Loved being a part of a brilliant Webinar on Wednesday afternoon. My first Webinar and I am hooked. So thankful that people like Karen Melhuish Spencer - @virtuallykaren and Hamish Chalmers - @HamishChalmer are pushing the boundaries of IT in education but more importantly the fun and challenging topic that is Gaming in Education.
My own 1 to 1 journey and the power and control that my students have gained and been given has led us to Gaming in Education. We initially, like most 1 to 1 classrooms looked at the games/apps that could enhance what we were doing. Then on a cold Monday morning back in Term 2 my self appointed class IT specialist (Joshua age 7) introduced me to the colossus that in Minecraft.
It swept in with one child and it encapsulated half the class by lunch break a mere 4 hours later. I was still a sceptic, mainly due to the fact that I have become used to the almighty HD quality games that graces our Retina displaying screens. My reason for not dismissing Minecraft completely, was simply for the huge engagement level, focus, collaboration, cooperation, high interest level and wonder of sounds that was pouring out of both the iPads and students as they began to explore crafting and mining away...
No more than a week down and I was hooked. Game play against and with one another became collaboration on projects, which then became competitions, which have all been superseded by classroom and curriculum integration. Writing about our worlds,
Term 4 - Are we now experts ? The kids would say yes. What I will say is that gaming has become a huge part of my own and their (the students) education. We are at a point where they are coming up with the ideas about how to use Minecraft in class. Its full integration has been amazing. The power that a game can bring to a students education are just incredible.
This year has been huge for my own pedagogy, for my understanding of 1 to 1 integration and now for the use of Games in Education.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/f507c/grade_7_science_teacher_uses_minecraft_to_teach/
http://hamishonictsineducation.blogspot.co.nz/
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