Fun and Games in Professional Development - Sunday 18:00 GMT Elluminate

[Anne Fox]

I'd like my session to be based partly on interaction in this space prior to and after the event.

I have signed myself up to do a session on the use of games in professional development. The idea here is to look at the experience of using three different games I have found and to think about the wider implications of whether it is a good idea to do this.

As the coordinator of a European project, VITAE, developing a mentor training course to promote ICT integration in vocational education, we have 'toyed' with the idea of inlcuding playful elements in the course. Unfortunately we could not find a game which incorporated the integration of ICT in teaching supported by mentoring so instead I have gathered three games which cover these elements separately and we'll see if we can learn anything from them. See my session slides below.

Fun and Games in professional development

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What you can do:
Try out the following games and report back on your experience.
Mentoring Ms Montfort (about 30 minutes)
Diffusion of Innovation Simulation (about 90 minutes)
Social Media game (needs playmates!)


Why?
Games-based learning is increasingly being recognised as an effective way of learning, may be the best way of learning?

Specifically games, and especially video games, include the following features:
- fantasy
- rules/goals
- sensory stimuli
- challenge
- mystery
- control

which are conducive to learning.

Not only that but online and video games may foster 21st century literacies as follows:
- Risk-taking- Critical reflection
- Collaboration
- Meaning creation
- Non-linear navigation
- Problem-solving and problem definition
- Innovation