Posts Tagged meme

Building the game layer

Posted by kmcg2375 in education, research, university, video games on May 11, 2011

Thanks Andrew Jessup for showing me the work of Seth Priebatsch, who as it turns out has a lot of material covering the exact topic that has been bugging me.

How do I integrate Games Based Learning, or GBL, into my pedagogy without disrupting or contradicting my current approach to learning and teaching?

I think the idea of ‘the game layer’ is the answer. I think it’s also a great concept for me to use in thinking further about the role of motivation and learning theory in explaining the success of teachers who ‘gamify’ their teaching.

Seth is the Cheif Ninja at SCVNGR and the use of the popular game meme here did make me chuckle. Playful right down to the business card eh? I like it! Especially as I’ve been characterising myself in class as the ‘Cheif Pirate’. I wonder who that is in Seth’s camp, and what they do?

I highly recommend a watch. He has quite a few talks online now but this TED talk (above) gave a great overview of four key elements that build a successful game.

Watch the video and your reward will be to find out what they are 😉

GBL, meme, TEDtalks

Change agents – Pirates vs Ninjas

Posted by kmcg2375 in education, social media, technology, university on March 22, 2011

I was prompted by Binaca today to look for an old post of mine on giving feedback to students. In my search I was delighted to find it had been almost exactly one year since I wrote this post about the tension caused by curriculum change, especially in regards to integrating ICTs:

Let’s make sure we’re applying the ‘too much is too much’ rule across the board, and not just as an excuse/a reason for neglecting the new. If what we mean is ‘we haven’t had enough PD to use this right’ then by all means say that. But there are some things that would be good to drop out of our current practice to make room for the new. One thing that we know about teaching is that no matter what you are taught to do, as a teacher you will instinctively model your practice on the teaching you received at school. Fighting against this instinct takes concentration, and learning about new practices and tools takes a lot of work. Because of this, teachers who are embracing technology are feeling increasingly overloaded and burnt out – this is the real problem that needs managing.

In a later post I tried to be more generative than reflective by reframing the process of change, suggesting that:

…as educational leaders, if we want to help people come to terms with change and embrace it, then we need to recognise and validate their desire to stick with ‘the known’…Recognising that people are resisting change because they feel disempowered helps us to employ methods that give power back.

These lines of thinking manifested in the lecture I gave today to preservice English teachers on how to navigate change amidst all of the ‘theories of text and response’ that they had learned so far.

You may be pleased (dismayed?) to watch how I liken the characteristics of change agents to either the NINJA or PIRATE side of the popular theoretical battle, Pirates vs Ninjas 😀

I think I am mostly pirate!

CLB_018, curriculum, meme

3 Comments

7 Things You Don’t Need to Know About ME Meme

Posted by kmcg2375 in personal, random on January 6, 2009

Darcy Moore tagged me for this meme. So, 7 things you don’t need to know about me are…

My great, great, great, great, great grandfather on my mother’s side was Thomas Rose, and his family came to Australia on the Bellona in 1792 in a small group of the first free and independent settlers in Australia. Ever visit ‘Old Sydney Town’ on a school excursion? You would have taken a tour of Rose Cottage, where my ancestors lived.
My husband and I got together on my 13th birthday, so turning 28 last month meant that we have now been together for 15 years already. He is the love of my life! We were born only 10 days apart (both stubborn/ambitious/travel-loving Sagittarius‘), went to the same school, and moved out together when we were 19 because we didn’t like spending so much time apart at Uni 🙂
I grew up in a 3-bedroom fibro house in Cabramatta West, which we didn’t move out of until I was 17. We would often go back and visit it after we left – then one day I was driving with a friend and took her to see the house. It had been demolished days before, and there was just a bare patch of land left with a few bits of rubble. I cried…and cried…
I was Dux of my Primary School, and Captain of my High School. I am finishing my PhD now, and it has made me swear off that particular brand of over-achieving forever.
I was in high school during the grunge years, so bands ranking highly on my list of favourites are Nirvana, Green Day and Pearl Jam. I remember when Kurt died, and how important it was to so many of us.
The first time I went overseas I was 20. It was to Scotland to visit family, and it was also the first time I saw snow. I played in it every day and never once got sick of it.
I watch Neighbours. Religiously.