Hi Tina and all,

 

At the Wired Nextfest (a new technologies expo) held this fall, on
display were a number of technologies that have been developed for
entertainment and communication purposes but seemed to have some
relevance to the education community. One in particular used a game
format to teach language. Tina, I think it speaks to your (and others')
concern about what type of gaming tech is appropriate in an education
setting. Following is a listing with links to demos and information. 

I'm interested in what you all think about their potential as tools for
adult literacy education.

 

Tactical Iraqi: http://www.tacticallanguage.com/tacticaliraqi/

This is a video game developed to teach US soldiers stationed in Iraq
language and culture skills. It is similar to the Sims, in that you are
a first-person player interacting with computer generated characters in
a virtual community. The scenarios are all civilian. Do you think this
would be effective as a tool for teaching ESOL at a distance?

 

Buzz: http://infolab.northwestern.edu/#projects/36---projects

Produced by the Northwestern University InfoLab, Buzz is a multimedia
installation that uses text-to-speech software, computer generated
"actors" and a Blog-mining engine. The actors read-aloud the blog while
words significant to the meaning and for the purpose of this
installation ''emotionally charged" appear in a large text screen below
the actors. In some ways it reminded me of a Language Experience
activity, and in terms of content, adult new reader's books, for example
those by Tana Reif. The InfoLab web site has a number of other projects
that are of interest.

 

Sticky Notes: http://www.socialight.com/

Produced by Socialight, it is a social networking service that uses cell
phone text messaging and GPS coordinates to leave digital Post-its among
the community of users. A user creates a text related to an experience
of a place, for example a trip to a museum, that is called a Sticky
Note.  When another user steps into range, s/he will receive the note as
a text message on their cell phone. It is sometimes difficult to run
class trips given the number of commitments our students have (work,
child care, etc..) this may be one way of having a shared, but
asynchronous field trip.

 

Regards,

Mariann

 

 

 

Mariann Fedele

Associate Director,

NYC Regional Adult Education Network

Literacy Assistance Center

Moderator,
NIFL Technology and Literacy Discussion List
32 Broadway 10th Floor
New York, New York 10004
212-803-3325
mariannf at lacnyc.org
www.lacnyc.org

________________________________

From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:technology-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 12:15 PM
To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Technology 708] Re: handhelds and cell phones

 

Hi everyone,

 

I guess my biggest concern about using games for educational purposes is
the addiction of some like War Quest. Yet, we need to be open to
exploring those games that provide academic stimulus for our electronic
younger population.

 

Tina





Tina Luffman
Coordinator, Developmental Education
Verde Valley Campus
928-634-6544
tina_luffman at yc.edu

 

-----technology-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: -----

To: <technology at nifl.gov>
From: "Steve Quann" <steve_quann at worlded.org>
Sent by: technology-bounces at nifl.gov
Date: 11/16/2006 08:38AM
Subject: [Technology 705] Re: handhelds and cell phones

Thank you Tina, Susan, and David:

So what do other folks on the list think? Does this have legs? I think
most us see that there might be potential here, but what are the
drawbacks? The one I hear most is the size/viewing issue -mostly from
non-users. But I have to say as I walked down the aisle of the train
this a.m. and saw someone viewing a video on an Ipod, it looked pretty
clear and manageable to me. 




Steve Quann
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 
617.482.9485



>>> <Tina_Luffman at yc.edu> 11/15/2006 12:45 PM >>>

Hi everyone,

Steck Vaughn has come out with a handheld GED Study Buddy. This tool
looks interesting for the new generation of students who are so geared
to play with Game Boys and other video game units. These handhelds use
cartridges for the 5 subjects of the GED exam. The cost is not cheap*,
but if a program has money, I am sure these little units will engage
younger students more than books. I have not seen any of these Study
Buddies other than in the catalog, so I cannot comment on the content.

*399/device, 50/cartridge
Thanks,

Tina





Tina Luffman
Coordinator, Developmental Education
Verde Valley Campus
928-634-6544
tina_luffman at yc.edu 


-----technology-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: -----

To: "The Technology and Literacy Discussion List"
<technology at nifl.gov>
From: "Mariann Fedele" <MariannF at lacnyc.org>
Sent by: technology-bounces at nifl.gov 
Date: 11/14/2006 09:32PM
Subject: [Technology 700] handhelds and cell phones

Hi Steve and all, 


Great question, although using handhelds is a promising practice I
haven't heard of examples of them in the adult literacy field. 
Does anyone on the list have experience using handhelds for instruction
with adult literacy students, with other student populations? 

Regards, 
Mariann 


From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Steve Quann 
Sent: Mon 11/13/2006 8:43 PM 
To: technology at nifl.gov 
Subject: [Technology 698] Re: Video games and education 



Hi Marian, 
This makes me think of asking if you or anyone on the list know if 
anyone is doing anything with handhelds, cellphones games or not. I
know 
David Rosen posted a site from England that was. Any signs of it in the

adult literacy field? 
Steve Quann 
World Education 


>>> "Marian Thacher" <mthacher at otan.us> 11/13/06 11:52 AM >>> 

I wanted to share this exchange from the California adult ed tech
mentor 
list, as I'm wondering if others are using or thinking about using
video 
games and web sites like Second Life in instruction. 

Marian Thacher 
Outreach and Technical Assistance Network 
P.O. Box 269003 
Sacramento, CA 95826-9003 
(916) 228-2597 
www.otan.us 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
In response to "merging games with learning", there is a website ([ 
http://www.brainmeld.org <http://www.brainmeld.org/> ]www.brainmeld.org)
in which one of my 
professors 
from National University runs. It contains teacher guides to using 
certain 
games in the classroom. These guides contain state standards, goals and

objectives to using the games. My professor has published the teachers'

guide that I wrote for high school Economics. It's called "Create the 
Empire of your Dreams". There are teacher guides for younger students
as 
well. 
I thought some of you would enjoy looking through this website. 

Ronda Rafidi 

Marian Thacher <mthacher at otan.us> wrote: 

 
Has anyone played around with Second Life [[ http://secondlife.com/
] http://secondlife.com/]? It's a virtual world, totally constructed
by 
the 
"residents." Talk about social networking sites! I haven't really used

it, 
and I don't have time to figure out how to build a bunch of 3D stuff, 
but 
it sounds like great fun if you have time, and I've been watching for 
educational applications, so if you're interested in such things, here

is 
an article about a couple of education organizations that are actually

doing things like holding a virtual summer camp on a private island in

Second Life! 

The School of Second Life 
By Wagner James Au 

For those who grew up on computer and video games over the past thirty

years, it's no surprise that games have become a full-fledged 
educational 
tool, merging play with learning in a way that speaks to the digital 
generation's technical literacy. Adding heft to this development, the 
Federation of American Scientists recently published the results of a 
year-long study suggesting that games have the power to teach
analytical 
skills, team building, and problem solving on the fly. 

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. 

Read the article at [ http://www.edutopia.org/1709
] http://www.edutopia.org/1709


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