GAME GENERATION

    With the advent of digital game-based learning and its increased popularity, today’s ‘‘Net Generation’’ or ‘’Digital natives’’ have really become disengaged with traditional instruction. Kids are different today. They are active, operate at twitch speed, privilege graphics and animations over text, prefer connectedness, see play as work and view technology as life, not a separate activity. They require multiple streams of information, frequent and quick interactions with content and visual literacy skills.

We should always bear in mind that when we say games are effective and powerful tools for learning we do not mean that all the games are good for all learners and for all learning outcomes.

Games are effective not because of what they are, but because of what they embody but what learners are doing as they play a game. Thus, learning that occurs in meaningful and relevant contexts is more effective as the learning takes place within a meaningful context.

Games provide forum in which learning arises as a result of tasks stimulated by the content of the game in which knowledge is developed through the content of the game and in which skills are developed as a result of playing the game.

As TEFL professionals, we need to know when, how, with whom and under what conditions games are engaging and how we can integrate DGBL in the classroom and how can games fit into schools.

We need to know how DGBL will look like at the institution, gather DGBL resources by creating map of what you will need to implement DGBL. Certain criteria have to be met in order to successfully implement COTS games into formal language learning contexts. The game itself has to be fully motivating and provide clearly defined and spaces goals. We must find appropriate content which ideally provides rich and meaningful narratives providing their users a feeling of choice. I, myself, really enjoyed playing games and when playing I already notice and become aware that video games have a great potential in offering high intrinsic motivation, rewards, feedback and meaningful language use.

I played the game ‘’Coffee Shop’’ which I liked a lot.  This was a good example of business plan about coffee shop. Players(like me and my peers) are really motivated as they make their own business plan of how to make great deal of money within 14 days and ,meanwhile, use the language much when reading all the instructions and when making their own version of the coffee by selection ingredients that will bring them a benefit.

Obviously, based on all the readings and the potential of games, computers in the schools will revolutionize learning, as kids are different today and computers are more motivating that traditional way of learning. 

VIDEO PRODUCTION

The digital resources and dynamics of the world have influenced how most of us work, think, live and communicate.

Digital video brings the power of studio production to the personal computer. With just a video camera, a computer, and the proper software, you can create your own innovative and unique movies for personal use. Digital Video Essentials shows you how to take advantage of today's technology to get the results you want. All it takes is a bit of know-how and the desire to create videos.

Digital video production is really interesting and appealing in nature but labor-intensive and time consuming. You must have a plan at first to start your video production starting with the decisions on the topic you want to focus on, the sequence of the scenes, the participants, the kinds of creative shots, lighting to finding appropriate software  to choose for the project that is more comfortable to use to video editing. This is really a long process that requires great efforts and creative imagination to make a good and successful film.

        It is really a good way of collaboration and social interaction to make projects and make films together. Students can really enjoy and benefit from this collaboration as all of them is involved in it and in their turn benefit from the whole projects (not only the final product but the overall process of producing a digital video). 

       By producing such kind of projects Students become more autonomous, creative and computer literate. But one important thing not to forget is the teachers’ engagement in it and with this newly accessible literacy practice to be prepared to teach students.

     Video production can be a wonderful way of assessment and can be definitely integrated into the portfolio of the students.

Having a wide variety of collections in their portfolio will motivate and engage students to go further and explore new and new things, be creative and imaginative.

Digital Storytelling

’’Tell a story and become a lifelong learner’’. This is really true with digital storytelling. Writing digital stories ignites a love of learning and creates powerful teaching stories for others to share and enjoy. This approach to learning is an exciting and compelling way to engage students in the learning process and to inspire them to become lifelong learners.

By incorporating digital storytelling projects into learning, we, as teachers, can reach today’s students and, at the same time, help them to develop the skills they need to be successful in our complex, technology-rich world and give students all the benefits to help prepare students for success in the 21st century.

Students of all ages enjoy creating stories, and more and more students are eager to use technological tools to create those stories. Digital storytelling, the art of combining storytelling with some mixture of digital graphics, text, recorded audio narration, video, and music to communicate information about a specific theme or topic, enables them to do both at once.

They develop cooperation and communication skills, practice problem-solving and critical-thinking skills as students think more deeply, clearly, and complexly about the content. They also encourage students to write and to work at becoming better writers. It empowers them to find their unique point of view and relationship to the material they are investigating.

 

When students integrate technology into their projects, these benefits increase. I think that if we ask most students which they would rather do – write a traditional paper or create a digital story that presents their research and learning – they will definitely tell you, “Create a digital story!”To tell the truth, going deeper into this web tool, I am really excited and fascinated and my response to the question will be definitely the same as it opens new and novel opportunities for learning both for students and the teachers. 

Educational Wikis

Wikis are powerful learning tools. They play a major role in learning. One feature that distinguishes from other online web tools is that they are collaboratively created websites where users can create a series of web pages, edit and revise their and other’s work, provide feedback, keep track of the changes and publish information online. 


 In classrooms students may not have time to read and build on each other’s work. However, in collaborative online environments, they are given this opportunity. Research, discussions and reflections started in the classroom can continue online. As they contribute to a wiki, students are creating course resources and building course content in a shared space where they can add, delete and revise their writing. Wikis are very suitable for educational use. They are very flexible: all you need is a computer with a browser and Internet connection. 
They have many advantages:     

• Wikis promote collaborative writing. The collaborative context provided by wikis enhances users to negotiate, collaborate with others as well as learn from other’s work.

• Wikis provide open-editing. Users can change their own and others’ work. They provide an easy way for completing collaborative projects, extending group work by continuing it outside the course and encourage learners to participate in discussions on their own in the online environment.
• The most distinguishing feature is wikis’ ability to incorporate graphics, audio, video and animation that allow learners to express themselves and communicate the meaning.    

  Wikis significantly changed the dynamics of online learning and collaboration, as well as students' and teachers’ perceptions of what online learning is about. The students and the instructors see value in using wikis as a collaboration tool. From the students’ perspective, wikis encourage better individual participation and are a good tool for collecting and organizing information for group projects. From the teachers’ perspective, Wikis enable instructors to create interactive activities for their students and to present course information such as resources, external links, project information.