Making a difference in the classroom, isn’t that the reason most people go into education? One of the issues I hear the most by instructors at my school is how to engage the students. The instructor many times places the responsibility of engagement on the students. As I listened to the James Gee I thought about how gaming could be incorporated into instruction. The complexity and detail involved in developing content in a gaming format is utilized in social studies, fashion design, and fiction writing (Gee, 2009). As an educator it is imperative that we remain part of the lifelong learning community and that means stepping out of our comfort zone and learning how to relate to a generation of learners that has an entire skill set that is typically untapped when traditional instructional delivery methods are used. If the incorporation of a gaming project encourages reading, problem solving, and higher level thinking, it is certainly an approach with merit that should be utilized (Gee, 2009).
To expand on engagement, we must understand also a student’s comfort level. Today’s students are typically very comfortable with technology. They do not remember or have never known a world without the internet. I know that at my husband’s school they have adopted a philosophy that has practically negated the use of textbooks in the classroom. Sasha Barab not only gaming but also the use of textbooks, textbooks have become a resource, not the primary vehicle of instruction (Barab, 2009). With the integration of technology in many cases it is more cost effective for a district to invest in technology rather than text books.
References
Edutopia.org (nd). Big thinkers: James Paul Gee on grading with games. Retrieved on Oct. 5, 2009 from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-james-gee-video
Edutopia.org. (nd). Big thinkers: Sasha Barab on new-media engagement. Retrieved on Oct. 5, 2009 from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-sasha-barab-video
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