Going to Africa - I need your input.

Mbabane, Swaziland
picture by Stephanie Marton

I am going to Swaziland in Africa for three weeks in June. Yippee!! A good friend of mine is a pediatrician in Mbabane, and I am fortunate to have the opportunity to visit her. Her experiences have been amazing, and I am excited to see her life there first hand.

When the idea of taking a trip to Africa became a reality (thanks to frequent flyer miles), I realized that I want to do more than just tour the country. I want to learn about education in Swaziland, connect with African teachers, share my skills and possibly turn this project into an independent study credit to complete a master's degree in instructional technology.

At the Illinois Computing Educators conference in February, I attended Sharon Peter's session "Professional Development Without Borders". Her presentation started the process of thinking about what I can offer teachers in Africa (and what they can offer me). She gave me many great ideas like bringing flash drives full of teacher resources. The schools Sharon worked in had computers, but bandwidth was an issue. She recommended downloading what I can here and bringing it on flash drives. I take my broadband connection for granted knowing I can download what I need when I need it. But, schools in Africa are not so lucky. I hope I can make contact with teachers in Mbabane before I go, so I can learn about challenges they are facing and how I might be able to help.

So, I need your help. Do you have any contacts who can help me? Do you have ideas or advice? I am still in the brainstorming phase and I also want to tailor what I do to match the needs of the area. With that in mind, this is my current to do list. It may change, but I wanted to share it so I can make it better with your input.

1. Connect with Swazi teachers by searching for blogs. (K-12 and/or university)
   
2. Download free teacher resources to put on flash drives.
3. Download open source software that is useful for teachers and bring on CDs or flash drives. (Open Education Disc)
4. Start a PayPal account and take donations for flash drives, flip video cameras and inexpensive netbooks (XO or others).
   
5. Put together materials for professional development workshops for teachers (focusing on technology integration and/or science/math.)

Please help me solidify my plan. Thanks PLN!

As the Yukili Evolve...on planet Newtonia

The semiotic domain of video games is new to me, but I started to get my feet wet this week playing Spore as a class assignment for the graduate class I am taking. I began playing the game in a frustrated state of mind as it took at least 30 minutes to install the game. After installation, Spore downloaded update after update before I could play. I spent the second 30 minutes alternately thinking "What? There has to be more than this. It's too easy," and "Why can't I get my creature to do this? I don't understand that." I did not read the manual at first. Manuals never make sense to me until I have already seen and touched the product. However, as I progressed through the first hour of play and began the second, I picked up the manual and read the sections that pertained to the stage of the game I was in. The game itself has a built in system for leading the player through each new thing. There are many pop ups that display at the appropriate time. The manual simply added a few things I hadn't noticed. And, I have a feeling I'll look at it again as I get to new stages. (Or maybe I should say IF I get to new stages.)

After hour 1

During the second hour of play, I was pulled into the game. It became more difficult. I graduated from the cell stage and became a creature and walked out of the sea.
The progression through the creature stage is taking quite a bit longer than the it did through the cell stage. More thought about what features my creatures need to achieve different tasks is required. It's as if the game was designed to let the players mess around and learn in the cell stage, but makes them get serious in the creature stage. (And, it probably was designed that way.) Once creature stage ends, I will no longer be able to vary its physical features. The next stage is the tribal stage and there will be different concerns. So, it's important to make the right decisions now, because those decisions will affect how my creature survives during the rest of the game.

After hour 2

In his book titled "What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy," James Paul Gee talks about the Design Principle on page 41. I can see why this is so important as I begin to play this game. If I become too frustrated with not figuring things out, I may just give up on the game. And if it is too easy, I will be bored and also give up. It's a fine line to walk between the two. And, I think a successful game (and classroom lesson) finds that line.

Playing Spore reminds me of another simulation I've mentioned on the blog before, Oregon Trail. I have a goal and I have to make decisions that affect my success in achieving the goal. One difference is the quality of the simulation. I loved Oregon Trail, but I never did quite figure out what the right combination of food, tools, etc. was in order to make it. It never connected for me. In Spore, I am already learning how to read the clues around me to make the right decisions.

I also started playing World of Goo which is a delightful game. I will post more about it another time. Meanwhile, here are some screen shots and videos from my experience so far in Spore.




Evolving in the Cell Stage from Heather Dowd on Vimeo.


A Siren Call from Heather Dowd on Vimeo.


Eating Meat from Heather Dowd on Vimeo.

It's Official, I'm a Science Geek

It's not like I didn't already know that, but it's confirmed yet again. For my graduate class this semester, I needed to buy a video game to play and reflect on all semester. I looked at many of the games on Gamestop and Amazon, and in the end, I ordered Spore (a kind of evolution game) and World of Goo (physics based puzzle/construction game). I heard about Spore on NPR last fall and it sounded really interesting to me, someone who usually isn't interested in video games. This class is the perfect excuse to buy it. The user reviews on Amazon were not great, but I get the feeling that is because the game was so hyped up to everyone and people were disappointed with the final product. I was not aware of the hype, so we'll see how I like it.

I did look at some of the other popular video games that everyone talks about like Grand Theft Auto, Sims, World of Warcraft, and Halo...honestly. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and try one of these. But the only thing I wanted to spend money on were the science games. Go figure.

World of Goo was a side purchase just for fun. I noticed it on a list of the best PC games in 2008 while looking for other reviews of Spore. The reviews for World of Goo were superb and I really like the graphics. I'll be playing Spore for class, but I may throw in a couple of posts on World of Goo as I get time to play it. (Crazy Machines is another physics/problem solving game we played a little bit during my first grad class. Physics teachers might be interested in World of Goo and Crazy Machines.)