Games played for GBL and TEL demo

For the first week, my group tried the flash-based games and Wii sports games. The flash-based games were simple and easy to play. The instructions involves moving the main character around the house such as in Energy Hog or just choosing the right options in another game that requires us to operate a patient's brain.

On the other hand, Wii sports is of a totally different nature. It has much more complex gameplay than flash-based games. We had to pretend we were really playing the sport and there can be many skills combined in one game such as in Wii tennis, we have to serve, return serve, volley, lob, or even not hitting when we judged the ball to be out. It was more fun for me than flash-based games and there was more interaction in the group as the spectators were very involved in the Wii games as well.

For the second week, we played the Macdonalds game. I didnt really realise it was a game of economics or business at the start. I only feel that 'ok, to get my store going, I have to rear cows; to rear cows I will have to grow more wheat. Just dont get me bankrupt'. Only after one attempt (and getting bankrupt), then I realise it was a simple overview of how a business should be run. There were so many things to focus on at the same time. There are many objectives and all the objectives do not have a direct link to one another. It was tiring but fun to avoid getting into the red.

For the editing of the wiki page, it was not a game so I dont think it is GBL. But wiki is one of the most useful web resource I have experienced in all my school life. I was very involved in rote learning most of my life and I am pretty tired of it (maybe thats why I am a teacher now), so most of the web resources I have encountered is work-based where I do quiz and stuff. I can't use these resources for my own sake or for my own work. Wiki is pretty neat and I can use them for my other projects that involves group work or collaboration. Information is disseminated faster and easier. I have already used wiki for one of my module project outside ICT. It proving rather useful as I can see other people's ideas which I could not have thought of. I will be using wiki much more in the future.

This week we played trauma center on Wii. I was the third pair in the group to try the game and the previous two groups proved to be very good teachers. The results of learning through observing other's experiences was very evident in this game. I suprised myself when we managed to complete the operation in a very short time and even managed to complete the second operation. This game teaches you to apply what you learn in game where we use operation tools (forceps, antibiotics, stitches) in different situations and also learn outside the game when you observe the people play.

It was an interesting 3 weeks all in all. For demo tel presentation, I feel most groups (except mine) managed to put in the four main criteria: introduce the tool, student-centered lesson, pedagogies and limitations. These four aspects were lacking in my group which I regretted not playing out everything that is needed for the demo during the rehearsal. I was probably not on my toes as it was my first presentation in NIE which again I regretted. But something I got out from this experience was I must really check through everything and think through everything for any presentation. My first real-life lesson learnt in NIE which I hope will serve me well in the future when we do the walkabout.