Video Discussion Board 3

Discussion Topic: Roblyer & Hughes (2019) discuss the gaming in the classroom. What benefits and challenges are associated with gaming in the classroom? Do you have any strategies that you use to make gaming productive? When is gaming inappropriate in the instructional setting?

Transcript: "Gaming in the classroom is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to facilitate student engagement. Games serve as an entertaining and motivational way to review material. Most of the time, a student cannot learn a new topic simply from playing a game, but once that topic is introduced, a game is an excellent way to practice and enhance that skill. While there are many independent online games available for students, tabletop games or whole-group class games facilitate collaboration and cooperation with peers. An article from the Missouri State Teachers Association says that, “games provide students with the opportunity to learn about teamwork and practice resolving conflicts or disagreements with other students” (2016, para. 5)

It is important for the teacher to select games that will enhance learning, as well as engage students. There are many games that are fun, but do not serve a purpose educationally. When considering the pedagogical framework of a game, Roblyer and Hughes ask us to consider the question, “are the learning objectives explicit and observable through modeling” (2019, p. 178)? With a bit of creativity, many of these games that students are familiar with can be transformed into educational games that do have explicit learning objectives. For example, my students have different levels of power words or sight words that they work on. I have created a game very similar to Candy Land for each word level, where each color space has a word the student has to read while they take their turn. If they cannot read the word, they stop at that space and work with the group to figure it out. This makes a game that students are very familiar with and love into something with great educational and collaborative value. They love it!"

References

Missouri State Teachers Association. (2016, February 24). Using games to enhance learning in the classroom. https://www.msta.org/stories/games-enhance-learning/#:~:text=Using%20games%20in%20the%20classroom,concepts%20or%20improve%20existing%20knowledge.

Roblyer, M. & Hughes, J. (2019). Integrating educational technology into teaching: Transforming learning across disciplines (8th ed.) Pearson.