During the long Presidents' Day weekend, I had a thought when I was playing some video games. Wouldn't learning be more fun if it didn't seem like learning? I guess I should preface this by saying I was playing Dragon Quest, a role-playing game, in Japanese. I don't live in Japan anymore and I don't use Japanese as much as I used to either. So these games enable me to read Japanese and even provide real consequences in the event that I misinterpret something, such as a clue from a townsperson, a clue found in a treasure chest, or even a dialogue in a cut scene.
Playing video games in Japanese has been far more educational for me than sitting in front of a textbook. Not only am I learning, I'm learning with context and meaning. This makes me a bit more interested in assessing how games enhance learning. We'll study this in LING 797 a bit later. My class presentation will be about gaming, actually. It really wasn't my first choice, but now that I think about it, I think I'll enjoy the topic.
One of the readings mentioned how younger learners liked to explore and try a new product out without reading the instruction manual first. I think I fall into this category, as is evidenced by the way I approach the Dragon Quest games. How could I make learning more like Dragon Quest without having to program an entirely new game?
I guess when I think about it more conceptually, learning is more fun for me when it's active. I don't like sitting in classes and taking notes. I like learning by doing. I'm a kinesthetic learner, and games are a kinesthetic activity. That's what makes CALL such an intriguing field of study. While the technology is still being refined, I think its potential is quite great. It could have implications for classroom management, students with ADHD, maintaining student interest, and even giving students a greater sense of ownership regarding their own learning.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Thoughts on technology
One of my classes this semester uses Blackboard to serve as a hub for class documents, such as notes, announcements, syllabi, readings, etc. When I was a master's student at USC from 2001-03, I used to think of Blackboard as being more trouble than it was worth. However, now I like the idea of having a central location to keep all my course documents together.
Fast forward to 2008. The professor of the course that uses Blackboard doesn't update the site so much and not all of the documents are available for download. What's the point of using Blackboard if you're not going to upload the notes there in a timely manner? This reminds me of the "bells and whistles" phase of technology in the classroom. Yeah, it's cool to say that your course utilizes Blackboard. But if you don't take advantage of the conveniences it offers, then it's probably not worth using at all. If you're going to try and integrate technology into the classroom, it's important to do so effectively.
In terms of research, I learned this week that there is a glut of research focusing on the over-18 crowd, but a dearth of research examining children. Adults are more accessible and have fewer barriers regarding getting them to participate, obviously. However, this made me think of my own job. I teach adults ranging from about 25 to 40. When it comes time to develop a project for LING 797, I should consider whether I want to focus on adults, which are probably easier to measure, or children, which would be more empirically useful.
Anyway, here's a random YouTube video. Congressman Clyburn is hip!
Fast forward to 2008. The professor of the course that uses Blackboard doesn't update the site so much and not all of the documents are available for download. What's the point of using Blackboard if you're not going to upload the notes there in a timely manner? This reminds me of the "bells and whistles" phase of technology in the classroom. Yeah, it's cool to say that your course utilizes Blackboard. But if you don't take advantage of the conveniences it offers, then it's probably not worth using at all. If you're going to try and integrate technology into the classroom, it's important to do so effectively.
In terms of research, I learned this week that there is a glut of research focusing on the over-18 crowd, but a dearth of research examining children. Adults are more accessible and have fewer barriers regarding getting them to participate, obviously. However, this made me think of my own job. I teach adults ranging from about 25 to 40. When it comes time to develop a project for LING 797, I should consider whether I want to focus on adults, which are probably easier to measure, or children, which would be more empirically useful.
Anyway, here's a random YouTube video. Congressman Clyburn is hip!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Thoughts on advances in technology
In class this week, I mentioned that sometimes classes are better left not integrating technology into them because it's either forced, awkward, or not necessary. When Dr. Lomicka asked me which classes I've had in which this was the case, it reminded me of a course I took as an undergraduate at Duke University more than 10 years ago. It was a Spanish course and the teacher, presumably a TA, tried to use powerpoint and overhead projectors perhaps in an attempt to make it easier for the students to read the notes. (Her handwriting was not particularly neat.)
But more often than what should have been the case, there were often tech problems in which the computer running Powerpoint would lock up, the bulb in the overhead projector would need to be replaced, or the actual equipment had been removed and had to be located. All of these problems would result in lost class time.
Because this course was in Spanish literature, it seemed unnecessary to me for there to be such an emphasis on using technology. If the students read their reading passages and books, they didn't need to see the teacher's notes on the board. And the time spent locating missing overhead projectors and rebooting a computer using Windows 95 was time that could have been spent discussing the class material.
Dr. Lomicka reminded me that the mid- to late-90s was the "bells and whistles" phase of CALL. Back then, there seemed to be a greater emphasis on learning how to use the new technology rather than showing how that new technology could actually help people learn. In retrospect, perhaps I should give this Spanish teacher a bit more credit for at least trying to jazz things up a bit. And maybe because technology is a bit more advanced and more reliable now, technology probably would be more likely to enhance (rather than detract from) that class.
Then again, a part of me still thinks that sometimes there's just no substitute for having the students go at it with each other unencumbered by setting up computers and and plugging in wires. But I graduated from college in 1999, so maybe I'm just an old fogey who likes the old way of using technology:
Regarding Powerpoint (PP) specifically, I think it can be quite useful in that students can print out the main notes and not have to spend so much time quickly trying to scribble down what the professor says. However, I really don't like it when professors read their PP slides word for word with minimal elaboration. To me, that makes it seem like the professor is unprepared, doesn't know the subject matter so much, or is lazy. I could easily just print out some PP slides and stay home if the lectures are going to consist mainly of reading PP slides verbatim.
On the other hand, PP can be a useful organizational tool. Most people can type faster than they can write, so this can be a big time saver. And if you use the bullet points in PP as a springboard into other discussions or points of elaboration, I think it's great. The key here is to let the technology assist the teacher, not become a substitute for the teacher.
But more often than what should have been the case, there were often tech problems in which the computer running Powerpoint would lock up, the bulb in the overhead projector would need to be replaced, or the actual equipment had been removed and had to be located. All of these problems would result in lost class time.
Because this course was in Spanish literature, it seemed unnecessary to me for there to be such an emphasis on using technology. If the students read their reading passages and books, they didn't need to see the teacher's notes on the board. And the time spent locating missing overhead projectors and rebooting a computer using Windows 95 was time that could have been spent discussing the class material.
Dr. Lomicka reminded me that the mid- to late-90s was the "bells and whistles" phase of CALL. Back then, there seemed to be a greater emphasis on learning how to use the new technology rather than showing how that new technology could actually help people learn. In retrospect, perhaps I should give this Spanish teacher a bit more credit for at least trying to jazz things up a bit. And maybe because technology is a bit more advanced and more reliable now, technology probably would be more likely to enhance (rather than detract from) that class.
Then again, a part of me still thinks that sometimes there's just no substitute for having the students go at it with each other unencumbered by setting up computers and and plugging in wires. But I graduated from college in 1999, so maybe I'm just an old fogey who likes the old way of using technology:
Regarding Powerpoint (PP) specifically, I think it can be quite useful in that students can print out the main notes and not have to spend so much time quickly trying to scribble down what the professor says. However, I really don't like it when professors read their PP slides word for word with minimal elaboration. To me, that makes it seem like the professor is unprepared, doesn't know the subject matter so much, or is lazy. I could easily just print out some PP slides and stay home if the lectures are going to consist mainly of reading PP slides verbatim.
On the other hand, PP can be a useful organizational tool. Most people can type faster than they can write, so this can be a big time saver. And if you use the bullet points in PP as a springboard into other discussions or points of elaboration, I think it's great. The key here is to let the technology assist the teacher, not become a substitute for the teacher.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Powerpoint Presentation
This is my Powerpoint presentation. It's a simple presentation about nonnative speakers of English who join the Army. I work at Fort Jackson as an ESL teacher, so this has quite a bit of personal relevance to me.
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