Week 5 Student Efforts vs. Digital Tools

This week, we had several videos and articles that we had to read over students efforts and students motivation through the use of many types of media. Our students are not the same students from 15 to 20 years ago. Despite that fact, the school teaching methods are the same as in the past except for the few teachers who are stepping out of their comfort zone to incorporate technology in their lessons.

I am a teacher who uses technology on a regular basis and was amazed over the video clip from one of the Big Thinkers: James Paul Gee on Grading with Games. I never realized that games are really assessments; I was so narrowed-minded that I didn’t realize that children are actually using critical thinking skills. Students have to read information and figure out what he/she needs to get to the next level. So in a sense each level accomplished is like a student passing an assessment based on following and figuring out the directions or requests. Often times, students do not have experience with these games, but often figure it out through trial and error and problem-solving. The game keep the students motivated because it gives the students immediate feedback on what they did right or wrong.

Mr. Gee shared a personal statement “That sort of teaching process was a reason I did not do well in school. Teachers were giving me information and telling me, "This is what you do," instead of putting me in a situation and asking me, "What do you do?" Cited http://kotaku.com/5646278/teaching-our-schools-to-up-their-game 
Students need to have exposure to solving and working out a situation, we as educators cannot always spoon feed the problem and solutions. Yes, it may take students a class period or even a couple of days, but we have to allow the opportunity for students to try on their own. We all learn by doing not, by watching.

    In order to increase the success of our students, we need to give them immediate feedback to encourage what they are doing right and to guide them to the next task. With all the technological advancements students can now get this efficient feedback through spreadsheet data and data retrieval tools. "Research shows that level of belief in self-efficacy plays a strong role in motivation for learning and achievement" (Schunck, 2003).
    Students need to have confidence in what they are doing or the students will lack the willingness to do it. We all know that if we have a negative attitude about the task at hand, our success rate of accomplishing the task drop tremendously. Students need immediate feedback, so that they can continue to work on the task at hand. With technology it makes it very easy to quickly and efficiently give the feedback that the students need to stay the course. The more positive the reinforcement the better the student work product.

Citation: Edutopia.org (nd). Big thinkers: James Paul Gee on grading with games. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-james-gee-video

Citation: Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 155-164.