as you see it on your wall or in the news. I thought this is really a very quick and good way to directly communicate with the person who has just updated and posted something.

I love the new wall so much until I could no longer remember how the old wall looks like. It allows me to do sending, writing and sharing quickly and efficiently. It tempts me to rethink again why I need to keep my own blogs in another place when the wall itself can function as an effective replacement to my blogs. Writing this note itself feels like I am blogging already. I could easily syndicate feeds from my existing blogs and display them in this area. To me it is really great. The tabs are great too, both at the profile and home page. The location of bookmarks on the right side of the hompage personally works better for me than the old one. And the ease to configure my settings for each application is also great. The applications drop down menu has its strength and weaknesses but overall it works well with me.

So this brings me to think what could be the reason for so many Facebook addicts rejecting the new layout and features. I am contemplating one reason in particular. I am relatively new to Facebook which makes me less difficult to unlearn all the things which one would have picked up after using the old Facebook for sometime. Sometimes what we have learned can be so ingrained in us that we could find it very difficult and uncomfortable when asked to change, especially when we can have no say in the situation or decision making. Could this be the reason? It could be one of the many reasons I guess.

Application shortcuts on Google Chrome

I continue to marvel and find the application shortcuts provided by Google Chrome very useful not just because of its looks and feel (although that plays a big part as well), but its loading speed which allows you to quickly work on the website or web service as if it is just another desktop application (take a look at the quick launch shortcuts screenshot below). Perhaps there is some truth in saying that the browser has now indeed become the operating system.

Cuil's failure to search out Google Chrome

I am utterly shocked that the much touted Cuil search engine could not find entries on the launch of Google Chrome. If this is deliberate, then it is sad. If not, that it has failed my test. 

First impression of Google Chrome

Things I like:

• lightness
• speed of loading and rendering
• Apple-like feel
• browser acting like an application especially when you create application shortcuts (it really does feel and look like an application instead of being in a browser environment and unless my mind deceives me, it loads faster in such a mode than in a normal Chrome mode)
• creating application shortcuts on desktops etc.
• larger viewing space
• history shown in thumbnails
• task manager and stats 
• nice looking Javascript console
• bookmarks as you type at the address bar much like FireFox 3

Things I don't like:

• I miss my Google toolbar, bookmarks, etc
• It actually detects security issues with GMail!
• Some scripts (especially in Facebook which can become quite annoying) and plugins do not work (Quicktime is an example)
• no RSS support .. albeit at the moment
• not being able to use some cool addons in FF i.e. Shareaholics etc. takes valuable points from otherwise a pretty cool browser
• unable to import my vast collection of bookmarks from my Google account
• unable to move backwards and forwards to a few level deep

I will try out a bit more and log down after a night's sleep.

Screenshots

Short note on assessment

I was pondering over the concept of assessment for the last two days. The usual scenario when I was still lecturing was I would try to create final assessment which contained 'difficult and tricky' questions to determine whether the students are prepared to provide answers for something which they not learned directly from the classes. Now, since I am no longer teaching, I have the chance to rethink about this. Based on the literature that I have been reading, the question asked is "Is assessment meant to test what the students know or what they do not know?" I relate this to the purpose of learning or education. If learning is the focus of education, then we should be setting assessment that would test what the student have learned and not what they have not learned. Perhaps this is the reason why we are getting the so-called 'bell curve' for so many years. By doing so, we could actually be discriminating or excluding some students who might otherwise be perfectly all right to perform different vocations as adults in the employment market. Perhaps a better form of assessment would be projects and assignments compared to examinations. With the advent of e-portfolios, I think this can be a better choice.

Potential of Web 2.0 and Human Behaviour

While playing a highly addictive game in Facebook, it confirms what I have thinking about the potentials of Web 2.0 applications. I think this new generation of applications basically satisfy the needs of human beings to share our stories (satisfying a powerful need to create meanings in our lives which give us our identities as a person), to connect with others with our stories (thus forming a community that fills the void in us to belong) and to learn and grow from these activities which again fulfills our strongest desire to find meanings in our lives and grow as a human being. When technology is able to meet the core necessities and desire of the human pysche, it will mushroom beyond the designers' wildest dreams. If only education caters for such needs!

The Potential of Facebook

I think the new features in Facebook could really work out for educational use because it is now much easier to aggregate or pull information from various websites and publish it in your profile that could potentially form a personal portfolio that teachers and peers could comment and work on. Google Reader, Facebook Toolbar, Shareaholic are some of the common tools that easily integrate with Facebook.

Lively

I am bought over by the potential of Lively to be used as an educational tool for enhancing greater participation from students to chat or discuss about their subjects of learning. I was never a believer in using Second Life for educational purposes largely due to its cumbersome application which uses a lot of bandwidth, at least in my personal experience. I am also put off by the fact that I had to open another application and interface to conduct my explorations in the virtual world. Lively gives me a new flexibility that I never had with Second Life. I am able to embed my virtual rooms or spaces into existing virtual learning environments simply by pasting the generated script to my web page or blog. In this way, I can encourage students to login to an existing VLE and make use of Lively to conduct educational activities within a virtual academic context which Second Life could not do. I am also interested in the 'lightness' of Lively which requires only a small and simple installation on our desktops. Another feature is its features of deciding on access rights which I could use to formulate open or close tutorial sessions. On top of that, I have the capability to archive all conversations for research, assessment or evaluation.

E-Learning and Rising Fuel Cost

I am thinking with the cost of paper and publication rising due to the fuel price hike, it is sensible for educational institutions at all levels to implement some form of e-learning to reduce the use of paper products. One practical example would be omitting the need to print and submit printed assignments. I think this is the easiest task that can be implemented immediately because the technology is simple to use and does not require any steep learning curve. Even if the educational institutions do not have a learning management system or broadband connection, they could still use thumb drives which are very affordable nowadays. If we do not have Microsoft Office at home or at our workplace, we could always use Open Office and even Google Documents to write and submit the assignments. Educational institutions who do not have any servers to keep the assignments could invest in a few external hard drives and this would definitely be sufficient to store simple Word documents for many semesters if not years.

Teaching Staff Factor

Yesterday, I was discussing with two of my colleagues who were trying out a blog system for their classroom teaching this semester. We were discussing about the survey results which we retrieved from the VLE. An interesting point that I highlighted to them was the possibility of their teaching styles or methods were influencing student perception on blogging as a learning tool. This was quite evident from the simple comparison we made of the feedback gathered from the three groups of students who were taught by my three colleagues. Incidentally, the general pattern was that one was very strict in facilitation, another one gave the students a free hand and in between another who had a mixture of guided activities and the freedom to blog away from the recommended scope recommended. We talked how this could be a vital factor in explaining the patterns of feedback we received from the survey.

Collaboration without administration

As I ponder over many of the new collaborative tools being touted for use to promote learning, I just wonder how many of these tools would really make it to the mainstream of lecturers' teaching practice.

To me, most of the people whom I have met would consider monitoring and assessing, (which they must do), student activities online as something of an extra to their current workload which they would rather not participate in if given a choice or if there are no overt recognition financially and socially.

Add to the fact that the goal of education has switch its focus on the masses rather than the elite few, it is incomprehensible how any of them would be able to promote collaborative learning and yet at the same time, manage the overwhelming task to assess the work generated and its quality.

Methods and emerging practice

I use this image to help me to understand how my methods in collecting data are actually helping me to document and describe the emerging practices of my collaboration with the academic staff.

Some Wishes for My Tools

• I would love to see my Google Bookmarks being shared just like Google Reader.
• I would love to see my PowerPoint being able to create interactive animations and exported to Flash files.
• I would love to see more Open Source applications for video editing.
• I love to see the web browser change to an interface similar to Adobe Lightroom.
• I would love to see all citations downloadable to Zotero.
• I would like to see a face lift for Zotero.
• I would like to see Blackboard supporting blogs and wikis.
• I would like to see history class being learned through games like Civilization.
• I would love to see Google Docs supporting presentation files like PowerPoint
• I would like to use Picasa to edit my RAW files
  

I will continue to add more to this list from time to time.

Actions, Interactions and Practice

I use this image to help me to understand that I often interpret and reflect over what has occurred during my interactions with the academic staff before deciding on an action which I would propose to the same staff. This action would then start an interaction between me and the academic staff where in the course of the interactions, we would both interpret the situation, try to understand each other, make sense of the discourse and reflect and draw on previous encounters and knowledge that we have learned as resources to make a mutual decision and perhaps set the next course of joint action. These joint decisions and actions would provide further resources for me to reflect on when I am no longer interacting with my collaborators. These interactions would also form the practice that we participate in and reify.

JISC - Learner Experiences of e-Learning

Learner Experiences of e-Learning: "The Learner Experience of e-Learning (LEX)

About this project

The learner experience of e-learning (LEX) project aims to put learner voices at the centre of the research study. The study is part of the pedagogy strand of the elearning programme and builds on a recently completed scoping study and literature review."

Online Book - The Experience of Learning

The Experience of Learning: "The Experience of Learning was first published in 1984, and a revised and expanded second edition appeared in 1997. Both editions were published under the imprint of Scottish Academic Press. However, the book is currently out of print and no longer available from the publishers. This is particularly unfortunate since interest in the ground-breaking content of The Experience of Learning remains bouyant, and it continues to be regularly cited by researchers, teachers and others concerned with the pedagogy of higher education.

The editors have therefore decided that the best course of action would be to make the book's contents widely and freely available on the World Wide Web, for as long as it continues to attract a readership. The present Internet version was produced in 2005. Any of the chapters may be downloaded free of charge as PDF files by clicking on the chapter titles below. They may also be photocopied or reproduced for non-profit educational purposes, provided that the source is explicitly and openly acknowledged and no amendments are made to the text. Formal copyright remains with the editors and contributors, who continue to assert their moral rights. Since the PDF versions of the book's chapters retain their pagination, these can continue to be referred to in any future citations. "

Academia - Stephen Bostock

UMIST Teaching with Technology programme (EFFECTS)Project Portfolio, Stephen Bostock
This is the document proposing the project, with links to the evidence provided.
Outcome 1 Conducted a review of CIT in learning showing an understanding of the underlying educational processesEvidence of having conducted a review of appropriate technologies and their applications and demonstrated an awareness of their use in a range of learning situations.

Project - EFFECTS!

This is a web site for learning and teaching professionals, and for developers working to promote innovation and best practice in education.

It is not a list of links. Instead you will find a wealth of practical materials for download, designed to help you

Organization - NILTA

AoC NILTA’s vision is simple yet ambitious. We aim to facilitate the active participation of all staff throughout the lifelong learning sector in the development, use and exploitation of ILT through the exchange of ideas and expertise, sharing of best practice, facilitation of partnership and access to information, advice and support.