Collaboration and Technology

            The purpose of the educational game assignment was to evaluate an online educational game based on its effectiveness in student’s learning. We were randomly assigned a group to work with. The challenge was to collaborate effectively with our varying majors and personalities. Our group consisted of three special education majors, two elementary majors, and one ESL major. Our obstacle began, as we searched for an educational game that we all agreed on. It was an eye opener to realize the number of online games offered as a resource for both parents and teachers. Because we tried to find a game that would satisfy all of our majors, it was surprisingly time consuming. Our challenges continued as we tried to perfect an educational game and technology tools.

            As a student, we are comfortable with receiving a rubric from a teacher, but rarely do we get an opportunity to create one based on our standards. Instead of creating a rubric first, we found a game. So the process felt backwards and I believed we were overthinking how to create a rubric. But after setting guidelines of what we wanted to assess, it became easy. As future educators, we understood the controversy of technology in students’ learning and development. According to Eggen and Kauchak (2012), “as with all learning activities and tools, clear learning objectives and careful planning are essential if students are to derive maximum benefit from technology” (p. 53). As we evaluated the educational game, we only recommend the game as a review or practice, but cannot replace a teacher.  

            “SpellingBee” was an educational multi-player game that assisted students from 3^rd to 5^th grade with their spelling, listening, and typing skills. In special education classrooms, I had seen the use of phonics to help children learn the letter sounds, so they can eventually read and write. Through “Spelling Bee”, they can apply what they learned in class to play the game. It can help students learn correct pronunciation. It can also help students recognize letters and words. The challenge is to incorporate the educational game into the curriculum without completely depending on it. Ehri (2008) supported, “without a solid foundation and without continued instruction in word spellings and regularities, a student will have difficulty sustaining strong spelling skills” (p. 5).

            For our presentation, we used wix to create our website to detach ourselves from the traditional PowerPoint presentation style. I thought voki was the most helpful technology tool, because it added the child-like elements into our website. When creating this website, our target group was elementary. Wix provided us the tools to create colorful and well organized website, but voki made our presentation entertaining and enjoyable for children. I also thought, we as a group stood out because of our voki, “Super Bee.”

Wiggio offered us the opportunity to have cyber-meetings without having to physically meet in a mutually agreed place. This was helpful, because we had conflicting schedules. With six people in the group, it was especially difficult to manage and set up outside meetings. I was impressed with Wiggio that the chats would directly be forwarded to our personal Gmail account. So I was able to receive notification from my Gmail account that my group members were trying to contact me via Wiggio. The website was easy to navigate, so we used Wiggio to have videoconferences, group chats, and so on. Wiggio was a website that I would use in the future to have group meetings and conversations.

              It is important to be aware of the resources provided to help students in their academic and nonacademic learning. Through this assignment, we were able to utilize the various technology tools to better our presentation. Wix allowed us to go beyond the traditional presentation style. Anyone can access our website to obtain information about the game and ways teachers as well as parents can incorporate it into the child’s life. We included a variety of insights, such as the common core standards and effectiveness in different majors. Wiggio served as a tool of communication between the group members, which made the presentation possible. Such technology tools exist to help the quality of education as we embark on the 21^st century learning.

References

Eggen, P., & Kauchak, D. (2012). Educational Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

            Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Ehri, L. C. (2010). Learning to spell - a challenge for elementary students with ld.

            Retrieved from http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/LD-ADHD/1021-spelling-     
            elementary-students-with-ld.gs?page=all