Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Microsoft to Fund Video Game Research

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that they would invest $1.5 million dollars in educational video game research. The investment is part of a larger, NYU led initiative to "to find scientific evidence that supports the use of games as a learning tool."

The games that are developed will be prototyped in several NYC schools. And while the games will be developed for use on the Xbox console, Microsoft is taking an open approach and has extended an invitation to other video game console makers to participate in the study.

Microsoft also announced a partnership with PBS to distribute digital content to the 12 million subscribers to Xbox Live. Also worth noting is that game maker Knowledge Adventure is bringing its Math Blaster game to Wii's WiiWare channel and the Xbox 360's Live Arcade. They are also working on designs for an iPhone version of the game. Given the mobile nature of today's kids, this seems like a great idea.

At the University of Michigan, a research team is looking into the potential that digital games have for teaching students concepts and skills. As part of their study, they have designed a web-based board game for teaching undergraduate students about Information Literacy Concepts and Skills. They chose a game for the task for many research-based reasons, but also because:

"Games can be with the student when an information expert cannot be. Games can be in the dorm room, at the coffee house, and anywhere else that the Internet can be accessed. Games are a way to bring information expertise to the users where they are already working."

All of this comes on the heels of a report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that found that, when it comes to video games, "playing is universal, with almost all teens playing games and at least half playing games on a given day."

Even more importantly, and defying stereotypes, the Pew Study found that  "game playing is also social, with most teens playing games with others at least some of the time."

Related Resources

• Japanese Schools Embrace Nintendo DS
• International Journal of Computer Game Research
• Stewart Butterfield on Games & Learning
• 2009 Game Developers Conference

Google Docs, Education & Student Privacy

Online writing tools like Google Docs, Adobe Buzzword & Zoho are amazing free tools that are used by many educators. But who owns your online documents? Are there any laws or issues that you need to be aware of before using these tools in your classroom?

According to a post on the Open Sky Media Blog, "while your personal computer may not care about your tastes in fiction, the web service you choose to write and/or host your documents just might."

For example, did you know that the Google Docs TOS state that "“you give Google a worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through the Service." Moreover, Google Docs further stipulate that "students must be 13 or over to use Google Docs."

Why?

Because Google, like every other corporation that is providing an online service to students, must comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The law outlines how and what types of personal information may be collected and when and how to seek verifiable consent (written permission) from a parent or guardian. The law, despite it's quirks, is designed to protect the privacy of minors.

To be clear, Google is doing exactly what they are required by law to do. As tween site Imbee found out, failure to comply with COPPA can cost a company millions of dollars in legal bills and fines. If you do decide to use Google Docs in your classroom, be sure to obtain written permission from your students parent or guardian. Failure to do so could put your school and career in jeopardy.

To be clear, I'm not trying to knock Google Docs. It's a great product. My intent is to make sure that educators are aware of the issues. It's important that you, as the teacher, know all the associated issues and legal requirements associated with using this tool before using it in your classroom.

Related Resources

• Imbee.com Settles COPPA Violation
• Google Docs in Elementary Schools
• Collaborative Writing via Skype & Google Docs
• Making Across the Country Feel Like Across the Classroom

Silicon Valley Isn't America

 

silicon valley map
by hugh mcleod, gaping void

Related Resources

• The Blue Monster
• Change the World, 500 Words at a Time
• How to Be Creative

Hurray for Dizzywood: Virtual World with a Purpose

Dizzywood is a new virtual world for tweens created by the folks over at ROCKETpaperscissors.  Like other virtual communities geared for the tween set (I'm talking Doko, Webkinz, Neopets, Moshi Monsters) users can create an avatar, connect with friends, play games and activities that earn them unique super powers and other rewards.

The team behind Dizzywood have designed a virtual environment that "encourages kids to engage in challenging activities and cooperate with others, while developing important cognitive skills. I had my pre-tween nephew give Dizzywood a go this afternoon and he was instantly hooked. He loved the animation and said that the games were "really, really fun."

Beyond the element of online play, Dizzyworld is using their virtual world to teach kids about the environment and other life skills like honesty, digital citizenship and respect. Dizzyworld recently joined with the Arbor Day Foundation on a promotion that allowed Dizzyworld citizens to plant a virtual tree to reforest a damaged area within the online world of Dizzywood.

But here's the really cool part: when you plant a virtual tree in the Dizzyworld forest, a real tree is planted on Earth. And as the virtual tree grows, kids are able to see how the tree is able to clean pollution from the skies above Dizzyworld. This is a great way situate the lessons learned in a virtual world, into a real world context and provide kids with a sense of empowerment and a purposeful gaming experience.

Dizzywood's ability to successfully mash together virtual games, social responsibility and collaborative skills has caught the eye of the YMCA of San Francisco has announced plans to integrate Dizzyworld into their education technology curriculum.

Here's more from the Press Release on the partnership:

"The YMCA is using Dizzywood’s virtual environment to reinforce its program emphasis on activities that promote values such as caring, honesty, respect and responsibility.

Children also learn about important issues relating to virtual worlds, such as digital citizenship and online safety, as well as complete storytelling and team-building exercises that emphasize creativity, writing and reading skills, and working together to achieve goals."

Almost every week it seems like there is a new virtual world being launched with no real purpose other than shopping or fun-based gaming activities. It's refreshing to see a product like Dizzyworld that has a strong educational component cleverly woven into the practice of play.

Creating an educational and fun virtual learning environment that kids will actually use is no small feat. It looks like Rocketpaperscissors team is well on their way to finding that magical mix between learning, technology and community.

So give Dizzyworld a whirl, plant your virtual tree and have fun!

Related Links

• Dizzywood Parents Guide
• Facebook > Become a Fan of Dizzywood
• Dizzywood - Arbor Day Foundation Partnership
• Teens, Virtual Goods and Real Money
• Dizzywood's Arpajian Talks Motivating Kids Play

Penguin Books: We Tell Stories 6

Penguin Books UK recently launched, We Tell Stories, an ambitious digital reading project aimed squarely at the reading styles of Gen Y students. This is a pretty innovative project and one that I'm sure will engage more than just Gen Y students. Here's the scoop:

"In collaboration with fêted alternate reality game designers Six to Start, Penguin has challenged some of its top authors to create new forms of story - designed specially for the internet.

Over six weeks writers including Booker-shortlisted Mohsin Hamid, popular teen fiction author Kevin Brooks, prize-winning Naomi Alderman and bestselling thriller authors Nicci French will be pushing the envelope and creating tales that take full advantage of the immediacy, connectivity and interactivity that is now possible. These stories could not have been written 200, 20 or even 2 years ago."

There is a lot of talk in education circles about the lack of reading among Gen Y and the population at large. I would argue that the practice of reading is still alive and well, but the way we do it has changed. Reading isn't just confined to a printed book. It can be done via iPhone, iPod or book readers like the Kindle.

However you choose to read, the important thing is to, well, just do it! And if it has been awhile since you cracked open a book, the We Tell Stories program is a great way to rediscover the joy of reading.

Related Resources

• Readius: Pocket eBook
• Barnes & Noble Studio
• Professor Garfield > Reading Ring

Summer Camp Goes Virtual

Remember when summer meant running around the neighborhood, hanging out and getting your top lip stained by orange or grape soda? That may have been how we spent our summer, but Gen Y has its own ideas of how to spend summer vacation--and naturally, it involves technology.

Camp Fatal1ty was developed by pro-gamer Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel and is run by iD:Gaming Academy. The Fatal1ty camps are held at Emory University, Stanford University, UCLA and Villanova University and provides teens with "an immersive experience in the dynamic worlds of game development and professional gaming, our video game camp courses are geared for beginning to advanced teens aged 13-17."

Cybercamps Academy provides teens with the opportunity to learn more about web technologies, including Flash, graphic and video game design. The Cybercamp Academy sessions are held at over 50 universities including Duke, UCLA and Stanford.

They also have a virtual camp track where kids can learn how to do everything from game design to 3D modeling. According to research conducted by Cybercamps Academy, this type of camp "significantly increases higher-order thinking skills in kids."

This seems like a fun and active way for kids to get engaged in science and technology while providing them with the opportunity to develop both critical thinking and problem solving skills.

These tech camps provide an environment in which kids get to use technology in a context that allows them to learn how to work in a collaborative environment.It's too bad that these types of active learning experiences aren't more common during the regular school year.

Who knows, the next MySpace, Facebook or Flickr gazillionarie might be sitting in a VirtCamp right now.

Related Resources

• Technology Encourages Active Learning
• Seymour Papert
• Logo Programming Resources

Emoodicon: Come On Get Happy!

Marcie's Grand Adventure from john t unger on Vimeo.

Back in the 1970s, the Boomer's went wild for their mood rings. Now their spawn, those totally wired Gen Y kids, are going wild for their version of the mood ring--Emoodicon.

This is a nifty way for the lol, omg, kthksbye, twitter, texting, blogging, loving kids to share their emotional state when they are away from the computer. You know. Outside.

Anyhoo. Still wondering what this Emoodicon ring thing is all about? You can watch the video, or you can just get the scoop here:

"They’re smileys for the real world. They tell the world what’s on your mind.

If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you,” is a phrase you’ll never utter again. If your boyfriend or girlfriend or best friend or roommate or evil arch nemesis has eyes, they’ll know. (If they don’t have eyes, no ring will help you. Sorry.)

Emoodicons are completely customizable. They’re cool, they’re fun, and they won’t break or turn your finger green. Isn’t that a nice change?"

It's also an interesting social commentary, showing the depth of the love affair that kids today have with technology. Using symbols from the keyboard and online world to communicate their true feelings.

Yep. Times are a changing. And oh yeah, there's an Emoodicon "Make a Face" contest.

Related Resources

• Emoodicon
• Emoodicon > Twitter
• Emoodicon > Cafepress
• Emoodicon Blog

Mashup Edu: A New Digital Pedagogy

Dr. Mercedes Fisher and I just finished a new book chapter titled "Pedagogical Mashup: Social Media, Gen Y and Digital Learning Styles" that will be published early next year. I'll have more details in a future post, but in the meantime I wanted to share the bounty of resources we culled together for the article.

We've saved the links for all the resources and references cited in the book chapter over on the social bookmarking tool del.icio.us, which you can find here: http://del.icio.us/mashup.edu

If you have any questions, or know of a great Education 2.0 resource that we should include, let us know!

Related Articles by Mercedes Fisher & Derek E. Baird

• Making mLearning Work: Gen Y, Learning & Mobile Technologies
• Social Software & Online Learning Design
• Social Media & Digital Learning Styles

Gen Y & Social Networking: It's, like, so not a fad!

Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace: Another "must read" article on social networking and youth by danah boyd. Last week I had the pleasure of attending a presentation that danah and Henry Jenkins gave at the YPulse Mashup. As part of her presentation, danah cited excerpts from this blog essay.

Social Network with Style: MySpace Builds Fashion Community: MySpace revolutionized the music industry and now has its sights set on doing the same for the world of fashion. Launched in January, myspace.com/fashion now has over 50,000 members. They've also struck partnerships with Revlon, Clairol, and InStyle. (via Advertising Age, Registration Required)

Social Networking Reaches Near Full Penetration Among Teens and 'Tweens: A new report by Alloy Media & Marketing found that "96% of tweens and teens have used  social networking technologies, 71% of online tweens and teens connect to a  social network at least once a week." (via Advertising Age, Registration Required)

It's No Secret: Facebook's Allure is its Privacy: As the MySpace generation grows up and moves on to college, career and a personal life, the ability of a social network platform to keep its members secrets is increasingly important. Facebook learned this lesson the hard way when it introduced the "Mini Feed" and "News" features and encountered the ire of the Facebook community. The key to retaining and growing a social network community is to keep their secrets, uhm, secret. (via ITNews)

B.J. Fogg on Web Credibility

Related Resources

• BJ Fogg
• Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab
• Overview of Captology
• Yackpack

Yahoo! + UC Berkeley = Innovation

What do you get when you combine the brain power at Yahoo! and a world class educational institution like the University of California at Berkeley? Innovation! Big Thinkers! Collaboration!
 

Yahoo! Research Berkeley is a top notch research organization that focuses on innovation and thinking outside the box to create the next big thing on the web.

But if you think it's all work and no play---you'd be wrong! Take a video tour of the Yahoo! Research Berkeley campus and discover how "hard fun" is an integral part of Yahoo! culture.

Related Links

• You're Invited: Yahoo! Research Berkeley
• Education, Web 2.0 & Yahoo! 
• Yahoo! Search Blog: Mobile, Media, Marc, and Me
• Yahoo! Research Berkeley
• Elatable > Bradley Horowitz

Social Media + Gen Y Learning

The use of current and emerging social media technology is clearly moving us in the education community closer towards Tim Berners-Lee’s ideal of using the web as "an information space through which people can communicate…by sharing their knowledge in a pool.”

In this world of increased web-based social interaction, meeting the unique needs of Gen Y learning styles is the bottom line.  In the 21 Century classroom, the ‘always on,’ student will control the how, what, and when a task is completed.

Gen Y students expect interactive, engaging content and course material that motivates them to learn through challenging pedagogy, conceptual review, and learning style adaptation. This approach offers Gen Y learners flexible, self-paced, customizable content available on-demand (via RSS feeds or Pipes).

Interactive and engaging content motivates students to learn through the course materials and apply them according to their own intrinsic needs and learning goals.

However, educators should be careful not to use social networking for the sake of using social media, rather they should keep in mind how the use of any type of technology element can support student learning--individually and as a collective group.

Social media engages the user in the content and allows them to be included as an active participant as they construct a learning landscape rooted in social interaction, knowledge exchange, and optimum cognitive development with their peers.

Gen Y + Multiple Intelligences

The following list illustrates how online learning styles (in this case Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences), and social software technologies can work together to support Gen Y learning styles, and foster community in the online and blended classroom.

Over the next couple weeks, I'll be showing what types of social media support each of the different Multiple Intelligences outlined by Howard Gardner. I'll also list specific social media tools that support each MI type.

MI ATTRIBUTE

• Verbal-Linguistic > To do with words, spoken or written. People in this area are generally good at writing, oration, and learning from lectures.

SOCIAL MEDIA + VERBAL-LINGUISTIC

• Wiki
• Podcasting
• Virtual Learning Environments (VLE)
• RSS/ATOM
• eMail

SOCIAL MEDIA + VERBAL-LINGUISTIC

Weblog/Self Publishing Tools

• Blogger
• Vox
• Yahoo! 360

Wiki Tools

• Wikipedia
• Wikimapedia
• PBWiki

Podcasting/Audio Tools

• Odeo
• iPodder
• YackPack
• Evoca

Virtual Learning Environments (VLE)

• Boddington.org
• Moodle
• Tapped-In

RSS/ATOM Tools

• Bloglines
• FeedBurner
• My Yahoo!
• Google Reader
• Yahoo! Pipes

Winksite: Mobile Community Platform

Thanks to Winksite the mobile community platform, debaird.net is now available in an "on the go" format suitable for your mobile device! Just click the WinkSite icon to subscribe! Easy peasy!

As Generation Y becomes more and more mobile, this type of "on the go" social media/community environment could be the future of anytime, anywhere learning environments.

So what are you waiting for? Check out Winksite!

Web Resources

• Winksite
• debaird.net mobile url
• Making mLearning Work: Gen Y, Learning and Mobile Technologies

Making mLearning Work: Gen Y, Learning and Mobile Technologies

Journal of Educational Technology Systems (JETS )

Volume 35 , Number 1 / 2006-2007

Making mLearning Work: Utilizing mobile technology for active exploration, collaboration, assessment, and reflection in higher education

Mercedes Fisher, PhD.
National College of Ireland

Derek E. Baird, M.A
Educational Technologist

Abstract

The convergence of mobile technologies into student centered learning environments requires academic institutions to design new and more effective learning, teaching, and user experience strategies.

In this paper we share results from a mLearning design experiment and analysis from a student survey conducted at the National College of Ireland. Quantitative data support our hypothesis that mLearning technologies can provide a platform for active learning, collaboration, and innovation in higher education.

In addition, we review mobile interface and user-experience design considerations, and mLearning theory. Finally, we provide an overview of mLearning applications being developed in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland including, Virtual Graffiti, BuddyBuzz, Flickr, and RAMBLE.

Keywords:

mLearning, social media, mobile, Flickr, BuddyBuzz, RAMBLE, Gen Y, mobile interface design, mobile user-experience design, participatory media, community generated content, rapid serial visual presentation, mobile learning theory, Ireland, Yahoo, Google, Tivo, PSP, iPod, open source education, YouTube, Claroline, National College of Ireland