maddybeckmann's blog

I could not get Minecraft to work on my computer. It was the most frustrating thing ever! After Mikah (my lovely roommate) started playing I wanted to play too and I spent about an hour trying to download all of these different things. Minecraft ended up not working and so I ended up watching Mikah "struggle". Mikah spend about a good 30 minutes trying to get wood as suggested in the youtube videos. We could not figure out how to get the wood until our friend Ashley came in and called her brother. Later that night, he called and told us exactly how to get wood. Rather than clicking over and over we realized we could just hold the clicker of the mouse down (duh?). Are we too old and out of touch? I felt that I was so lost in technology that I could not even get Minecraft to work on my computer. It's safe to say that Mikah and I have not played it since... If we incorporated this into the classroom, there would have to be a demo and the glitches on certain computer types would have to be figured out! 

Gaming Panel

Issues in Gaming in the Classroom: 

"I am disappointed in the lack of education as it is, I would rather use resources to better the improvement of reading" 

"My son spends too much time playing game at home that are non-educational" 

"Addictive?" 

"Too many kids in the classroom" Will gaming take away from the personal attention of each child? 

"How and to what extent should gaming be involved?" 

"Learning and gender difference" ADD? How can we account for learning difference? 

Test scores and funding ? 

Positives in Gaming: 

"Don't you want you kid addicted to learning" 

"Could games change identity in a different way? Positive social interactions online" If a students could make decisions online maybe they could use this confidence in making decisions  in the "real world" "Shouldn't parents and teachers help to determine boundaries" 

I interact with people outside of the school community to learn and connect could this be more useful than gaming

I don't like school, games keep me engaged 

What are the intentions behind supplying schools with the most recent technology? 

Is it just tho keep it current? Comparing expectations to actual use by teachers and students?   

How is (or isn't) technology incorporated in the classroom? 

Who determines the effectiveness of technology? Teachers or students? 

What is Clark forgetting/leaving out? Where is technology not a 1st priority in the classroom and how do our schools' models and policies promote and inhibit learning in the classroom? 

How can issues of saftey in the classroom affect the ways in which tech. is neglected or misused or even perpetuate inequalities and achievement gap (safe environments achieve more than unsafe ones)?  

To me it has been hard to see the application of Clark's ideas to the classroom. His ideas seem so theoretical and massive that applying them to the small setting of a classroom is hard for me. However, I take his ideas at the most basic form to mean how integrated our biological beings are with technology. Technology however can be just about anything. In my group we wanted Clark to put forth a list of what exactly is not "technology". There seems to be no line at all to draw between technologies and non technologies. However, I would like to take away the fact that we have and have always had a relationship with technology. Whether it be your pen our your laptop. We must then understand how we can use and work with technology rather than see it as it's own separate entity.

1. possibly consulting less "academic" sources to see how real-life teachers use technology in their classrooms. i.e. tips/how to , blogs

2. talk about teaching, learning, classrooms 

3. more online engagement outside of the classroom? a more of an “insider” approach might prove useful as not everyone is fluent

4. examples of technologies that have successfully been incorporated into the classroom 

5. share experiences of teachers (yours or that you have observed) using technology in the classroom and how it benefits or hinders learning. 

6. continue to think about how and why I use social media 

7. analyze Clark's methods of proof in his texts and to assure me of the validity of his arguments 

8. discuss Clark's main ideas and how they are/can be applied to the classroom

9. Share about specific person we know and how technology access might affect them

10. to possibly teach/discuss the benefits/disadvantages of technology and see how it can add to human life but not control it or take it over