The Game is On!

Course Description:

In this course, we'll explore games, or interactive, game-like activities, and will focus on ways to integrate them into grade or subject-specific curriculum.
There is a strong sense that a) games are fun, but frivolous amusement; b) that kids are hard to engage these days. We’ll look at ways games can help find ways to solve or dissipate the two notions in a positive way.
This is a web-based course, and most of the content will be posted on the web. There is a reading component, which does not have to be online, and there will be the offline component - which is implementing activities with learners’ own students in their classrooms.

Target audience/Prerequisites:

  • teachers and educational technicians working in K-12, having little or no experience with interactive digital games;
  • initially, this will be offered to teachers who are interested; may be offered as a professional development opportunity for an in-service training time.

Objectives:

Learners will experience various types of games to increase awareness of opportunities for differentiation that games provide, for using and developing together with students essential questions, for developing higher level thinking skills, and will design a lesson plan which showcases it.

Learner Outcomes

  • learners will explore games available online and community-building games; gather and share their resources and experiences;
  • examine examples of meaningful integration in curriculum;
  • try examples, and share observations and their experiences; discuss their value
  • create their own educational activities involving games, pertinent to their subject area, try them and share experiences
    NETS
    1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
    Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. 
Teachers
a. promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness
b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
2.  Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identifiedfied in the NETS•S.
Teachers:
a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity
c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.

Learning Activities

Learning activities used will include but will not be limited to:
  • discussion forums - group forums where open discussion will occur. Learners are expected to be active in these discussions, which means at least a post and 2 comments, unless noted otherwise; posts should be submitted in a timely manner, during the week for which the topic is scheduled; posts will be graded using a custom scale; posts are expected to be thoughtful, respectful, and to the point;
  • reflection journal - weekly (unless noted otherwise) reflections are expected to allow for deeper understanding of the course as well as individualized communication between instructor and student;
  • assignments: most of these are placeholders for the journal entries, but some require submission of files. Assignments usually have due dates, and late submissions need to be accompanied by an explanation (email to instructor);
  • quizzes may be used to help sort out notions and terminology.

Assessment

Grading policy: This course is not designed for a grade, although grades and other formative assessments may be used to provide valuable timely feedback to learners. This course is mainly used for contact hours. Expected side effects are: stronger intra-personal relations with students, increased respect and understanding in the classroom, increased engagement, and a sustained learning community of participants based on common interests, trust and professionalism.

Getting Started:

To enroll in the course, students will:
  • email the instructor to receive a copy of this syllabus as outlined in the course description;
  • email instructor with request for enrollment;
  • once login credentials are obtained, the leaner will log into the course at http://"courselocation" and start activities as outlined in the email from the instructor.
  • In case of the server down, Internet outage and other events causing major obstacles to successful and timely participation in the course, learners will contact instructor either by email (email) or on the phone (phone number), and will follow the directions received from the instructor.

Instructor availability

Instructor is available on the email and the phone during reasonable hours (8am-9pm) every day. Feedback will be provided within 48 hours of the assignment submission. Please contact instructor if you don't receive any feedback by then to see if your assignment was properly submitted.
I encourage you to subscribe to forums whenever possible to receive email alerts whenever a new post or comments on your posts appear, which will make it much easier to keep up with the flow of the course.

Credits and Thanks

Great help has been received from my peers taking EDT 598 Foundations of Distance Education, Kim Fish, Judi Morrison, Priscilla Soucie, and others. Special thanks for coming up with the idea of the course and nurturing attitude and guidance from Gail Garthwait.
Also, Ed Latham was an accomplice in coming up with the idea of this course itself.
Of course, I wish I could claim all the credit, but recognizing brilliant ideas of others and listening to their thoughtful feedback is half the genuis, so I am extremely proud to claim that!

Last modified: Tuesday, 5 August 2014, 3:14 PM