Self reflection on Wiki assignment

Self Reflection on Wikis

I am without a doubt convinced that wikis have a place in the schools and the libraries. They are convenient and easy and engaging. The students love them and are hooked when they are using them. I agree that we cannot hold back on what is new. Denying or refusing to use the tools does not serve the best interest of the students.

Our focus for our wiki project was the idea of incorporating video games in the library. I understood and agreed with the author that there are pros to gaming. They have research supporting their value and that is not to be ignored. My concern is that I am not convinced that they should be mainstreamed into a school library as a full time focus. I am not refuting that they appear to have some educational value but I am not convinced that the library should be the forum for this learning situation. My concerns center around who will be responsible for managing this learning tool. If it is Internet based how will this be governed? Will video games become recommended curriculum and therefore be on the learning resources lists?

I must admit that perhaps I am a little biased to the idea of incorporating video games into schools and libraries. I am not a fan of them. Honestly, I feel that students on the majority already get more than enough video game play within their own homes. School in my opinion is a wonderful place to encourage face-to-face social interaction. Face to face interaction provides the student an opportunity to learn much needed social skills, that some of them lack. Some students have great difficulty with reading people’s emotions by detecting the clues that facial expression and body language give them. They have difficulty inferring because they can’t read or pick up on the clues. Video games are controlled and manipulated by them. They have the ability to start over if it is not going well. Life is not like that and I think that it gives them a distorted version of what real life interaction is like. I am of course generalizing, not all students are like this. However, many colleagues have spoken of this phenomenon where they are faced with students who want instant attention, focus, stimulation and gratification. Is this a result of video game playing?

Could video games fulfill a valid role in education, I think that it is possible. However, as an educator trying to teach a desired learning outcome, before relying on video games as a teaching tool, I would personally research equally effective alternative teaching methods. I could see video games serving as an enrichment or incentive program. I believe strongly that video games need to be closely monitored in terms of content and time spent playing. It is true that students learn through play but there are alternatives that could and should be considered first.

This course has opened my mind to the possibility of using many new web 2.0 tools, blogs, animoto, voicethread, and podcasts, all of which I think have a great educational value. They are engaging and require students to focus and provide a final product, encouraging students to take ownership and pride in their work. These tools are easily implemented into my teaching. I can see them working as book clubs, summaries, research projects, collaboration, recitals and reader’s theatre. Video games, however, I think I still need some convincing that they should be promoted as a valid teaching/learning resource. I am very excited about trying some of the above-mentioned tools, however, I will hold off for now on the video games.