T.H.E. Journal has a piece entitled What’s Your Game Plan?, which explores bringing video games into the classroom:
Teachers worried about how they would integrate the game into the curriculum and whether it could motivate students who often fell asleep in class. The IT staff wondered whether DimensionM would overwhelm the district’s computer network. Administrators were concerned the benefits would fall short of the costs.
But the students were eager to play, and Garland educators spotted an opportunity: Put the kids’ competitiveness to work by staging a year-end tournament for the top gamers.
Teachers worried about how they would integrate the game into the curriculum and whether it could motivate students who often fell asleep in class. The IT staff wondered whether DimensionM would overwhelm the district’s computer network. Administrators were concerned the benefits would fall short of the costs.
But the students were eager to play, and Garland educators spotted an opportunity: Put the kids’ competitiveness to work by staging a year-end tournament for the top gamers.
It also features a a few quotes from WILL President & CEO Sharon Sloane:
“Kids can smell hokey from a mile away,” says Sharon Sloane, president and CEO of Will Interactive, which makes video simulations for teens that address social issues such as violence in schools and drug abuse.
Detective Frank Dannahey, an investigator in the youth division of the Rocky Hill, CT, police department, helped provide real-life content for the company’s It’s Your Call, a game designed to teach cell phone safety. Dannahey tried out a beta version with half a dozen middle schoolers. He says districts should take the time to get students’ feedback. “If they like a game, they will get their friends to play it. We shouldn’t leave them out of the process.”
Read the full article here.
