Group Wiki Project: reflections

I am a believer in learning through play but must admit that, in the past, I have had a difficult time with the educational relevance of videogames. This is mostly due to my own personal experience with a gamer who is very close to me: my eldest son. On-line games have been a touchy subject in our home and we have battled with our child for many years. Teaching moderation is not an easy thing. My son has had stretches of time where I know he is addicted to the on-line game he plays. Those have been very upsetting and scary! After reading Sanford’s article, I could not believe the irony: the whole gaming topic was a tough one for me to even consider but I had to put my best foot forward, remove my emotions from the subject and see what would happen.
As the school library is often considered the “hub of the community”, I feel that the teacher-librarian‘s job must shift in order for “the community” to stay current with the changes in our world. When it comes to teaching, active learning is a concept that I support wholeheartedly. Will putting those two ideas together (staying current + active learning) equal “videogames in the library”? In order for teaching to be effective, it needs to be dynamic and since learning is a complex process, this idea is one to consider. If a student is studying Ancient Rome, playing a game called Ancient Civilizations would teach him/her a thing or two about the subject at hand. The student would inevitably absorb information without realizing it. In this case, yes, I would supplement my teaching with this type of videogame. I would say that moderation is important though, as the addictive qualities of these types of games have been well documented. I do believe that the pros outweigh the cons as far as this topic goes. Game playing involves interacting and if one is interacting with the subject being taught, that is a very good thing. There is value in this type of learning and it can be added to a teacher’s repertoire of teaching tools.
Speaking of teaching tools, I am teaching European Geography in one of my library blocks and found that my current “tools” were not working. The concept of teaching students about our world, in combination with teaching them to use reference materials was a sound one at the start. Unfortunately, I ran into trouble pretty quickly when preparing one of the first few lessons and realized that our large school maps were out of date. Next, I checked the atlases … also out of date and these books were not even that old! My next lesson became one on showing my students how borders are always changing … new countries are formed while old ones no longer exist … this was clearly a lesson that I could not resist. My students found it fascinating! Information on filling out a current map of Europe was to follow and, the next Thursday, we went to the computer lab and found what we needed on the internet … I knew that this tool would not let me down. While filling in our maps, my mind wandered to Sanford’s idea of learning through play and videogames in the library. Even though my students could find their data on a few different school approved websites, these sites were, I must admit, boring. I wondered if there was a more exciting way to complete our maps… a site that would offer some form of active learning. I could think of a few sites that would work for my lesson … but many are deemed educationally unsound, at the moment, and are not available on our school computers. I will look into this further and will definitely try to supplement this lesson with some type of interactive learning idea … perhaps an on-line game. Putting the idea of learning through (video) games into practice is a concept that I do consider and I see myself using this particular teaching tool in future lessons when appropriate.
Sanford’s article addresses the needs of 21st Century learners and the school library must adapt. To begin, we will need to review our “rules” regarding “safe” websites and decide how to govern these new teaching tools. Also, the reality is that many schools are lagging behind and are not keeping up with the technology that is available. One reason for this is funding but another is the resistance (by administration as well as parents) to change the traditional teaching tools. Slowly, but surely, society will embrace the changes in our schools and, as we all “shift” into the new world, hopefully we will all welcome the tools that become available.