Integrating Computer Games

Creating game-based learning environments or experiences using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games is becoming an increasingly tenable, valuable, and popular instructional method. COTS games are computer or video games created for entertainment purposes. A few popular examples are SimCity, Age of Empires, ZooTycoon, and Railroad Tycoon.

My good friend Dennis Charsky invited me to co-author Integrating Commercial off-the-Shelf Video Games into School Curriculum. Ten suggestions to help educators effectively integrate COTS games are shared in this research article. Below is an overview along with a few notes from this publication.

Day 2: MECA 2010

2010 MECAToday is the first full day of the 2010 Mississippi Educational Computing Association (MECA) Conference. The temperature dropped below 40 degrees overnight, so it is cold outside today (The conference site is 2 blocks from the hotel). I know this isn’t all that cold to many of you, but the temperature combined with the biting cold is extreme for this region.

Here are my notes from Day 2.

Event tag: #msmeca10

Day 1: MECA 2010

2010 MECAI’m excited to be working with educators in Mississippi this week. I grew up in Mississippi and still consider it “home.” I also taught middle school here and most recently taught at the University of Mississippi before making the move to Memphis. I’ve also been a consultant with the MS DOE at different times in recent years. I’m teaching/ sharing 5 workshops and presentations here at the 2010 Mississippi Educational Computing Association (MECA) Conference. Day 1 of the conference included afternoon sessions and activities in the hall of exhibitors.

Here are a few notes from my Day 1 experience.

Event tag: #msmeca10

Make Your Preparations to be at Podstock 2010

Having been part of Podstock 2009 I can confidently say that Podstock 2010 is going to be an excellent weekend of professional development and fun.

The Podstock conference held July 16 & 17 in downtown Wichita, Kansas is for educators…who want to share technology integration strategies, acquire new instructional techniques and strengthen established learning networks. (Source)

The following video was recorded by Wesley Fryer and provides a preview of some of the things you can expect at Podstock 2010.

Thank You


I’d like to thank those that nominated my various web resources for the 2009 Edublog Awards. These and other kinds of demonstrations of support are encouraging and appreciated. It’s overwhelming to be listed among these outstanding educators from around the world.

With great appreciation,
Clif

Free Apple Seminar for Educators

Reaching All Learners:
The event for forward-thinking education and IT leaders

Monday, February 8, 2010
9:00 AM – 2:30 PM
The University of Memphis, FedEx Institute of Technology

At this interactive event, you will have the opportunity to experience a digital learning environment first hand and see how Apple technologies can help you meet the diverse needs of today’s learners, including those with special education and language literacy needs.

Who Should Attend?
This event is designed to host leadership teams from your school district or private institution: Superintendents, Curriculum Supervisors, Board of Education members, Special Education Directors, Title I Directors, and Education Information Technology professionals.

Full details and registration is here.

New Diigo Group: Mobile Technology and Education

I’m a big, big fan of Diigo. I appreciate that I can save and share bookmarks, highlight and leave comments on webpages, annotate resources, host and participate in groups and forums on particular topics, message and interact with friends and colleagues, and much more. It’s a very big component of my personal learning network (PLN). I’m also impressed and pleased that the Diigo founders and employees listened to its community of teacher-users and developed Diigo for Educators (More fondly referred to as EduDiigo). Here are some thoughts about about why teachers and learners might use Diigo.

New Group
I started a new group dedicated to the topic of mobile technology and learning. I invite everyone with an interest/expertise in the topic to become an active member.

Other Groups
FYI, consider joining these other groups, too.

Friend Me
Please feel free to friend me because, as I frequently say, “Together we learn more.”

Reply to Miguel Guhlin

THINKING OUT LOUD
Episode 006

Yesterday’s blog post by Miguel Guhlin (@mguhlin) caused me to think…and that caused me to want to share and think out loud…and now I’d really like to know how others respond…so…please read Miguel’s brief post about the Google Teacher Academy application process, then view my reply below and share your response.

I’d definitely appreciate it. 🙂

Please share your text/audio/video reply in the Comments section of this post or respond to the corresponding Seesmic conversation (Think video-based Twitter).