Classroom: Practical Approaches to Teaching in Virtual Worlds Melissa Gresalfi, Jacqueline Barnes & Patrick Pettyjohn
Abstract This paper considers the crucial role that the teacher plays in supporting successful use of immersive technology in the classroom, focusing particularly on the use of an interactive, online, multiplayer videogame called Quest Atlantis. This chapter presents an account of successful strategies for integrating immersive technologies into teaching practice, such that the game does not replace the teacher, nor the teacher replace the game, but rather the two are integrated in their mutual support of student learning. We focus specifically on two distinct roles that teachers can play in leading whole-class discussions: attuning students to important concepts and connections in the game, and deepening opportunities to learn beyond what is afforded in game design. For each role, we present two contrasting cases with the goal of illuminating the central role that a teacher can play when integrating complex technologies into the classroom. Differences in the ways that teachers support their students while using games like Quest Atlantis are not trivial; we argue that differences in teachers’ support of whole-class conversations can create dramatically different opportunities for students to learn.
Jacqueline Barnes is a Learning Sciences doctoral student at Indiana University. She received a B.S. in neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh in 2009. Since arriving at IU, she has contributed extensively to both research and design on the Quest Atlantis project, and has been a lead designer on two math missions. Through continuing research on learning through games, her future research will pursue possibilities for metacognitive strategies, developing new technology for special education, creativity, and defining forms of intelligence. In particular, she is interested in finding ways to differentiate instruction for both mainstream and special education classrooms using new technologies such as immersive games.
Patrick Pettyjohn is a Learning Science doctoral student at Indiana University. He is interested in developing a means of understanding how people perceive opportunities for action, which he seeks to apply to areas of education, leadership development, and philanthropy. His current work involves designing for and investigating how multi-user virtual learning environments can be used as reflective tools that communicate one’s academic understanding while simultaneously allowing players to experience the consequences of their choices and ethical beliefs. His current research interests have been strongly influenced by his previous domestic and cross-cultural roles leading in various mentoring nonprofit organizations and as a personal and team consultant.
Abstract In recent years there has been an interest in studying creation, sharing, and learning with new technologies within online DIY communities. Of particular interest is how these communities emerge and are organized over time. Inspired by the botany of the rhizome, we argue that any DIY community, rather than being a single and homogenous community, is really a set of smaller, local communities connected via an underlying rhizomatic activity structure. As an illustration, we track an emergent, and predominantly female, DIY community interested in creating computationally enhanced e-textiles. This proposal showcases a model of rhizomatic activity in DIY communities and a case study, which is indicative of larger trends we saw in the data in similar, yet varying groups.
We will be publicly acknowledging these awards at our MCC Business Meeting held on:
April 11, 6:15 pm-7:45 pm in the Astor Crowne Plaza, Astor Ballroom I.