Walden 6177 Week 5 Blog Post

This week we were asked to investigate games and virtual environments that have the potential to enhance adult learning.  While significant evidence exists in the literature to make a strong case that games and virtual reality environments do enhance learning; the literature is also filled with qualifiers as to the importance of design and requirement of a strong commitment on the part of the educator to ensure the best possible learning effectiveness (Squire, 2011).  For example, Barab & Arici, (2009), emphsize the importance of designing games in such a way as to support the transfer of learning.  Their therory is the students must be able undestand how the virtual expereince applies to real life.  Otherwise, the game may be fun to play but fail to support the learning objectives. 

To complete this assignment I chose to investigate two of the most popular virtual worlds, Second Life and World of Warcraft (WoW).  After registering and logging into these virtual worlds, my initial opinion is that while both would enhance adult learning in the general sense, neither would work well in my prticular adult learning setting. 

I will soon be teaching Orgnizational Ethics to working adults in an undergraduate continuing education program.  The term will last 8-weeks and cover a specific topic.  It seemed to me that virtual worlds such Second Life and WoW are better suited to learning larger, overarching topics such as problem solving and strategy.  For example, Steinkuehler & Duncan, (2008), found that the learning taking place in several WoW discussion boards was collective and not collabrative, meaning that many people contributed to stratigizing and solving problems in the game as opposed to a relative few people working together to do the same.  In my opinion, a college level leadership class would be better supported by the collabrative learning of the students in the class.

Another example of the broad scope of a virtual world such as Second Life is the use of the platform by the Department of Defense and all the military services.  For example, Pellerin, (2011) explains how the Air Force developed an activity in Second Life called My Base.  The objetive of My Base is to be immersive in nature and allow a learner to experience several different aspects of military life such as participating in Basic Military Training, learing to fly an aircraft, or work in an combat hospital at a deployed location.  While this type of “activity” or “island” within Second Life provides a good overarching perspective of an organization, I’m not convinced it would be effective in my adult learning setting.

Several of my classmates were able to locate and games that would work well inthier particular setting, however, I was not able to find a game that directly addressed the type of curriculum.  My vision is to work with a instructional system designer to develop a game or simulation based a specific topic, such as organizational ethics.  Furthermore, the game simulation developed may even be based on a particular text book, and contain scenarios that apply to certain chapters, concepts, or therories, in order to leverage existing curiculum resources.  Such a limited scope would allow for a more targeted learning objectives that could be reached in a shorter amount of time.  I believe this approach would be the most effective for my particular adult learning setting.

Cheers,

Ron N.  

References

Barab, S. A., Gresalfi, M., & Arici, A. (2009). Why educators should care about games.         Educational Leadership, (67)1, 76–80.

Pellerin, C. (2011). Air Force eyes new learning systems in “Second Life.” Retrieved from     http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63873

Steinkuehler, C., & Duncan, S. (2008). Scientific habits of mind in virtual worlds. Journal of             Science Education & Technology, 17(6), 530–543.

Squire, K. (2011). Video games and learning: Teaching and participatory culture in the digital age.             New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Walden 6177 Week 5 Discussion Post

For this week’s discussion I would like to comment on my experience with a simulation game I’ve taken as part of what the Air Force calls Total Force Awareness Training (TFAT).  This is a series of computer based training modules (CBT’s) that every member of the Air Force, civilian and military, is required to take every year.  The CBT’s are housed in an enterprise-wide learning management system called Advanced Distributive Learning System (ADLS). 

One of the CBTs is called Information Awareness and it is about protecting sensitive and classified information.  The CBT is actually set up as a simulation, and is designed to let you set the setting from your personal point of view.  The scenes are narrated and also contain sound effects to add a degree of realism.  For example, one scene might say, “and as you open your email, your phone rings.”  The viewer sees a desktop with a computer screen showing Outlook and a phone with a flashing light.

As the training progresses you are asked to make choices and decisions about the information you access via documents, emails, phone calls, and conversations.  Each decision you make is followed by immediate feedback.  If you get enough of the decisions correct, you can proceed to the next phase of the training.  If you choose incorrectly too many times you have to take some remedial training before you can move forward in the program. 

My plan for using this kind technology in my educational setting to propose to my department chair that we commission a training vendor to design this type of simulation based on leadership training.  My objective is to engage students of organizational leadership in situations they may not have the opportunities to experience in real life.  I’m basing this objective on my own observations that many students of leadership are not actually in leadership positions yet.  Therefore, as they learn about leadership concepts in class, they may not have the opportunities to apply what they’ve learned on the job. 

Simulations that provide rapid and frequent feedback to the student can help the learner “feel what it’s like” to engage in that behavior in real life.  This can increase engagement and help learning be more effective (TED, 2010).

Cheers!

Ron N.

Reference

TED (Producer). (2010). Tom Chatfield: 7 ways games reward the brain   Retrieved from:             http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_chatfield_7_ways_games_reward_the_brain        .html

   

Walden 6177 Week 4 Blog Post

Let’s talk about mobile (M) learning.  M-Learning refers to the use of handheld, portable, and wireless devices by learners on the move (Park, 2011).  What kinds of devices are we talking about?  Smartphones, laptops, tablets, and various other personal media players can all be used for learning.  The two I want to focus on in this post are iPhones and the MacBook Air laptop computer.  However, the benefits we’ll discuss most likely are available on the majority of mobile devices to include other brands of smartphones, tablets, and lightweight, digital memory, laptops. 

Why would I use iPhones (or other brands of smartphones) in my classroom?  Because everybody has one and they have the potential of being an incredibly powerful learning resources.  According to a not-so-recent study, (Koszalka & Ntloedibe-Kuswani, 2010), in 2008, 87% of adults between the ages of 18 and 45 owned a mobile phone.  Undoubtedly the number is much higher today, with the majority of those phones being “smartphones” capable of high-speed Internet connections.  Smartphones, like the Apple iPhone, have enormous potential as learning resources because they put so many different learning mediums at the user’s fingertips (Bonk, 2009).  In one device you can access videos, websites, podcasts, PDF files, and many other learning  assets. 

My strategy for using smartphone technology in my classroom would include encouraging my students to periodically check for class updates and announcements in forums I’d set up such as Twitter or Facebook.  I would also encourage them to use mobile learning apps, such as Mobile Learn from Blackboard, to turn in assignments, stay up to date on their group work, and post to class discussion boards while they are on the go.

Another mobile device I will encourage the use of is a lightweight, digital memory laptop computer like the Apple Mac Book Air.  At less than an inch thick and lighter than large soda at your favorite fast-food dive, the Mac Book Air has an astonishing array of software available for use by adult learners (Bonk, 2009).  The thing I like about the Air is the digital memory.  Gone are the days I had to wait for my bulky laptop to boot up so I could use it.  Now I open up my Air and in a matter of seconds it is ready to go.  At my disposal are an incredible selection multimedia resources I can use to conduct research, write papers, develop presentations, record video and sound, and share my work with my classmates.

I will urge my students to use laptops like the Air to bring learning resources to the classroom and bring the classroom to wherever they are (Koszalka & Ntloedibe-Kuswani, 2010).  At home they can complete assignments on their laptops.  In the classroom they can share what they’ve learned with the instructor and their classmates.  I know from personal experience that with apple products in particular, sharing information stored on your mobile device, (iPhone or Mac Book), is easy if you also happen to have an Apple TV unit hooked up to a projector or large screen TV.  With such a set up, anyone in the class with an Apple device can “Airplay” whatever is displayed on their device unto the screen or TV.  For example, students in the class could take turns showing videos or articles to the entire class from their own seats.  No one has to get up and use the instructor’s computer or transfer his or her data to the classroom computer.  The Apple technology makes it easy to share. 

Cheers!

Ron N.

References 

Bonk, C. J. (2009). The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Koszalka, T. A., & Ntloedibe-Kuswani, G. S. (2010). Literature on the safe and disruptive learning potential of mobile technologies. Distance Education, 31(2), 139–157.

Park, Y. (2011). A pedagogical framework for mobile learning: Categorizing educational applications of mobile technologies into four types. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 12(2), 78–102.