Hi, so this is my first post of my first blog. Does this deserve some special achievement? well, not really. But, here goes...
So I started this blog due to my interest in Technology within eduction, or more specifically my interest in the use of games, or interactive media (which seams to be a better branding), in eduction. This interest started mainly when I was working for Dr. Gail Krivel-Zacks in her class of exceptional needs students. We had put together a very rough video modeling exercise that would span a day, and later a week, using garage band and premiere. We did this in an effort to bring out team work skills in the kids and so that they may watch themselves in these team work exercises. They would be able to see what they did right and wrong.
This exercise had a great success with the students, both in terms of it being fun and the social behavior improvements they exhibited. I had heard before that video modeling has been successful with children on the ASD, but what I noticed is that the videos they used were uninteractive. Children found them boring and out dated. They worked, but barely. They would watch the video over and over until they did what the video told them to do.
This is where, I think, interactive media can do a great amount of good. Instead of having children watch something for hours, why not put them in the situations they are having trouble with in a secure environment. This environment doesn't really have to even be digital, but it should be interactive. By putting them in the situation it forces them to participate instead of watching. They get to look at themselves and what they are doing. From this they learn the why, and the consequences that could proceed a response of a situation.
I remember in math class, especially Grade 11 math, there was always a question of “why?”. Where is the context? Why do I need to know this? That is what I believe interactive media can do for education, give context to what children are being taught and what they are learning. It has the ability to put students in a scenario that mimics real life in which math (or another subject area) is used. And hopefully, if done right kids will have more opportunity to learn in school instead of regurgitating answers for a test.
I've started work on a project in this area,creating a software that will put kids in scenarios for them to learn what is right and socially acceptable. I won't say much else on the software as its in it's early stages but it is something I believe can be extremely useful.
And this is where I will bring this note to its circle. I started this blog as a way of sharing my ideas and thoughts on today’s education and the technology that can help it. Some of my projects will end up on here but only the public parts. But until next Friday... I encourage you to go learn something, and not by reading a textbook. If you need a start... what does the title of this post mean?
Next week, Tangential Learning and, if I have time, Interactive Video Modeling.
