Computers as powerful distractions

Computers (connected to Internet) could be a great distraction in class. Here is an article from the Washington Post about banning laptops in classroom.

Wide Web of diversions gets laptops evicted from lecture halls

Yes. Something needs to be done to prevent the digital natives from making their existence more and more fragmented. 

Addictive Games

I'm neither a big gamer nor against games. I'm not good at games that need me to press buttons quickly, Super Mario, for example. But I had good experience with RPG games where I completed tasks, made money, and so on. I like to see the number in my virtual account rising. I also like to see there are more and more objects and skills in my inventory that I can use.

On Wednesday I played WoW with some of us. It's my first time playing a multiplayer RPG game. I had to admit it's a lot of fun, and it's ADDICTIVE. The trick is that often when you completed a task, they will give you a new task. And although you have been sitting in front of your computer for hours and you know you have work to do, you may say to yourself: "OK, just one more task. It will take me no more than a few minutes. " And so you are getting addicted to it.

So I'm thinking what makes video games so addictive, at least to some people. If we can incorporate some of the principles of good game design into classroom tasks, I think we will make our teaching a lot more engaging. What do you think?

Learning enhanced by experience

One of the language teaching skills is to enhance learning by letting students experience the real thing that a language refers to. A friend of mine who is teaching ESL to refugee kids tries to let her students experience English physically. For example, when she is teaching vocabulary of vegetables she will bring into the classroom vegetables and the whole class will make soup out of it (during which I guess the kids also learn the vocabulary of seasonings).

But sometimes we, as teachers, may notice that certain experience is hard to bring into the classroom, the cultural settings of the target language, for instance. When I was performing a teaching demo last semester, I was trying to simulate a food market, which is very typical in China. The activity went on well in general; I showed pictures of a food market; I set the tables in a way that vendor spots were arranged in a food market; people seemed to be happy playing the roles of vendors and customers. But the classroom still looked like a classroom. I felt if I could bring my students into a real Chinese market it would be much greater and a lot more fun.

Now with such tools as Second Life a 3D simulated environment is possible. I'm looking forward to using it in simulation.