Are you ready? Bill Gates says that game-based learning is the future of education.
He has a dream. A dream of children sitting around and playing games on their computers or their iPads or their Whatevers.
They will be wearing galvanic skin response monitor bracelets, or they will have a little chip in their heads to measure their level of excitement, and they will be excited all the time.
Every classroom–if there are classrooms–will buzz with their excitement. Little and big squeals of sheer joy as they blast off and shoot the intruder or blow away somebody else’s avatar or compete to win the most points.
They will be so excited that they won’t want to go home. They won’t want to read a book.
They will need half a gram of soma to calm down, to become calm enough to leave the classroom of the future where they have spent the entire day in play and gaming.
Just a question: Why does he get to do this to our children? Why doesn’t he use his own children as guinea pigs first?
Another question: Why do education leaders listen to him?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The future of education??? I wish it had been the past, like when I was in high school! If game based learning was around then, I would have been in the gifted program!!
Even the Coneheads don’t let their children play with sensor rings …
I read it…I was sickened…there is even a part where he refers to the kids rotating through different activities….all computer related and I am sure he even said something to the affect…”check in with the avatar teacher”. OMG…we have an wealthy idiot telling us how to teach. I wish he would work on his social skills instead. I think if I had to listen to him I would either not be able to stop laughing or I would start screaming.
Is my snarkometer broken??
If not please supply link/source for the Gates/autism connection.
Personally, I prefer the term avaricious bastard to idiot.
“I don’t post name-calling. Not of others, and not about me either.
It’s my blog.”
Diana, I enjoy your blogs a lot! But it does seem, in your comment section, that different rules apply to those that agree with you than to those that don’t. I would include calling Bill Gates ‘avaricious bastard’ and ‘idiot’ name calling, but perhaps I’m misunderstanding the definition of name-calling.
Bill Gates has done a lot for the world in his own sphere of expertise. This should not be downplayed or ridiculed, even if it stems from jealousy over his wealth.
It is perfectly acceptable to ridicule him when he steps into an arena where his expertise fails him (though he doesn’t seem to realize it). I think his influence may have a destructive affect on education since, precisely because he’s a genius in some areas, people will follow him without a thought in an area where he has no business. It says a lot that he will consult a former hedge-fund analyst on education, but not put together an advisory council of actual classroom-tested teachers. He should be slammed often and loudly about this, but name-calling and questioning his mental abilities or even mental health status will just cause people to tune out the arguments.
And let me apologize for typing your name as Diana instead of Diane. mea culpa!
I am deleting all comments that make any reference to a diagnosis of other people.
I prefer that the conversation on this site focus on discussion of issues, not personalities or assumed medical conditions.
I avoid ad hominem arguments, and will encourage readers to do the same.
We can agree, we can disagree, without making our views personal attacks or making assumptions about motives.
I received a photo post of him from Being Liberal on Facebook yesterday. He was called a Patriot by a liberal. With his “humanitarian” efforts, which are misguided and just as corrupt as his education efforts, he has fooled many. And Windows PCs are better for gaming, that is about the only edge they have left. Whatever Steve Jobs’ opinions were of American education and teachers, he never attempted to force the US to bend to his limited knowledge of education.
Excellent questions. All parents want their children to be happy, to be excited about learning, to be having fun. The reality is this does not translate to life. Kids do not always need to be entertained. Sometimes boredom leads to exploration. Sometimes personal rewards motivate more than “points” or “blinking lights.” Education should not be boring. Education should not be overstimulated fake rewards. The secret is in the balance.
Anyone who reads knows it is not boring; whether a story is consumed on a printed page or via a Nook or a Kindle is not the reason, but whether the plot is exciting and the reader able to interpret the written word. Maybe we need to begin with the question Does Mr. Gates have children? One thing is certain, he was a child once upon a time…
Books don’t have to be exciting to be wonderful. I can think of lots of books that I loved that made me ponder or wonder or imagine or happy or sad. I don’t think the galvanic skin response monitor would have moved much for those books.
Love your humor re response to Gates. Maybe we should all just start making fun of these destroyers of education. If we were not dealing with children, then they would be laughable;however, the situation is tragic since children are involved.
Consider that the voucher program in Louisiana has made that state an international laughing stock. We can’t induce shame in these people. So maybe humor will succeed where shame is not possible.
Ann, I was about ready to start laughing out loud as I started to read this. Sometimes a sense of humor is the only thing that can get us through the reform mess and nonsense.
I have had to sit politely through several presentations on game-based learning. It strikes me as naked pandering to the students’ recreational habits and to the notion that education must be light and entertaining, preferably with lots of flashing, colorful screens.
Adolescence is precisely the moment when childish things must be put aside in favor of the adult world of intellectual effort, discourse and ideas. The kids already get plenty of this electronic folderol on their own time.
“Adolescence is precisely the moment when childish things must be put aside in favor of the adult world of intellectual effort, discourse and ideas.”
Quite correct but we may have to amend the lyrics to “To Sir with Love”
Those schoolgirl days, of telling tales and biting nails are gone,
But in my mind,
I know they will still live on and on,
But how do you thank someone, who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn’t easy, but I’ll try,
If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters,
That would soar a thousand feet high,
To Sir, with Love
The time has come,
For closing books and long last looks must end,
And as I leave,
I know that I am leaving my best friend,
A friend who taught me right from wrong,
And weak from strong,
That’s a lot to learn,
What, what can I give you in return?
If you wanted the moon I would try to make a start,
But I, would rather you let me give my heart,
To Sir, with Love
The latest version of “Call of Duty,” a video that models killing, now has the leader of the military forces named as the representative warrior against the 99%. Newsspeak. Ministry of Peace equals War, Ministry of Education equals Secretary of Ignorance.
Soma? eMonitors? The sign post is no longer up ahead. It just went by. The new and unlimited one corporate world rushing through us.
I remember when I used to play learning games with my students. That’s when I wasn’t on some artificial curriculum calendar. (Those were the days when someone didn’t tell me how long to spend on a concept.) I had the time to teach concepts through games. Students played with each other, not some machine. They laughed, smiled and learned. Gates doesn’t seem to understand how important it is to have real-life interactions when learning. When my students work cooperatively, they can huddle closely to work out a problem. They would be so excited when they came to a solution or worked on a project together especially one that involved arts and crafts.
I think Gates envisions a future where kids aren’t interacting together but instead are on some screen. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you miss the fist bumps, the pat on the shoulder and the LOL moments that made them really enjoy school. I wonder what recess is like in Gates’ world. I bet it involves a computer and not fresh air.
I played the occasional Math Munchers on the 5″ floppy disk in elementary school. It was a fun way to reinforce basic math facts, not to acquire new knowledge.
In answer to your second question, I suspect they listen to him because he has money to offer.
Another question: Why do education leaders listen to him?
I’m not so sure it is the education leaders listening to him–more so the political leaders and they realize quickly they would be out of office without the ever-loving dollar. Money is power in their small minds–the more money and individual seems to have, the more power he seems to wield. Gates recognized long ago that educational system was for the most part an untapped lucrative venture just ripe for the picking. He planned it carefully and now has those political, money-hungry “leaders” believing he is the cat’s meow regarding the “deform” movement within education. So sad that Gates forgets (or doesn’t care) that our children are the ones who will be suffering in the very near future thanks to his power sword that he has jabbed right into the heart of public education.
Money is what rules America! Can you imagine this joker trying this stuff in Germany or Finland? They would laugh this weirdo out of there. This wouldn’t work in a “real” country. And people doubt that America is in decline. This stuff is getting better than fiction. We are working our way towards “Soma.” This is not normal school reform, and we aren’t in Kansas anymore. Keep fighting the good fight, Dr. Ravitch, but I am afraid that we thinking people are going to have to move somewhere where people are still logical and coherent…It’s is time for me to move my family back to Europe. It was a nice 100 years, but I don’t want to see what comes next. I also don’t want my children growing up in this mess surrounded by the “proles.”
Why do people listen to him? Tevye has the answer. When you’re rich people think you really know.
Playing video games would be great. I can have one group play Pac Man where students learn the value of chasing little colorful creatures. Sometimes creatures can be good and sometimes bad. That’s a valuable lesson, Another group can all be coloring the same thing using a painting program. Students learn that when everyone does the same thing, creativity is stifled. And best of all, video games give points. So we can just add up the points on the video games and that will be our new standardized tests. Testing has never been so much fun. We won’t have to teach to the test. We can just let kids play on the computers for their school day.
Just because you (You being politicians and rich guys who think they know what’s best.) were once a student or you have kids in school, it does not mean you know what it means to be a teacher. All these so called reforms or new ideas are insulting to us as teachers. You make it sound like anybody can be a teacher. All you have to do is plunk them in front of a motivating game and that’s the answer. Be my substitute for a week in a rural 2nd grade classroom. You have them play computers all day long. I’ll teach using boring old paper and pencil and those mundane things they call books. Then we’ll take a test at the end. Because I love to test 8 year olds. No, not to see how smart they are; just to see how I’m doing compared to you. I don’t use tests to help my students. That would make sense. We’ll average the grades and toss the tests in the garbage so nobody can learn from them. Now if my kids were neglected at home, didn’t get to bed till 2am, didn’t have breakfast, have parents going through a nasty divorce, or have parents that don’t value education we won’t consider these factors. After all we are only looking at the end result of the tests. The children really don’t matter, the tests do. I’m just so enraged at how outsiders have taken over an area they know nothing about.
People listen to him because he has money. That is all it takes in these here parts…We in America have to do some serious soul searching. Our culture is a mess. We wouldn’t have these reforms if we had a better culture and a more educated populace. We have to face the fact that we have a lot of stupid people who know next to nothing. Something is really wrong with our country, and I don’t think I am alone in saying this. I think that a population gets the leaders that it deserves. If our politicians are low-level people and idiots, then who is to blame? They come from us and our culture. These politicians couldn’t be elected in Germany or England. People over there are too smart and well read for that. Only in America! These reforms couldn’t have happened 50 or 40 years ago in America when we had smart leaders and there was more concern for the “common good” and “community.” We are a splintered country today and not the same anymore. My grandfather wouldn’t believe the stuff going on today, and I can’t either. America is off the tracks, and all of these things are symptoms of decline. If this is how our country’s leaders view education, and demonize teachers, then it may be time for America to collapse and get off the stage. Those of us who are smart and able should probably move to a more sensible country and culture. I am tired of arguing with people who start shouting when you mention health care or unions. They don’t get it and they never will. They can have fun collecting cans with Romney, and I will be driving a taxi in Copenhagen…
Beware of gadget worshippers with too much money and not enough sense.
Beware union mouthpieces who would rather preserve the contract of an ineffective teacher than be open minded to some forward thinking ideas for how to spawn motivation and content relevance.
Somewhere long ago in a different time, there was a lucky country where the rich were rich enough and there was plenty of opportunity for those who weren’t rich. Somewhere around 1957 this lucky country got some competition and in a panic decided that the reason they “fell behind” was the fault of children and teachers (at that time mostly women). It was a good strategy and kept the focus off those really lucky rich people and our politicians. It worked so they did it over and over because they had more and more competition. And now that the luck has run out and it takes real acumen and courage to lead this formerly lucky country, a super rich person who is extremely lucky will be the one to tell us how to shape up all those unlucky teachers and children. And these are the gifts of a superior civilization! My apologies to Jared Diamond. I think we’re doing about as well with our problems as the folks on Easter Island.
Diane, do you not see any role for gaming and simulations in P-12 education? Because this post makes it seem like you don’t…
A limited role. Gaming is fun and kids can learn from gaming. But kids need to learn to concentrate and to persist when they are not having fun. Gaming doesn’t teach that. Nor does gaming teach how to understand theory or philosophy or how to read critically or how to understand the reason for the game.
I hate to say it Diane, but this response displays a lack of understanding on the topic of video games and learning. In fact, many kids and adults display deep levels of concentration and persistence in the act of gaming. The assumption that the entirety of the contemporary video (or even older analog) gaming experience is a fun or light experience that is engaged in without dedication, passion, and persistence is simply incorrect.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not making claims that every gaming experience is a deep and meaningful learning experience. I’m also not offering a confirmation of the “future” of learning that Bill Gates presents. I consider Gates to be tampering in an area he doesn’t really understand as evidenced by his push for a less than thoughtful implementation of charter schools, and even less considered advocacy of value added measures for assessment. However in your response here you’re using an incredibly broad brush to paint a form of media as relatively valueless, and I’m afraid you simply don’t have enough familiarity with the medium in question to make that claim accurately.
The hyperbole that Bill Gates engages in on the topic of games as the future of learning is also misplaced. However, your response to his hyperbole does not take into account the extensive amount of research that has taken place on the topic of games and learning. Video games as a medium have the potential as one type of learning tool to do a whole lot more than create fun experiences. I recommend taking a serious look at the works of James Paul Gee, Kurt Squire, John Seely Brown, Chris Dede, Constance Steinkuehler, Sasha Barab, Kylie Peppler, Yasmin Kafai, David Shaffer and the many other games and learning scholars who have provided a strong foundation for looking at how video games can fit in as a particularly valuable tool for education. Games should not stand alone, and in general games should be treated just like any other text (not some stand alone panacea), but to discard them out of hand or suggest that their role will only be as supplementary “fun” experiences on the side of “real” learning is to turn away from one of the most powerful tools for learning that we have access to in the early 21st century.
Actually an all-game school is perfect for the training of drones.
I think that many of the statements (and 1984 references) in these posts about “game-based” learning are unnecessarily incendiary.
As Bill Gates said:
“We’re not saying the whole curriculum turns into this big game. We’re saying it’s an adjunct to a serious curriculum.”
Not that I condone turning out drones from public schools, but look closely at the national and state level justifications of public education. They look really good and say all the right things, but in practice there are no standards for thought creation, creativity, collaboration or relevance, so they aren’t tested for. What the system is doing, with or without computer based learning games and simulations is training drones.
Testing creativity? Surely you jest.
“Corporate society takes care of everything. And all it asks of anyone, all it’s ever asked of anyone ever, is not to interfere with management decisions.” – Rollerball (1975)
I have said for many years that students need a show, a circus, in order to pay attention in school. And this is wrong. When I was a kid there were very few entities competing for my attention – my parents, school, church. That was about it. Now, children are bombarded by media and it is difficult as a teacher to break through that. It is also difficult for parents, but it is THEIR ultimate responsibility to do just that. It isn’t easy to compete with professionals who have had great training in the ways of marketing and manipulation. Parents have power, though, and they must wield it.
I have long believed that no advertising should be done to children. When my own children were young I thought that if a business wanted me to buy something for my children (cereal, toys, etc.) then they needed to market it to me. I think advertising to children should be banned.
Teachers, too, have power, but it is undone by all the media students have at their fingertips. Every day isn’t a circus, a show, and children need to learn to think deeply and to persevere in their thinking. That is difficult for them with all the “noise” going on.
When computers first entered our school lives in the 80s I tried to impress upon my colleagues that technology, like a film projector or a paper cutter, was a tool, not an end in itself. I remember working on curricula which incorporated computers into content areas as well as reading and math, and trying to keep the focus on education rather than the bells and whistles.
There’s nothing wrong with using technology — computers, iPads, overheads, video — as teaching tools…and, I personally don’t think that there’s anything wrong with game formats as learning tools.
However, tools are tools and education is not, and should not be, defined by its tools. A treadmill, for example, isn’t the exercise. Walking or running is. iPads, laptops and smartphones aren’t education. The goal is learning.
Bill Gates doesn’t know anything about public education. People listen to him because he’s rich…period. I’d like him to spend a year teaching in a public school in, for example, the south Bronx…and then hear what he has to say.
Agreed. Well said.
I’d settle for a month. Has he even visited schools in the South Bronx?
Worth repeating. “tools are tools and education is not, and should not be, defined by its tools. A treadmill, for example, isn’t the exercise. Walking or running is. iPads, laptops and smartphones aren’t education. The goal is learning.” Well said.
MIND research and JiJi. I think this is a great way to experience algebra. Interactive, international, and instructive. Geometer’s sketchpad/Geogebra.
My kids had Oregon Trail. Theme Hospital was so good for teaching management of resources that it was used to train real hospital managers. Sadly, they need updated because Windows won’t always support the old learning games.
If you’re old you remember – you’re in a maze of twisty passages, all alike – how much more difficult was that as a game than something that shows you what it looks like and a map of the levels? Maybe this is what Bill Gates means by playing games?
I never diagnose people. First of all, because I am not competent to do so. And second, because only they can choose to make this information public, it is their private business. But I don’t hesitate to criticize anyone who promulgates so many bad ideas on others, with no knowledge, experience or expertise. Bill Gates knows how to market software but that does not give him authority to reform a nation’s schools. He should stop promulGATing so much and do something about child poverty.
I have never made any personal attacks on Bill Gates or anyone else. I don’t diagnose people or attribute disorders to them. I made that clear.
I will delete it
Please release my other post which has not been published yet. Thank you.
I don’t post name-calling. Not of others, and not about me either.
It’s my blog.
It is not name calling, Diane. It is acknowledging that no one should post any comments about subjects they don’t fully understand. I can share droves of research with you about how games lead to successful learning outcomes. Games will not replace other forms of media, and you insulted an entire industry when you equate video games to first person shooters only. I sent you a response that had a great deal of “non-personal” evidence in it. Sure, it’s your blog, and you can continue to post only those comments which forward your own protectionist agenda. What will happen, like in every other industry, is that disruptive innovation will occur “outside” the establishment, and then once the traditional education system sees the real progress being made in reforming education in America, it’ll be too late.
Public education will be reinvented in America, and you can choose to continue to focus on entrenched positions instead of interests, which will only result in you being on the sidelines during the most important moment in the history of U.S. education.
I am a historian. I prefer to stay on the sidelines and watch as you reinvent American education. My only suggestion is that you take care not to break it. Remember that these are not your children. Creative disruption may be fun, but try it on your own children first.
Al (Reinvent_ED):
I’ve read your biography and it is impressive for what you’ve done. But I didn’t see any references to you being in the field of education. Have you been a teacher? I’m asking because, if not, that’s a big problem to a lot of people that work in the field of education today. Teachers and educators don’t like being told what they’re doing wrong by someone that hasn’t walked in their shoes. In other words, people like Bill Gates don’t have “street cred”.
I teach STEM classes in the number one high school in Maryland. Some of my students wrote games in Java for their semester-long project in my Writing Mobile Apps class, and at least one of them is selling their game on the Android Market.
I would love to see your peer-reviewed studies that show game playing successfully teaches concepts that kids need to learn in school. Perhaps you can post those to your own blog so we can all maybe learn something. How could game playing teach multi-variable calculus, much less Algebra 2 or trig? How can game playing help one to learn how to write an effective research paper?
Jack,
I appreciate the response greatly. I have research links on blog posts going back more than 3 years on game-based learning. I would do a search on Dr. Merrilea Mayo, former head of digital learning at the Kauffman Foundation and also former Director at the National Academies of Sciences. She has conducted extensive research on how games lead to successful learning outcomes. Also, the University of Central Florida released research a few years ago on Tabulla Digita’s algebra game, Dimenxian M. You can also look at the research that Sasha Barab at Indiana University conducted on a science MMO, Quest Atlantis. There’s countless more studies out there for sure. Also take a look at what Filament Games has done, including their games to help teach civic literacy, which was championed by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
And lastly, I came from a family of teachers. I understand your POV, but I wanted you to know that I make a distinction between a teacher and “the system.” There are many great teachers out there, but also many that have not been trained in digital learning or digital technology and also don’t have the ability to incorporate some of these learning tools into their classrooms.
The risk is we polarize a conversation quickly around all game or no game. I have used a limited (that was an excellent word choice above) amount of game creation in my junior high classroom. It is a tool like any other form of technology. Technology is the artful use of tools. I think, as Diane pointed out, books function as another tool. Children still engage in those conversations with the subject and author. Each morning, I watch as children enter the classroom, pull out a book, and become immersed in that world. Few of my students come in and grab a laptop, although they are available, and start playing games. Many will finish an activity from the day before.
It is my role or function to guide my students. I always take the views of others who are quite distanced from the world of the classroom i.e. Mr. Gates with some reservation. A number of years ago he commented he believed we could never replace the human quality of a good teacher interacting with his or her students. That is what we should bring back to him and others. Learning, even reading a book, is relational. What does any form of what we call technology offer in that human touch?
Great blog, Diane. It made me laugh and scream simultaneously.
Here’s my take on the current “must have” educational gadgets …
Education + Profiteering = Disaster for students
As a developer of educational games, I always gets frustrated when the conversation turns to Call of Duty, Pac Man and other commercial-off-the-shelf software designed purely for entertainment.
And, I have to imagine, as an educator it gets really frustrating when the “future” is depicted as a teacher-less wasteland with kids, zombie-like, beeping and booping their way to so-called learning.
Ironically, in the book Diamond Age (Neal Stephenson), there is an amazingly hi-tech tablet called The Primer, which educates the protagonist on everything from reading to martial arts. The twist (spoiler alert) is that all the avatar teachers turn out to be backed by a network of real-life actors/teachers who are on-call 24/7.
The point is that there is clearly room for well-designed, thoughful games that are built from the ground up to educate. It is actually much less about “entertainment” than some posters have discussed. What games do well include: promoting task persistence by encouraging exploration and making failure OK (it’s perceived as a safer, lower-stakes environment); adjusting difficulty (up or down) to meet student level; providing meaningful choices that have direct impact in the experience; and, yes, the look-and-feel and interactive capability is more compelling to most kids than the standard textbook (not necessarily to books in general).
That said, when we design a game, the teacher is primary in our minds. Are the learning outcomes aligned with what teachers want and need (we ask them!)? Is the teacher the central figure in mediating and reflecting on the experience? Are we providing enough moments and opportunities for thoughtful questions and discussion? Is our implementation model flexible so that it can work on one computer, in a lab, or at home? In 20 minutes or 40 minutes? Are there sufficient lesson plans and resources to give a jumpstart to preparation? Are we aligned to standards?
It takes a huge effort to make a good game that covers even a small part of a curriculum. In our experience with the Mission US line of American History games (www.mission-us.org …sorry, not trying to plug, just a useful exemplar that I’m familiar with) it can take 12-18 months and a lot of money to design (with historians and educators) and produce game that covers one small moment e.g. The Boston Massacre or The Underground Railroad. The lesson learned for us is that we, at least, can’t hope to replace textbooks any time soon… but what we can offer are launchpads into a time and place and let the teacher carry that forward (so if you’re teaching the American Revolution, you can play the game about the Massacre and get kids really interested in the whole period, which translates into much stronger engagement going forward).
Finally, it’s important to note that one size does not fit all. History is different from math, which is different from reading comprehension, etc. Designing lessons and designing games must be, by definition, heavily mediated by the content and context. There are good universal principles, but the hard work of applying them in the right way still must be done.
I think a lot of these conversations get polarized because it easier to make broad statements and look for shortcuts. The world is too often long on “vision” and short on good execution (arguably it is often short of good vision too!)
If you stayed with me, thank you… apologies for a long post!
Jane McGonigal on “serious” games: http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html
With all the log-jams in legislatures, and all the yelling and bickering at each from opposite sides of some ideological fence, and being 48 years old and remembering so many recurrences of optimistic attempts to “just do this” or “just do that” to solve problems that still prevail and are even worse than when I was young and more hopeful than I am now, I found it refreshing and heartening to think of harnessing that which seems to fascinate young people most these days, to try to direct their enthusiastic attention towards problems in the real world which they might continue trying to solve, after we, their elders, have given up — again.
I agree with Reinvent Ed. Face to face communication with other human beings is so “yesterday.” I think that kids should be placed in pods when they come to school. They will be hermetically sealed in pods that will “store” and “educate” them with video games and Khan Academy videos. Before the videos start, there would be a welcome video from Bill Gates who would express his caring and desire to “educate” America’s children. This will also keep discipline problems to a minimum, especially in those big cities. The teacher can check the pods and make sure that the students are administered the right amounts of oxygen, and that their wristbands, brought to you by Microsoft, show that they are in peak-interest mode. The students could be kept in their pods and transported home that way, only to be “released” upon reaching their home or “alternative learning location.” Parents would also be encouraged to keep their little ones playing educational games, brought to you by Microsoft, in the pods at home. This could also take care of day care, etc. Perhaps we could build large storage facilities where these pods could be stored. The possibilities are endless! This could also create jobs, real jobs, people! Thousands of people would be needed to build the pods, and the storage facilities. Research shows that these pods would also reduce teen pregnancy. Kids could take standardized tests right in the pods as well. They wouldn’t even have to leave their personal educational learning environments. The problems in education happen when you let those kids interface with other children outside of their pods. Let’s keep an open mind, teachers! I agree with “Liz” that we should keep this blog serious. No more allusions to “1984” or “Brave New World!” This is a serious topic.
Your proposal lacks an appropriate acronym. How about Personal Optimal Developmental Station (PODS)?
That’s a good one!
Here’s a great article that you should all read: http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/07/10-things-in-school-that-should-be-obsolete/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29
The article will provide support to the 10 things that must be made obsolete, but here’s the list:
1. COMPUTER LABS. A modern school needs to have connectivity everywhere and treat computers more like pencils than microscopes.
2. LEARNING IN PRESCRIBED PLACES.
3. TEACHER-CENTERED CLASSROOM.
4. ISOLATED CLASSROOMS.
5. DEPARTMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS.
6. SCHOOL CORRIDORS.
7. TRADITIONAL SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
8. DARK, INDOOR GYMS.
9. INSTITUTIONAL FOOD SERVICE.
10. LARGE RESTROOMS.
And then there could be separate PODS for going to the bathroom. Of course, they would be called PEA PODS.
I feel a need to interject that the level of snark in this particular thread of this conversation feels extremely counterproductive. Strawmanning can be fun, but it’s just a rhetorical tactic that paints opposing viewpoints in an extreme light so that you can ignore any substantive more moderate positions held by individuals who disagree. At the end of the day, it’s having fun at someone else’s expense and degrading the quality of the discourse at the same time.
When I weighed in on this conversation up-thread it was with the intent of providing a meaningful comment (grounded in existing scholarship) within the context of a critique Diane leveled which I felt was overstated, but not entirely ungrounded. At the moment, I’m regretting having clicked the “notify” check box as I see very little engagement with substantive issues that could drive this conversation in a productive direction.
I open up the discussion to anyone who wants to comment, and some people choose to vent. Many educators are angry at Bill Gates because he is constantly lecturing them on how to be better teachers and how to reform their schools, and the teachers know that he has never taught or run a school. Running a corporation is not the same as teaching. A lot of people resent the arrogance of power, in this case power that flows from being a billionaire. When you consider that the average teacher in this country makes about $52,000 a year, you can see where there might be ill will generated when they are told how to do their jobs by someone whose chief credential is wealth beyond their imagination.
I have been deleting insults, whether directed towards Bill Gates or towards me. But I won’t tell people who comment that they are not allowed to express their opinion.
Thanks for weighing in Diane. It is of course your blog, and I absolutely respect your choice to moderate voices in the way you choose. I also don’t actually think that there’s anything insulting in the venting (just not constructive). I absolutely understand the outrage educators feel given the climate around educational policy, and the privilege that is being accorded to voices that have no actual experience with educational institutions in pushing the direction of policy in this country. While my own time in the classroom was relatively short (5 years in total), I accord the utmost respect to teachers on these matters, particularly in light of the absolutely terrible tone around education in the national conversation, the diminished respect for the teaching profession, and the obsession with narrow accountability measures that are destroying the incalculably valuable educational institutions that I myself benefited from as a child and young adult (public higher education is also under attack).
My (I believe) mild rebuke above was intended as a means of highlighting the fact that there is a middle ground for the conversation about video games (and other digital media) and learning, and that I would dearly like to see more conversations that do less to polarize. It also stemmed from the fact that once I posted, the notifications coming into my inbox weren’t just dismissive of Bill Gates, but generally characterized an entire arena of work currently under way in a rather negative light. Because this is the area I work in now I was certainly a little defensive.
At any rate, I thank you for hosting this conversation, and while I may disagree with some of the voices in it, I value the fact that you’re providing a venue for it including a space for people to air their frustrations. There are of course other venues for discussions that drive more towards finding common ground such as Scott McLeod’s Dangerously Irrelevant, and at the end of the day it’s good to know that there are a plurality of resources for having one of the most important conversations we can possibly engage in at this time.
This is in reply to moseswolfenstein.
I’m one that can get a little snarky at times, after all I’m considered a certified Mr. Teachbad “difficult teacher”-ha ha! But at times some of what the educational deformers (uh oh, there’s that snarkiness and name calling) have to say about public education and the teaching and learning process is so ludicrous and risible that the only way to not become totally depressed is to have a little fun with it, just as I’m attempting to do now. We “lowly teachers” certainly don’t have the access to the media other than forums such as this one, mil gracias to Diane.
You stated that you taught and what you wrote rings true about the conditions under which we strive to educate our students. Conditions that seem to be getting increasingly hostile every week. And I hope you stick around and continue to put in your two cents worth whenever you believe it to be necessary.
It’s truly a shame you take everything to extreme, Alan. Did Bill Gates say that computers would replace face to face communication? Have you ever seen children playing games socially? Your metaphor is truly sad, and when people don’t understand something, they turn it into a joke.
Moses – I agree with you, and that’s why I turned off the “notify” button on my end.
Couldn’t be happier with Bill Gates’ comment about reinventing Education.. This time to include the kids it is taught to and the way WE hardwired them to learn… My friend Dr. Bill Schamchtenberg of VA. is an ardent Master Earth Science Teacher and a Professor with a Local Virginia University where he teaches Paleontology and Geology. Bill has been schooling me (A 5-9 / 7-12 Secondary Earth Science Teacher here in NYS), his great works with STEM Test Score’s increasing in his HS through a Game called URU. The Game Engine of the MYST Game. The thrust is that through Open Source software, Bill has created interface with this MYST Game Software engine along with Blender and AutoDesk Maya software tools, to create Mazes and Immersive worlds to teach to Common Core competencies and to integrate Content in the form of answering MC question’s correctly to make the right decision’s to pass through a maze created by Bill for students to be timed, while they pass through. There were two years of this game play from Bill’s science department and in two consecutive years, motivation and test scores were a direct correlation to more effective learning. NASA Langely had charged Bill with building a MARS Colony using this MYST Engine and he was given actual topological data from NASA to create a mock Martian surface “build” to promote teaching and Learning from varied science vantage point’s. A Geological, Chemistry and Human Psychological as well as physical space for engineering and practical lab placement were all designed for to facilitate this venture. The Martian surface lab that Bill Built received high accolades from NASA Langely while he presented on-site at the space center. The connection to K12 and connected sciences along with virtualized content was a powerful display of 21st Century technology in action.
Bill is one exemplar from which I am proud to be professionally associated with in heralding the transition into authentic and meaningful 21st Century Education here and now. Another such exemplar I too am very proud to be associated with is Ms. Peggy Sheehy, Seen here on this string I see..
I have seen Peggy’s work, I have been watching Peggy’s progress as she has tirelessly raised the bar for all of us as a progressive pioneer in heralding in the “New Normal” of educational best practices for 21st Century Teaching and Learning as a Pedagogy of best Practices that is clearly “in flux” today. Her work in WOW in School’s in Second Life with the Teen Grid (now defunct) and recent work within ISTE communities of practice through TTT, PD and MOOC’s. I am an active participant with Ms Sheehy in some of these venture’s. Peggy (along with Mr. Bill Gates) and many other hundreds of Millions of teacher’s and Learner’s are realizing that we are all yearning to learn as a lifelong practice. We were designed and built to learn actually… Somewhere along the way (Factory Model) we were stunted and thrown off course from the best ways to learn. Technology and yes (Games) have reintroduced tactile learning and motivation with quests, connected themes and collaborative learning environments through games that meet the expectation’s for today’s learner and teacher to find disruption as a most potent teaching, learning and motivating tool. There is/are tons of exemplar’s to explicate this ad-infinitum.
There is a “Tsunami” coming I’m sure you’ve heard about it… It’s about the entire World ‘arriving’ at the conclusion that connectivity is really what we all crave. Also, it is within the connectivity that the MONEY will flow through and to. There will be 3,000,000,000 more competitor’s coming through the door, within 5 years it’s been said, that will be seeking jobs from your kids and mine.. Oh not from them like employess mind you. It’s different this time. They’ll be looking to take these jobs FROM our kids…
Remember the movie line with Jack Nicholson, “You can’t handle the truth”… line.. Well, the Marine (Nicholson) also justified his behavior with “The Truth” and.. “YOU Want me on that wall”… “You need me on that wall”. Well.. It’s that way with this discussion too. Like it or not You need US driving this thing.. and if I may, you should please join us.. I’ve seen the light switch’s go on every time a “NoOb” That’s called NOOBIE, comes in-world and whether they are 15,25,55 or 72 like my Mother… The AHA moment and “This is so amazing” “I wished I knew this earlier” statement’s are priceless…
Go Easy on Peggy.. she has all our kids in her best interest believe me.. As WE all do as well.
with respect and best regards
Jack Mosel
Games-based education can mean many things, it’s not necessarily sitting around the classroom playing video games (although there can be a lot of educational value in doing so). The current Open Badges project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation and Mozilla, is an excellent example of taking one aspect of gamification (badges) and rethinking a piece of our current educational system.
Our 30% national drop-out rates let us know the “old ways” aren’t really all that great. I’m all for exploring alternatives to engage and learn. As a former professor at Boise State University, we taught over 15 graduate courses in Second Life using avatars with teachers from around the world, and were some of the most powerful educational experiences I’ve ever encountered. We often received course evaluations with comments such as, “I was totally engaged and see a new light for education,” and “This course has changed my life and thinking about the future of learning.” Think of simulated environments as a 3D form of online learning, as opposed to 2D online text and media based learning like you might experience in Blackboard or Moodle.
I don’t know you personally, Diane, but I’d be happy to chat about aspects of GBL and gamification, and show you the research evidence that shows they ARE making an educational difference in engagement, educational persistence, and increase in grades. Thank you for listening.
A few things:
(1) I believe that nuance has become an endangered concept in this age of online polemic: ignorance forestalls nuance; stupidity forbids it.
As wonderful as the internet is as a vast information source it also allows us to pick-n-choose our sources with an all-too-common result of avoiding exposure to the underlying issue(s) or countervailing opinions. It is incumbent upon ourselves to seek out those “other” sources in order to appreciate the nuance of the issue.
(2) In the linked article, Bill Gates said “(w)e’re not saying the whole curriculum turns into this big game. We’re saying it’s an adjunct to a serious curriculum.”
However, this blog post indicates that “Bill Gates says that game-based learning is the future of education” which seems somewhat disingenuous given the quote above. I feel that this is the type of hyperbole that (although eye-catching) only serves to create a greater divide. Based on the linked article a more apt lede might be: “Bill Gates says that game-based learning has a role in the future of education.”
(3) I also believe that it would be helpful to discuss how best to define “game.” When I was a student one of my favorite activities was when the teacher would have the class engage in a game of Jeopardy (over the years those classes ranged from Social Studies to Physics and these many years later those are the classes that stick in my memory). Clearly Jeopardy is a game – after all it’s a game show – and wouldn’t we also include a Spelling Bee in the game category? Although “games” tend to focus on entertainment through challenge, that is not always the case. Sometimes any perceived entertainment value is only the trojan horse used to sneak in and deliver information.
I run a nonprofit organization headquartered in Atlanta.
Jennifer Ann’s Group is focused on the prevention of teen dating violence and since 2008 we have sponsored an annual video game design contest to challenge game designers to create video games about teen dating violence. We believe that dating abuse is the type of topic that many teens / tweens would prefer to be introduced to through self-guided learning. That does not mean that this is the only approach, but rather is an adjunct to other methods of increasing awareness and providing educational information about this sensitive (and disturbingly prevalent) issue. Our games have been played hundreds of thousands of times and led to many follow-up conversations with teachers, counselors, and parents.
(The games are free and online at http://JenniferAnn.org/games)
It would be a mistake to broadly paint any medium – be it books, movies, video games, music – with a good / bad label; we should embrace them all and instead focus on the message.
Drew Crecente
Founder, Executive Director
Jennifer Ann’s Group
Bravo, Jen! I wrote my latest post BEFORE seeing that you beat me to it! Thank you.
Here is the problem I have with this blog post. I will again reiterate to all of you, including Ms. Ravitch, that you did not read Gates’ remarks THOROUGHLY and only picked out the tidbits you felt could serve your own agenda, which is to lambast digital learning and anyone who is “not an educator” who chooses to make suggestions on how to reinvent our public education system.
In this latest summary on eSchoolNews, you will see that Gates says, “We’re not saying the whole curriculum turns into this big game. We’re saying it’s an adjunct to a serious curriculum,” he said.
Yet, most of you fed off of the remarks of Ms. Ravitch, who thinks that Gates wants to replace the entire curriculum with video games and that it is the coming of the evil empire into our schools. I am issuing a friendly warning to all of you. It does not serve the best interests of the intelligent debate over education reform in this country when people like Ms. Ravitch decide to selectively interpret articles without seeing their full intent. This intentionally distorts the true message that the person is trying to convey, and that was to realize that games can be used effectively in the 21st century learning environment.
So before you draw any conclusions, perhaps it makes sense to read a person’s interview FULLY before commenting?
“Bill Gates Says. Diane Ravitch’s blog” was indeed a great post, can not help but wait to read alot more of ur blog posts. Time to spend a little time on the web lmao. Thanks for your effort -Yvonne