Digital Gaming Reflection

The digital gaming lesson I developed over the course of this class has helped show me how digital gaming can be a useful tool in the classroom. Since high school I’ve always enjoyed using digital games especially strategy games such as Civilization and Total War. Looking back with an educational viewpoint these are great games that teach history. The Civilization series teaches types of government, team building skills, and managing resources. The Total War series brings you through historical military campaigns throughout the world. The history channel uses the game to reenact famous battles. The most current Total War Napoleonic Empire has you command countries, armies, and navies of the Napoleonic war. Digital games can be used for educational purposes like teaching types of government, history, math, science, hand eye coordination, team building skills, and critical thinking skills. With the knowledge of the educational opportunity and the motivation aspect of digital gaming I would now be more than comfortable promoting and using them in the classroom.

This course has provided me with the positives of using educational digital gaming in the classroom and I plan to share it with the rest of my colleagues and administration. Some of these types of digital games can take awhile to play and it would be great to have them available after school in the computer lab or library for students to learn. These types of games and simulators are used in the work force today and it’s important for students to practice these skills so they can thrive in the 21st century.

Spotlight on Emerging Technology

Reflection on Moodle.
It is a great educational tool.
I can see myself using it in the classroom.

Reflection

The Differentiation Station social network has been a great resource and collaboration tool that has developed nicely throughout the course. We were able to learn with the help of colleagues. We contributed ideas and web links to resources about Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction. I can now look back at our social network site and use those resource links when it presents itself. The ideas on tiered instruction and real life examples of its use in the classroom has motivated me to add it to one of my teaching tools. The Differentiation Station also worked well to get feedback from fellow teachers on ideas and lesson plans.

This course has enlightened me on the ease of integrating differentiated instruction into the classroom. I had thought it would be a lot more effort and take up too much class time. I found that through tiered assessment, pre and post assessment, and varied assignments it can be accomplished and enrich the learning environment. Using technology in these assessments is also important because it will engage the learners, provide online collaboration, and help prepare students for the real world. I will review my students individual education plans with a means to adapt their lessons and assessments to provide more meaningful learning. I have learned a good deal over the course of this program and am looking forward to implementing what I have learned into the classroom.