Brain Based Learning

Arguably videogames like Halo and Call of Duty can be seen as a “distraction”—something that can disrupt a college student’s concentration and possibly even jeopardize a student’s academic career. But in an effort to engage students and make core-curriculum more exciting, some U.S. college officials are actually embracing these “distractions” and are molding them to meet the educational needs of their students. That said, below (in no particular order) are some pioneering college and universities using technology and game-based learning to bring lessons to life and encourage learning.

University of Texas-Brownsville …

Play is a powerful medium for learning, yet comes naturally to children and seems like a pleasant way to pass the time between more “serious” work. It is very appealing to educators to be able to harness this power because of the seemingly effortless way in which children learn important skills while playing, as well as the fact that they generally choose to engage in play rather than needing it to be scheduled for them by adults.
The first problem with utilizing play for education is defining what exactly play is. …

Taylor (2005) points out how academically disengaged the “Millennial” generation is. Members are uninvolved in civic activities, and uninterested in studying. They can be described as perennially bored. The challenge for educators is to engage students who are used to being bombarded with entertainment through videos, TV, games, and surfing the net. This generation is used to being in control of their entertainment, much more so than their parents. Instead of turning on the TV when their show is on, they can watch on demand – and choose whether they …

So now that the iPad mini has officially been announced, all the pundits who were busy scrambling to predict that that iPad mini might be the answer to education’s prayers, are now scrambling to predict that yes, of course it will change the face of education as we know it. I know, I know, it’s Apple so we HAVE to get excited about it, and it may very well end up being an incredibly useful product. But that isn’t really the point.
The point is, it’s yet another tool we …

In the first of this series about Teaching Digital Storytelling I explained the basics of Digital Storytelling and how a teacher can get started using it in the classroom. This second article will look at different software that can be used to create digital stories.