eLearning at TIGS: Di Epoff’s Blog

It is similar to a game environment!

Games are…

- fun

- entertaining

- engaging

- interactive

- social

- repetitive

- often surprising

Also, they have grown up in an audio-visual environment.

Rebecca Thorman’s 2007 blog entry How video games can show us how to engage Generation Y (or anyone)

provides tips for keeping talented Generation Y on-task and motivated…..

“Generation Y doesn’t want to lick envelopes. We’re up for the challenge. Let us lead your next project.

…with small steps... Video games give us a big high-five every time we reach the next level, self-motivating us to keep playing.

And Generation Y workers are intrinsic motivation junkies. According to Richard Florida, author of the Rise of the Creative Class, Generation Y “values intrinsic rewards more so than salary and benefits.” Extrinsic factors such as money, promotions, rank and prestige don’t do much for us.

We’ve been “suckled on the principles of intrinsic motivation,” argues Tamara J. Erickson at Harvard Business Online. We would prefer to have careers that make us feel good and do good for the planet. Shiny external bribes may turn our heads, but intrinsic factors keep our attention long term.

Employers can retain young workers by recognizing “smaller steps are far better than big infrequent increments” according to Erickson.

…and celebrate often! With each new level passed in a video game, there is a celebration. It’s rare that people get tired of playing video games. That’s because it’s fun to make it to the next level. Fun and celebration are essential to avoiding burnout. Too many workplaces just focus on the pot of gold, not the colorful journey to get there. Small successes should be shared and merit party-time.”

Social networking is a phenomena.

Social networking links people to each other through networks.

eg. My Space, Facebook etc

Social networking is the way in which students choose to interact with friends and contacts, anywhere, anytime, all-the-time.

There are countless social networking sites available free for users to connect to: Wikipedia’s list of social networking sites shows how enormous this phenomenon is!

View the video: Social Networking in Plain English to understand how it works

The term podcast is made up of ‘pod’ as in ‘iPod’ and ‘cast’ as in broadcast.

Podcasts are audio or video files that are published on the Web and sent free to subscribers who download them to play on an MP3 player, laptop or computer.

Podcasts are designed to be listened to at a time that suits the listener, ‘just in time’.

Podcasts are different to streamed audio and can be automatically downloaded to a computer (subscribed) and retrieved at a a later date.

Podcasting = media (MP3 files) + method of downloading (XML or RSS feeds)

Janine Bowes has a great entry on Podcasting on her Blog:

Tapping into social netwroking for e-learning - Introduction to Podcasting

and

TOOLS FOR THE TEKS: INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

with links to

Apple’s podcasting for education site

A blog is a personal space.

A blog has an author.

A blog is like a journal - you can throw your ideas around and focus on your interests. Hopefully, someone will read the blog and comment on your entries - providing feedback for the author.

A blog has been likened to Random Operating Memory (RAM) , or working memory.

A wiki is a collective space.

No one has special status as an author on a wiki.

A wiki tends to be more objective - a place to store, share and disseminate information, like a database. Also, it can be edited by any user.

A wiki has been likened to long term memory.

Wikis are exciting and empowering.

They allow asynchronous communication.

They encourage group collaboration.

They have the potential to develop diverse learning communities.

They are great learning tools for students, when handled appropriately.

Swan View Senior High School’s Wiki. You will need to sign-in first.