3D Gaming and Spatial Intelligence

  

           Okay educators, do you recall learning about Gardiner’s multiple intelligences? One of those intelligences is spatial intelligence. Opportunities to solve spatial problems through virtual gaming supports spatial awareness! The ability to navigate and manipulate 3D models with their varying environments, perspectives, and details is a way to increase this intelligence while offering an innovative means to learn content that may otherwise become white noise in a traditional classroom.

In reading about immersive VR and ELL students, VR promotes the visual experience of learning and removes the stress of the language learning process. “By including immersive VR, the teacher would be keeping the language demands low while increasing the cognitive load” (Craddock, 2018, p. 8). An additional point made in this article is that immersive VR is inquiry based, which promotes science knowledge. In 3D Virtual Models for an Early Education Serious Gaming Application, Anastasiou et al. shares an innovative design to instruction through virtual gaming. When it comes to virtual activities, the design of the game is important to consider. Some games have minimal instruction because they are more heavily created to be problem-solving games (such as that of the described immersive VR in Craddock’s article). These may not be best fit for our early language learners. Though the ability to effectively problem solve is a skill that should develop over time, a lack of instruction or guidance can deter students from the game. When choosing a virtual game in this genre, the teacher should support the beginning of the game with modeling or easy-to-follow steps. “Learning is a complex activity that needs several gradual steps, that have to be supported by various tools… and generally have to be guided usually by the teacher, in order to be useful for the learner and not cause acquisition of misconceptions or of incomplete/disorganized knowledge” (Anastasiou et al., 2020, p. 4).

          The article goes on to explain the steps taken to create a 3D game for preschoolers in which they would interact with their actual school and its outdoor surroundings, all through a 3D virtual gaming experience. The process was quite involved, as it required 28 setups of laser scanners around and within the school premises. Each setup had to overlap the last to ensure the accuracy of the virtual footage. In the end, the data created a virtual game through the Leica Geosystems TruView Enterprise platform.

I learned a lot about how 3D realities are created through this project, yet I am certain that much of what they did is still over my head! Though I don’t feel ready to take on such a project, I can appreciate the idea behind the 3D game. They chose to use the actual school for the game because of its familiarity to the students, which makes it unique and engaging to interact with one’s own school environment virtually. I can also appreciate its alignment with the kindergarten learning goals, making it a serious game. There are many exciting VR apps available, but not many are geared towards educating with simple tasks and standards aligned goals. The activities described within this game are age appropriate and super fun. They included finding the way to their classroom and describing their movements to get there, a painting activity in which they first had to collect their fallen crayons, a free play activity with hyperlinks to games such as puzzle, stories, and musical instrument trivia. This virtual game design sounds like it was very purposefully designed with the intentions of meeting the needs of our youngest language learners. I encourage you to check out this article to learn more about a fantastic model for 3D gaming!

 

Reference

Anastasiou, D., Avgeri, T., Iliodromitis, A., Pagounis, V. & Tsakiri, M. (2020). 3d virtual         models for an early education serious gaming application. International Archives       of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences.,     XLIV-4/W1-2020, 3-9

Craddock, I. M. (2018). Immersive Virtual Reality, Google Expeditions, and English    Language Learning. Library Technology Reports, 54(4), 7 9. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/viewFile/6669/8958

Social Media Use in the Language Classroom

 

When will the excitement about social media fade? It likely won’t. In fact, we are learning to embrace its advantages! “Recently, there has been a drive towards ubiquitous learning with more and more schools being fixated on student centered learning” (Sam, 2021, p. 231). I dug a little deeper into understanding how to apply social media in language learning. Wong et al. (2017) explains that a seamless language learning approach takes traditional curricula and redesigns the learning experience to promote authentic interactions using social media. “In short, the age of social media offers unprecedented opportunities for language educators to create learning environments for the pervasive trajectory of authentic, cross-contextual and socialized language learning (Wong et al., 2017, p. 11-12).

Wong et al. (2017) describes two different approaches to seamless language learning. In one approach the educator has minimal involvement in the social media student exchange. The benefits to this approach are that it sets the stage for a more authentic language experience. Students are motivated to interact with their peers without the hinderance of teacher corrections stifling their thoughts. This approach will “…build environments where L2 learners dare to “tinker” with self-expressions and communication in the target language” (Wong et al., 2017, p. 12). The downfall to this approach is that it puts little emphasis on linguistic accuracy and great emphasis on student accountability. In the second approach, the students receive more structured, task-oriented direction with the use of social media. The educator monitors and contributes feedback.

When debating which approach to use in my own classroom, I should consider the needs of my students and how they would best benefit from the integration of social media. I need to ask myself ‘Am I looking to encourage and honor the process of authentic socialization or do I have a particular learning objective in which I need to facilitate the process to meet the goal? In many cases, a balanced approach is best for the integration of social media in language learning. I think the use of Instagram provides the excitement of authentic interactions with peers, while it can also be task-oriented for an educational purpose. “The key educational application of Instagram is sharing videos or images for analysis or reference by learners” (Sam, 2021, p.232). The teacher can make a post and require students to comment, though this may not illicit a natural interaction. Instead, I might flip this idea into a student post. For example, take a key vocabulary word and turn it into an Instagram assignment. Students need to create a post related to the vocabulary word. Peers who “follow” them on Instagram can comment and reflect. 

Has anyone out there tried Instagram in the classroom?

 

 

References

Sam, C. (2021). Selection of Social Media Applications for Ubiquitous Learning using  Fuzzy TOPSIS. Retrieved, November 22, 2022       from  https://thesai.org/Downloads/Volume12No2/Paper_30          Selection_of_Social_Media_Applications.pdf

Wong, L., Sing-Chai, C., & Poh-Aw, G. (2017). Seamless language learning: Second language learning with social media. Comunicar (Huelva, Spain), 25(50), 9          21. https://doi.org/10.3916/C50-2017-01

Digital Literacy

Digital literacy learning opportunities are everywhere! But, where to start? Because the digital world and means of communication is constantly evolving, it is very challenging for educators to pinpoint exactly what digital tools need to be taught. One thing is for certain though and that is the importance of practicing and developing digital literacy in ways that empower students to take ownership in their learning. “Language education needs to help students become more confident to interpret and produce appropriate meanings in a new language across different contexts, situations, and digital spaces” (Tour, 2020, p. 4). Selecting digital resources and tools for students to access this education is vital in our classrooms. Our students need time to practice and develop their digital literacy just as they would need time to practice and develop any other skill.

Teaching Digital Literacies in EAL/ESL Classrooms: Practical Strategies is a very informative article that I found from TESOL Journal. In this article, Tour (2020) shares many ideas and strategies for the integration of digital resources in the classroom to support digital literacies. Within the selection of resources, the learning objectives are identified and scaffolded activities for practice are included. Some ideas for the ESL classroom included creating a webpage, searching for information on Google, and creating an online profile. The following table was provided by Tour (2020) and may inspire educators with more ideas for the inclusion of digital practices in the classroom.

What I like most about the examples from this table is the variety of independent and collaborative digital literacy practices. Making a meme is a fun way to exercise the use of language to narrate or caption a digital image. This could be a quick way to brainstorm ideas for a writing piece. Some of the collaborative practices mentioned may be restricted from a school computer, but there are other resources that could establish the same sort of practice. For example, in kindergarten I use Seesaw. Some of the student portfolio postings are set privately to their personal accounts, while other posts can be shared to the whole class and are open for comment. “Creating and sharing digital content can encourage students to develop a greater sense of pride in their work” (Yuan et al., 2019, p. 133).

 

References

Tour, E. (2020). Teaching digital literacies in EAL/ESL classrooms: Practical         strategies. TESOL Journal, 11(1), n/a. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.458

Yuan, C., Wang, L., & Eagle, J. (2019). Empowering english language learners through digital literacies: Research, complexities, and implications. Media and          Communication, 7(2), 128-136. doi:10.17645/mac.v7i2.1912

Diving into Digital Storytelling

 

Digital storytelling has many attractive benefits in the classroom. It is, in a sense, creating a mini movie to share an idea. Who doesn’t love a mini movie? Digital stories can be used for many purposes such as telling narratives, sharing information or personal experiences. It gives students the power to bring their ideas and creativity to (digital) life and add audio, voice, animation, and much more. Digital storytelling “assists learners in writing creatively and more effectively by visualization of their writing, which results in an additional level of perception and authentic personal learning that enhances the writing process and effective learning experience” (Moradi & Chen, 2019, p. 3). This becomes highly engaging and can also be a great opportunity for students to collaborate in production. Our language learners may be less hesitant to write and share when they have the chance to use digital storytelling. It puts less stress on printing and more emphasis on the writing process as a whole. Students also have the opportunity to preview their project, revise, and rerecord as needed. “It enhances the multimedia and visual literacy of students, and it provides learners with a competitive compelling voice by elaborating the boundaries of learners who can communicate with and by enhancing the power and depth of that communication” (Moradi & Chen, 2019, p. 3).

Digital storytelling is a student-centered learning experience. To avoid running into roadblocks along the way, it’s very important for teachers to share the necessary steps for students to plan, develop, and create an effective digital story. Though it is student-centered, I still see value in teachers facilitating this learning process and conferencing with students to provide helpful feedback or answer questions.

My kindergarten students love listening to stories. I read aloud to them every day, but they also really look forward to digital stories shared through various sites, including StorylineOnline, BookFlix, and YouTube. I will often play a digital story for my students during handwashing and snack break time. Since learning more about the impact of digital storytelling in the language learning classroom, I thought I would search to see if I could find a student example. I came across this version of Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown on YouTube (shared by LindaSuhei1), in which someone exercised their dual language while sharing a classic story with a wonderful homemade diorama of the story setting. This example shows how you can encourage the reference of a child’s home language, while exercising new language and vocabulary. I really like the idea of students creating a setting to a story that they have written and then reading their story aloud through digital storytelling. I imagine that they would be proud of the end result!

 

Moradi, H., & Chen, H. (2019). Digital storytelling in language education. Behavioral Sciences, 9(12), 147.

Student Blogs

  

Are student blogs the missing piece to the writing process? It seems so! I am learning that blogs are a great way to practice written communication and promote interaction between students using a digital platform, which can support a positive learning environment. One way to incorporate blogs in the student learning process would be to invite students to begin writing a blog post about an engaging topic (for example, a sport, animal, or book). Peers can then comment or ask questions about the topic and this develops into a written conversation with the student author. To adapt this exercise for the kindergarten learner, a visual image could be supported with a sentence starter for students to complete. In addition, I think that blogging about a vocabulary word would be an excellent way to engage students in broadening their vocabulary knowledge. Peers can add related words or synonyms to the blog post. Collaboration between different grade levels and proficiency levels may also encourage students to think outside the box in how they interact effectively with their peers.

In Dizon and Thanyawatpokin’s journal article, Web 2.0 Tools in the EFL Classroom: Comparing the Effects of Facebook and Blogs on L2 Writing and Interaction, many positive effects of student blogging were highlighted. “Commenting on blogs prompted students to spend time thinking up ways to respond to their peers” (Dizon & Thanyawatpokin, 2018, p. 31). This suggests that blogging encourages the students to take time to brainstorm and organize their written responses. In addition, “Students were observed to use more complex words after several weeks of completing an assignment where they had to blog collaboratively and comment on each other’s posts” (Dizon & Thanyawatpokin, 2018, p. 32).

Gone are the days of classroom walls. Our classrooms are much larger now that we have digital tools at our fingertips. Why not try blogging and other digital platforms in a safe learning environment where we can monitor and provide feedback? We can set our students up for future success if we give them the means to interact digitally with their peers. As educators, we need to model, model, MODEL the blogging exercise! I think it’s important to never underestimate the need to model the expectations for learners of all ages. Students will always benefit from teacher modeling, especially when utilizing a new digital tool.

 

Reference

Dizon, G., & Thanyawatpokin, B. (2018). Web 2.0 tools in the EFL classroom:       Comparing the effects of facebook and blogs on L2 writing and interaction. The  EUROCALL Review, 26(1), 29-42. https://doi.org/10.4995/eurocall.2018.7947