Traditional methods of teaching and indeed education may seem irrelevant to this new generation of gamers; students who are weaned on BET, Facebook, Twitter and now virtual worlds. For our generation virtual reality is perhaps something from the X files or Twilight Zone, but for our students Virtual Reality is NOW.
As Reading Specialists, we need to explore the ways in which to use virtual learning environments to feed our students’ needs for autonomous self-directed learning. With this group, reading needs to be more than just a primary focus on traditional script. Really, games and virtual worlds has enormous pedagogical potential as a highly interactive way to build vocabulary, acquire background knowledge, assist in fluency and above all provide the autonomy needed for text comprehension.
Among the most powerful platforms for game-based teaching is Second Life, a virtual world superficially similar to online role-playing games, such as World of Warcraft or Sims Online, but embedded with numerous features that can make it an ideal pedagogical resource. Some may refer to SecondLife as a game, however, of itself; Second Life actually is not a game. It is a virtual world without theme, a virtual canvas for creativity, not inherently based in mock war such as video games.
Educators can create a completely interactive classroom designed specifically for students. This to me is especially useful when dealing with adolescents 15 and older with phonemic awareness and phonics difficulties, here, they will be able to explore the simulated world without the accompanying ill-feelings-because it’s so cool!
From that brief description, the educational applications should be obvious- especially for Teaching Reading in the content areas, where students needs prior knowledge and technical vocabulary for effective text comprehension. Meanwhile, the ability to interact with people from all over the globe enables students with reading difficulties to meet students like themselves from all over the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOFU9oUF2HA&feature=player_embedded
Again great stuff on your blog which makes for stimulating reading. I would like to put in my two cents--I was reading Adolescent Literacy editors K Beers,R Probst L Rief on p. 237-238,where some good points were made about using video games to teach literacy.
ReplyDeleteThe authors of the article 'Making it matter through the power of inquiry' suggested that teachers need to expand what is considered text and what is used for meaningful reading and learning.
They stated that teachers tend to favour only one particular kind of text for example classic literature which often times are not rewarding for our students.
video games provide 'the 'reader' with navigational control, assistance for competence and coauthorship that conventional print or linear texts do not' p. 238
clearly virtual environments such as second life can also become literacy rich environments for students to explore beyond the classroom