From the desk of Mr. Walters

If you're a student looking for Game design help, skip ahead to the section, " Game Design with Minecraft EE ". If you're a computer teacher who normally reads this blog as a part of professional growth, or just to make fun of me, feel free to read from the beginning. The challenge Yes, COVID-19 Strikes again Recently, in my post, 5 Elements and Still Relevant , I explained that as far as an actual sound curriculum in Game Design that Middle School students can comprehend and apply, Gamestar Mechanic is the only game in town. It's the only thing that simply and concisely takes students through designing balanced games (games with flow), using 5 Elements of Game Design while essentially using Gamification and Game Based Learning to do it. NO OTHER TOOL TEACHES GAME DESIGNas a distinct discipline. Tynker doesn't teach it. Code.org doesn't teach it.  Minecraft edu , as cool as it may be, doesn't teach it.  Microsoft MakeCode Arcade doesn...

Recently, I decided to roll out Classcraft in all of my Seventh Grade classes, and I have found it to be surprisingly effective. Not only do students take the health and experience of their characters very seriously, but they also strive to help their teams and classmates in general. One thing that surprised me was how much students crave XP (or experience points). What I do with Classcraft has no effect on student grades whatsoever. Yet, I can attach points loss / gain consequences to my behavioral and procedural expectations via  XP and HP . While these points don't matter in terms of students' grades, they do matter a great deal to students, who are ultimately more concerned with the game than their grade anyway. They get so excited about equipping their avatar with custom stuff, and many of them are becoming XP hungry. There are many students who are serious gamers and are used to being able to " grind " for XP in a game. In the way that I...

In my previous post , I argued that mandatory computer courses, particularly on the secondary level (7th grade and beyond) should move beyond a myopic focus on  keyboarding  and  Microsoft Office .  I did note that a curriculum steeped in keyboarding and productivity applications is quite appropriate and often essential at the 2nd through 5th or even 6th grade levels. By grade 7, though, if we're not moving students forward and addressing the actual standards for our grade level, rather than reiterating elementary school, we're doing our students a serious disservice. In that post, I promised a Part 2 that would share ways that you can "transform your computer classroom into a relevant, standards-compliant, juggernaut of 21st Century STE[A]M-tastic awesomeness." Talk about over-promising! Okay, I'll do my best. On to glory... Beginning with the end in mind. If you don't know where you're going, you'll never get there. This is why we have object...

Recent response to request for students to be permitted to post images, screenshots, etc. to forums in officially supported district course management system: There is a way to change the Student Permissions to allow this, however; they then have access to all of the files within that course.  This includes any database records, back-ups and general files related to the course itself.  I do not feel that this is the best option as students should not be allowed to access this information. The idea was raised that you could create a course strictly for Forums.  This would then allow students to access the course and browse all of the files without much of a security threat as there would not be a gradebook or other files that they can get to.  Again, I do not feel this is the way to go as the students may still remove or delete files that need to be kept on the server for the course to run properly.  I could see this being an option only if the students are to...

Okay so I'm facilitating a workshop on blogging today at my school, and I'm struggling to recommend any one Blog site.  They all have good features and bad, depending on what you want to do. Edublogs I used to simply recommend Edublogs.org , but due to it's new advertising practices, it's difficult to endorse. Okay, I understand.  Edublogs needs to make money to keep their servers running, but there are various degrees along the spectrum of supporting oneself and selling out.  Edublogs has sold out.  An appropriate banner ad or two is expected on most free web services, but embedded advertising links??? Will Richardson , whom I respect greatly, defines real blogging as, Links with analysis and synthesis that articulates a deeper understanding or relationship to the content being linked and written with potential audience response in mind. If this is the case, and links are an integral aspect of the connective writing process known as blogging, then what is one supposed...

An Authentic Curriculum As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I am working hard to develop a curriculum that “ Get[s] Past Teaching Apps [and helping students] Build and Use a Student Technology Toolbelt “ (Cool Cat).  This focus is defined in my curriculum in terms of  students’ technology fluency , which is defined in Cool Cat’s post as: the ability to determine and use the appropriate technology tool(s) for the task at hand in a manner that allows seamless transfer of created objects and documents to flow easily between the selected tools without outside intervention. I also want students to be able to think critically and solve problems within a computing environment since things keep changing. As Cool Cat notes and Karl Fisch supports, “We cannot fathom what the future holds for them but we know what it won’t hold: It won’t hold the software that we taught them this year in its present fashion.”

Collaboration: Okay, let's face it.  The world is moving toward more and more online collaboration.  We need to prep our students for this.  One project I currently have simmering on the back burner is a "design team" project where student groups would "meet" online with clients to discuss the design of everything from logos to web sites.  The ideal tool for such an undertaking is Acrobat.com: Acrobat.com This tool is ideal for real-time online meeting, sketching ideas on the whiteboard, uploading sample files and presentations, and even sharing screens.  It's even free.  The problem is, it doesn't work on our student workstations...  It's fine on my workstation and most of my colleagues.  My students, on the other hand, always get "invalid ticket" errors.  I swear this is deep freeze, but I can't get anyone to believe me. Here are some other possibilities that may not already be on your radar because they haven't been mentioned i...

I recently read Dennis Southwood’s October article, “ It's Not Just a Game—It's Skills for Life” from Educators' eZine. I know, I’m a bit behind on my reading, but I have a three-month-old, which I consider an ample excuse. Southwood begins by posing the following question. Q: Your students are most likely to be learning the real-world skills that employers demand when they are: a) In the classroom, following the lessons in the textbook. b) At home, completing assigned homework. c) On line, playing World of Warcraft. d) On a class field trip, visiting the offices of a local corporation. The answer is, of course, WOW (World of Warcraft). More and more, educators, scientists, and business executives are apparently coming to believe that such games require players to master skills in demand by today's employers, such as critical thinking, team building, problem solving, and collaboration.