Chapters 7 & 8

The biggest takeaway from chapters 7 and 8 are that online games can be great learning tools for our students.  Chapter 7 gave some informative tips on how educators can make virtual games, in particular, more worthwhile for our students.  These games should consist of not one, but multiple learning outcomes for students to achieve.  The problems that students encounter should be "messy" like the problems that they will encounter in real life.  There may not always be one, simple solution, but a variety of options and possibilities that students must work through.  Another important goal when creating lessons, including virtual games, is to be sure to allow students to use their higher order thinking skills.  It is okay for students to show memorization, but it is far more valuable if they can apply their knowledge, analyze it, and even create with what they have learned.

I was fascinated to hear the term "gamification," which to my understanding is taking standards or learning objectives and turning them into an online game in order to increase student interest and engagement.  The chapter also talked about how students many times are not even aware that they are actually learning and gaining knowledge and skills for learning standards and student outcomes.