Take a moment to try and make sense of how you might use what you've explored in your next round of designing action research for your driving question.
This week I continued reading chapters 4, 5 and 6 from Clark's "Development Technical Training". In addition, I read the SITE model. I found both of these texts informational and applicable to my driving question. I am constantly modifying and reevaluating my driving questions because they are general and need to be fine tuned. My driving questions are "Why are we (or students) so compelled to be online? What makes us so addicted to it that most people check their phone before going to the bathroom in the morning? Also, why do men and women desire different types of media?" I have a friend who has an 11 year old son. He is addicted to gaming. I often think of Landon while reading our texts because he and my daughter, Brooklynn, are the same age and are very different. Brooklynn is social, active and an outdoorsy girl. Landon has fallen trap to the online gaming world. It has taken over his life, especially his "in person" life. Right now, in this current situation with the COVID pandemic, I can see the social benefits of online gaming, but he has always been a gamer. Why? I believe I have found some answers within the SITE Model. The Sociocultural Subcontext states, "The people in your life influence the social and cultural context of the learner" (page 5). Would this imply that gaming online is fulfilling his social needs? Does the competition element of the games motivate him? I know the gaming world has done their homework and their research. Have they designed a system to fulfill our "needs" and meet our "goals"? And if so, does this mean that Landon values his online relationships, as he does his in person relationships? I will further investigate my questions by interviewing Landon and others like him. If kids need to belong, I want to know if the online activities connect his goals and drive his motivation? I truly believe that social media, the internet, gaming and all other online platforms have been so well designed to meet our individual needs. They are tailored for us. According to the SITE Model, the learner or "user" is in the middle of the model. The designers know the learners and what empowers them to design a program specific to their needs, which in turn accomplishes their goals. I did, however, find it interesting that Clark reported "Static visuals are more successful than animation visuals" (Ch. 6, pg. 10). She continues to say, "animations present so much information rapidly that learners experience mental overload" (ch. 6, pg. 10). I always assumed that part of the online attraction was the overstimulation of the lights, movements and audio components. Kids seem to learn and remember online strategies. After being forced to be online with Distant Learning, I have found many programs and applications useful for our learners. In fact, even after we return to the classroom, I plan to use several of these applications in the classroom. Programs like EdPuzzle, Google programs, and Quill have benefitted our students and their motivation to learn. They have been designed to motivate the learner and in return the learner invests his/her time to learning. I have started small and simple, and I am monitoring my students' performance productivity. I will continue to slowly add programs to their Google Classroom, but I hope we will be back in person soon. I truly value and miss the in person, interpersonal relationships.
3 Comments
Jamie Lutz
10/18/2020 02:30:50 pm
I also found it interested that Clark said, "Static visuals are more successful than animation visuals". I can see how when trying to teach a specific topic (especially a topic students might not be interested in) static visuals would be more useful. With animation, they will get distracted by the animation itself & focus less on the content we are trying to teach.
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Abie Gottfried
10/20/2020 02:41:50 pm
Hey Kimberlee, I 100% suggest you check out Gee's Good Video Games Good Learning book 2nd edition (Or wait for Betsy's and my presentation on it at the end of the class, as I think it really does adress your questions for Landon. In particular it talks about how engagement from videogames has to do with the style and reward for learning.
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Kelly W.
11/15/2020 07:07:29 pm
Hi Kimberlee,
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AuthorMy name is Kimberlee Nelson. I am a mother of two and a 3rd grade teacher at Irene M. Snow Elementary School, in Napa. Archives
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