Chapter Four Blog

I agree with Kurt about learners needing a community to organize for participatory learning.  With these communities, learners are able to speak their minds about topics and gather together for a greater good of teaching students to be themselves.  I notice that with learning new information I need an environment I feel most comfortable.  I want to be able to hone in on my passions and refine them.

I like the idea of having an open platform for individuals to express their opinions and meet others that feel the same as they do about topics.  When multiple people come together with a linking topic, there are endless possibilities.  Using a blog or forum to discuss gaming possibilities for learning allows everyone with that same interest to see how others feels about what is important to them.

One thing I have found troublesome in my efforts of improving a community through education, development, compassion, and group efforts is some are not willing to put up the fight to make this community better.  I am now using knowledge I am learning from our course and applying it to make my efforts more concrete.  It is a pleasure to have a passion for something.  It is even better when others get on board to make the dream come to life.  I have also learned that accomplishing goals, especially as big as the task I have taken on, requires more than one person's efforts.

The Sims 3

I have played for a little over an hour today.  I am really enjoying the graphics in this game.  Their actions look like real life activities.  But the handling is not as easy to use as I thought it would be.  I do like that once I installed this game to my PC it set up its own folder in my Documents.  It is also easy to find the screenshots when I am ready to apply them to my blogs.
This game is pretty much like a person's every day livelihood.  My two Sims are now establishing their careers and skills.  I am still learning how to get my Sims to do things around their town.  My male Sim is working in the athletic field and my female Sim is working in the business field.  I have noticed that she is making more money than her male friend.  She is receiving better promotions and raises.  The male Sim is not offered as many opportunities to make raises and earn extra income.  Both Sims incomes are combined.  They have been fixing things around their home too.
But I am seeing that in this beginning stage of establishing themselves it is hard to do any other socializing outside of work.  They are both working hours opposite of each other.  My female Sim works morning hours and my male Sim works evening hours.  This is known in some reality households.  This can be said for reality as well.  I can compare this to my own life because while I am establishing and accomplishing my college career, I have little time to socialize outside of school, work, and church.  But I am, just like in my Sims world, trying to incorporate socialization with family and friends, whether it is catching a movie or having a quick lunch.  Socialization is a vital aspect of our lives.

This is a screenshot I took after both my male and female Sims came out of the movie theater in their city.  Right afterwards they went to have dinner together.  Then they headed home to get ready for another week's worth of work.  

The Sims 3

I have been playing this game for about a little over a week now.  I have set up two characters and they are friends/housemates.  I have started each Sim with a job.  But right now, they are both living as some would call it, ordinary lives.  My two Sims are working to build friendships with each other and other Sims in the community.  But I can say it is a little difficult for them to interact with others outside of the household because taking care of their needs is a huge responsibility.  They are building skills as well, such as cooking and socialization with their coworkers and bosses.
I am including a screenshot of my male Sim in the house eating before it is time for him to go to work.  My woman Sim is already at work, meeting her coworkers.

Chapter Three Blog

I am more and more getting on board with the author Kurt Squire about incorporating video games as a part of curriculum in schools as educational tools.

Reading Chapter Three brought me back to the article that I brought in during our last class period.  Video games are captivating the youth in today's society.  As statistics show, more students prefer to play video games over students and completing class assignments and homework.  As Kurt mentions in the interest-driven learning section of this chapter, video games can be a motivator.  I believe it is becoming more important to be relatable to our students.  I have even used this technique of talking about the video games of my students' choice during our after school leisure hours to find out more about them.  This is an avenue that leads to many directions of learning and developing structure in our classroom settings.  Just as I learned in my prior article, some students who enjoy playing video games go on to becoming creators of video games.

I believe if technology and video games became a primary source of learning in school systems, what the institution of school stands for would diminish.  I agree with Kurt when he stated that school is already built on learning what the system wants us to know instead of what we need to know.  I have first-hand experienced this scenario while completing my first undergraduate degree.  By having so much material to "learn" I lost sight of learning and accomplished enough to pass.  I thought the purpose of attending school was to learn and be able to apply this knowledge to our everyday lives.  From my experiences, the institution of school is based on a grade, a number, passing and not actually learning and applying the material.  This is why I am appreciative of my Instructional Technology major than any of the other degrees I currently hold because I am actually able to apply what I am learning in this major to my everyday life.

Video Game Blog (Beginning)

My video game selection for IT468 is The Sims 3.   

I am looking forward to learning more about this game, its functions, graphics, and details of how it was created and what can be done to improve it.  I am also looking forward to what I am going to learn about myself playing this video game.  

When I first purchased the video game, it took about an hour or so to set up on my laptop.  Once it was installed, because I was connected to the internet, it updated the version on my laptop as well.

So far I have set up a couple of housemates, one male and one female.  It took much time to select facial features, clothing, and personal traits for them, because I pay attention to detail.  I wanted to created the characters around myself and a friend, just to see how things will pan out.  I am going to create maybe two more households later on into my playing time.  I want to see how different the scenarios will turn out.

I would say I was on my laptop for about two hours just to start the game up.  I am relieved that because I chose a DVD-ROM software, I can play anywhere I choose as long as I bring my personal laptop.  I am not restrained to one place unlike some people who are playing video games on a console. Playing on a console has its ups as well.  If I was playing a game on a console, I could bring the game (along with the console) to whomever's home I visit.  But the only dilemma would be the person(s) not owning a television.  So playing a video game on my personal laptop has its perks.

Chapter Two Blog

Chapter Two in "Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age" by Kurt Squire touched on good points about what makes a "good" educational game.  I like how Kurt mentioned playing games for leisure brought out talents he later tapped into during his college life.  He was able to go on to study fields of interest that pertained to the games he played and actually received degrees from them.  When I was younger and I played video games, my favorite were the game show video games.  I would play "Wheel of Fortune" or "Double Dare" while my brothers and cousin would play the "Mario Bros." and action/adventure games.  I would watch them play those games and be as excited as they were when they completed a board or level and moved on.  I would try to play their video games, but would get frustrated when I was not able to complete a board, and if I did, it was by pure luck.
As mentioned before in my prior blogs, video games are educational because they help people pique and explore talents whether hidden and/or apparent.  I learned early on that I was not the athletic type, so playing sports video games did not interest me.  My older brother would invite me to play them with him because I was not as hard to beat, unlike playing against the computer.
We pick up on or play video games that come to us naturally, gives a challenge to the play, or so we can learn something from them.  Video game designers have to research topics within their games and/or bring in outside sources of knowledge.  For example, using Wikipedia for a source is not credited, but I am able to take from it and add to it for research.  I really like the aspect of video games being educational more than ever now because I have nephews that play video games hours upon hours.  If something has their attention more than studying and reviewing schoolwork, I would at least like them to learn from their distraction.
Video games whether for leisure or educational purposes bring about discussion.  There are no right or wrong responses because video games are built around choices.  I have learned from this course so far that video games bring about great debates, which is another great educational tool inside and outside of the classroom.

Education and Video Games

I agree that using video games with education is important in the way society is evolving.  Having an idea of the audience(s) video games are targeting is important to know as well.  Each person that plays a video game gains something different.  Even when creating video games and including educational key factors can turn a player off.  I notice with some of my students who attend the after school program where I work, they tend to get bored with the reading program they have to participate with everyday.  It is good to get vital feedback from everyone that encounters the video games, including parents and their children and facilitators. 

Chapter One Blog

I agree with some things Kurt Squire touched on in Chapter One about why should we study video games and aren't they a waste of time.  We can learn a lot about the creativity of video games and their players.  I have realized that some lives are drafted and crafted around media and electronics.  Some people watch television and base their lives around the sitcoms and reality shows they watch.  Some people bring what they see out of the television screen into real life.  Some people play video games and want to bring their lives into the games they play.  People live out fantasies in video games.  One thing that Kurt wrote that stood out was the systemic thinking and school systems.  I don't understand why not use the systemic thinking approach used in video games in the classrooms, especially since this is a skill required outside of school.  There are many things we can learn from video games.  There are things we can give and also take from creating and playing video games.  There is an ultimate goal.  Video games allow its creators, players, and spectators to branch out and interact socially with others, whether it be through blogs, forums, tournaments, search engines, and/or magazines, which ultimately bring people together.  Another thing that stood out to me about this chapter is the great levels of difficulty of some video games.  Are they created to show how versatile the creators are to make them difficult or to make each player work harder to gain their satisfactions of beating or winning the game?  But at the end of the day, video games open avenues for its creators and players to tap into talents they possess.  By studying video games and their reactions opens avenues for creators to think outside-of-the-box when creating new or improved games which require more skills and knowledge sometimes only learned from observation.