KSP684 - Best Practices for Using Games & Simulations in the Classroom

In the book Best Practices for Using Games & Simulations in the Classroom there is a ton of great information.  For this week's research we focused on guidelines for classroom management, assessment, and use of resources.  Below is an outline of the information provided:

Classroom Management:

• Similar to hands-on activities
• Teacher provides focus and expertise to keep things moving along
• Peer tutoring is a natural occurrence during games
• Bullying tends to not be an issue
• Key Findings:
• An actively involved teacher is essential.
• Games encourage peer–to–peer tutoring.
• Set clear behavioral expectations.
• Do not use voice chat. It is a marker of real-world social status
• Encourage real–time conversations about the game–between teams as well as among them.
• Integration with administrative systems is a huge time saver. Reducing the administrative load on teachers removes a significant barrier to adoption.
• Guidelines:
• Teachers are content area experts
• Keep students focused
• Should not delegate either of these roles
• Teachers need to be game experts too
• Teachers need to be actively engaged during game play - game is not babysitter
• Teachers need to be comfortable to facilitate games
• No formal role exists in EduGames for teacher
• Teachers should not play as equals with students - this can distract for subject matter and inhibit and discourage students
• Games allow for collaboration and competition - these lead to natural peer tutoring
• Student teachers focus on how to play the game (rules), how to navigate the software (strategies), and how to score points (math skills)
• Teachers can encourage and actively promote peer tutoring rather than waiting for it to happen naturally
• Setting clear expectations upfront is key to good behavior and management
• Teachers biggest concern is students getting off task - this is not a major concern - just need to be monitoring and helping kids refocus.
• No significantbehaviorall issues have been reported
• Most cyber-bullying takes place beyond the school setting and control
• Discussion boards can cause issues
• Off topic and inappropriate commenting are an issue with using discussion boards and forums
• Issues are best handled one-on-one
• District established policies and standards of behavior should be followed
• Have systems in place to handle issues and communicate with parents
• Empower kids to police themselves and classmates
• No voice chat
• Has been reported to be major issue
• Reflection and Real-time Conversations about the game
• Between players and teams
• Structured discussions
• Help each other better understand the game, content, and how others play

Assessment:

• Games can track and log all actions. THere is potential to conduct extremely sophisticated assessments.

• Key Findings:
• ŠProvide in–game and paper based assessments.
• Game logs can provide a map to assess decision making.
• Use external productivity tools (Word, Excel) to track and synthesize game experiences.
• Assessing 21st Century Skills is an untapped opportunity for games to excel.
• Make assessment results visible to all stakeholders to sustain support.
• Guidelines
• Provide in-game and paper assessments
• Teachers are more comfortable with paper and pen
• Tracking students in-game is deeper than paper
• Using both is like using suspenders and a belt
• Game logs can provide a map to assess decision making
• When and how the students play the game can show how they think and problem solve
• External Productivity tools for tracking and synthesizing game
• Edugames can lead to insights for students and can be effective to show them how to write about their thoughts - chart them - quantify them
• Game logs can be used for reflection and discussions
• Assessing 21st-century skills
• Track decision making strategies and providing feedback to the teacher.  
• This use is still in its infancy
• Make assessment results visible to all stakeholders to sustain support
• Assessment needs to prove that what was intended to be learned was indeed learned.  
• Administrators and parents want to know that learning is happening.  
• Games that are not meeting expectations should be discontinued
• External assessments add credibility

Support Resources:

• Resources are evolving slower than the games. Peer-generated content can be found in blogs and on discussion boards - these are the most useful. Rapid-response user-created content is useful. Students can benefit from these resources as well - as long as they conform to the district policies.
• Key Findings:
• Online content support is the most effective because it is seamless with game play.
• Blogs are a good source information, particularly in an arena that is evolving rapidly.
• Online communities take longer to build for EduGames than for commercial games.
• Discussion boards can be useful for students, but usage needs to be monitored.
• Conferences are good places to meet other practitioners.
• Resources should allow flexibility in how teachers
  access content – by lesson or by objective.
• Reach out to developer companies. They want to hear from teachers and are accessible.
• Guidelines:
• Online content support is most effective because it is seamless with game play
• Using textbook support can break the focus of the game - in-game support is more effective
• Blogs are a good source of information
• Examples:
• Terra nova
• RezEd
• Educational Games Research
• Dave McDivitt
• Apopnophenia
• Richard Carey
• Education Business Blog
• AHCI Lunch
• Future Making Serious Games
• Online communities take longer to build for EduGames than for commercial games
• Online devotees of commercial games are robust groups of people
• EduGames take longer to build the community because of a general lack of acceptance in mainstream education
• Discussion boards
• Useful to students but must be monitored.
• Researching answers to games where content is expected to be mastered IS learning.
• This research shows motivation
• Using “cheat codes” to access information they have not earned is cheating.
• Evaluate games based on their alignment with learning objectives
• Pick games where there will be stealth learning rather than shortcuts
• Discussion boards offer the most opportunity for bad behavior
• Practitioner Conferences
• Meet like-minded people
• Sessions usually include games related content
• Game friendly conferences:
• ISTE
• Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA)
• Florida Education Technology Conference (FETC)
• National Council of Social Studies (NCSS)
• Games, Learning, & Society (GLS)
• Serious Games Summit at the Games Developers Conference (GDC)
• Budgets often restrict teachers from attending these conferences
• Resources should allow flexibility in how teachers access content - by lesson or by objective
• Online resources provide flexibility in presenting material
• Teachers need to easily find content that speaks to their needs
• Reach out to companies - they want to hear from teachers and are accessible
• Teachers can let developers know what they need in games.  
• Small companies are especially interested in feedback