Recurring change of course
Posted on: July 20, 2011
It’s that time of semester for me to resume teaching.
First up on my list is the elective MLS118 which starts tomorrow. It’s meant for school ICT heads and is just labelled “Information Technology” in the handbook.
I don’t like the sound of IT because communication is missing. IT, like PowerPoint, has a transmissive feel to it. ICT is more about two-way communication and leveraging on opportunities to collaborate.
I have gone further by defining my course as being about Planning, Articulating, Leading and Sustaining Change with ICT. It’s a mouthful so occasionally I abbreviate it to Enabling Change with ICT.
I used Edmodo, QR codes, Skype and various Google Apps last semester to promote change via social, open and mobile forms of learning. This time around I am simplifying the assignments and bringing in video game-based learning (vGBL).
Why vGBL?
Rather than just read, talk, share or videoconference about change, I would like to my participants experience elements of change. By doing so, I hope that they will be better able to relate to the concepts of change and adopt/adapt models of these concepts in action. It’s about making concepts real.
To provide these shared experiences of change, we will be playing various video games. (I normally do this with preservice teachers for the ICT course.)
I will also bring in mobile gaming. I will require my participants to play with Angry Birds and Tiny Tower. I’m guessing a few already do!
These games are deceptively simple and addictive. But they will also reveal elements of systemic change if my participants think deeply enough.
Here are some questions I am thinking of asking my participants to reflect on:
- Why do you think you were asked to play those games?
- What might students learn from such games?
- How might teachers incorporate such games into teaching?
- How might teachers integrate GBL into their teaching without playing games?
- What do these games have to do with change?
