Fix 1-2

With settlers online my experience so far has been interesting. So far I have slowly accomplished putting together my settlement. The goal of settlers is to build your settlement as well as your people in your settlement so that you can have a powerful somewhat of a "country". The rules and limitations of the game is based on where your at level wise it limits what you can build, what you can buy and what you can trade. But as you venture through the game and the levels you open up things you may not have had the opportunity to use or build which makes it entertaining as you go because in some cases you know what you are going to get but in some you do not know what is out there available to your settlement. As you go through you see on the side bar what events you have to complete in order to continue to level up. You feel as though you are so close to completing a task you continue to work on the goals so that you can continue to build your settlement. By playing this game with others it allows for communication to work together with other people as well as trade goods with other people. It is similar to the real life experience explained in the video "World of Warcraft: Addiction or Cultural Phenomena" It allows for you to learn real life traits in a fantasy world the money you use is fake but it teaches that you can go broke in the game which limits what you can do in the game experience. Mcgonigal (2011) stated, "Fix #1: Unnecessary obstacles, compared with games reality is too easy. Games challenge us with voluntary obstacles and help us put our personal strengths to better use" (p. 22) As you continue to build your settlement have your villagers work on your settlement. I Have not decided what the goal of the settlers online game experience Because it is still new to me. The feedback I have not seen as well but I think by using the discussion boards you can receive feedback on issues you may be having in your game play as well as allow you to ask questions regarding the game play and experience of others. Due to my skill level being low so far due to my lack of time invested the flow has been slow in the sense of goals obtained and levels reached. But it does allow for you to work on what goals you want to as they are available whether it is one or multiple. The rewards of the game it seems are endless as you continue to level up and grow your settlement. Consequences so far for myself have been losing established land because of lack of playing on my part which is new to me when playing an online game. I always was used to once you are established you go back to an already built up settlement but I saw I lost some of the land that had expanded as well as an established pinewood cutter.

Gaming Benefits

After watching the videos and reading the articles I have realized the benefits that gaming has on education and in the real world. Based on the video gaming its benefits include learning in different types of paradigms. Since you can work in games as a team or as an individual. There is a constant feedback on the behalf of the game in the sense that in every situation you can receive an answer to whether it is a question or an assessment of a situation. Also the feedback can be negative which leaves out the human piece of emotions where sometimes a student may feel a teacher can single out a student the computer alleviates the difference in opinion. Games also allow for creativity on the students behalf which can benefit in other aspects of their life outside of the classroom. The skills taught and learned can be applied to real world functions these students can apply outside the classroom.

Societies benefits from gaming are as countless as they are in the classroom. Gaming can simulate real life situations whatever they may be which can allow for trial and error for certain real world situations. Jane McGonigal talked about applying your feelings you gain in gaming and apply them to your life outside of gaming. Her discussion of World of Warcraft where when you are giving the challenge to save the world or an epic mission. All the positive feedback we receive is so satisfying. The gaming becomes more relieving then real life emotions. People become more productive in their life because it changes our actual being. It can become more impactful then just the time spent during the gaming but these emotions can become realistic and rollover into our real life.

From the videos you can see how it relates to the experiences we have in gaming. The settlers online game your receive the same feedback talked about in TED videos. The positive feedback you recieve after quest to level up or receive more goods for your settlement. It allows for the experience to be positive however not all situations in Settlers is positive with not being active for certain amount of time you can lose certain things you may have built or have come to buy or build through out time. Which makes you proactive when it comes to the game it doesn't allow for you to stay at the level you are it makes for you wanting to keep achieving new levels or goals because of the thought you could lose what was gained. It also has the social piece which allows you to talk with other active gamers on certain topics or interest one may have about another persons settlement. IT also allows you to trade goods which is relevant to the real world since we trade in any kind of business environment. Which shows how settlers relates to the real world because it in itself has its own real world experiences by growing a society of people in a virtual world.

Gaming is gaining a more impactful use by continuing to have such real world experiences such as the Settlers online game and others like it. Gaming in the classroom has the benefits need to teach trail and error of real world experiences because it allows for a student to receive the feedback instantly on what may have been done right or wrong.

-David Pasquale

Blogging and Twittering

With Blogging and twittering you see how informed you can make those around you about your own personal life our your opinions based on the subject. With twitter I have learned how much twitter allows you to do and the unknown usage opportunities it has that this lesson has taught me for my own personal use of twitter. I followed the "Gaming in Education" to be able to see where gaming is evolving in our education in environment. Gaming has blown up in the sense that now everyone is doing it so to be informed on how it will benefit our students in the future. Twitter is essentially available where ever you can access internet and today almost every individual has a smartphone with access to twitter. Which shows that twitter is evolving and essentially we can have a mini blog of your daily activities that we may not be able to see or be informed about as a friend or acquaintance. Which to me is kind of odd not a fan of people knowing exactly everything I may doing at certain points during the day.  Blogging has always been an avenue in technology that never really interested me. However, Blogging is an essential communication to many websites and other technology parts in our modern world. Blogging is an interesting factor in future education ventures. Blogging could be a way for students to facilitate a open book type venue to allow them to collaborate and pitch their own opinions and thoughts. Blogging and twittering are one in the same I never viewed twitter as microblogging but essentially it is a minute to minute blog of your personal thoughts which is quite interesting to see what people share in the moment. Where blogging is a thought out process instead of in the moment which this lesson has taught me to not only understand the difference but the key differences in the two.

-David Pasquale

Gaming as a new paradigm

The new paradigm for gaming and simulation in schools will help a majority of those students that would have the continued issued of failing in our academic system. With the innovation of education as expressed in these videos shown on the web page you see the direction education is going. The device shown in the beginning of the film that could relay the message that a student may be uninterested in a topic would save a lot of academic mishaps due disinterest in certain subject matter and would allow for a teacher or facilitator of a class to go about teaching in a different more interesting or entertaining manner. Also, when they addressed the program that would change to fit what kind of learner you may whether be visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. In order to find a students path to success we have to address how they learn at their individual capacity whatever that be. We can not all sit and read a text. Then go on to be successful in a standardized test. I do not however feel we are ready for such an advance to education because of the state we are currently in still working in classrooms using text and dry erase boards to educate. However we are moving towards a technology based academia. In the video this issue is addressed but it is stated that we are far away from getting to the point where technology facilitates a majority of academic learning. This is due to the financial part of getting to support all education settings. I think this will help all those involved teacher and students. It will allow for all students to learn in a way where they can reach their full academic potential also it will alleviate the stress teachers have on making sure all students are learning. Not all students learn the same way a lesson may be facilitated to a class.

-David Pasquale

My Gaming experience

My Personal experiences with games and simulations has varied. I am an avid video gamer however I have found it has come in the way of many activities I should be attending or work that needs to be done. It is however educational in that if you use it for those purposes I however use video games as a leisure activity that leads to game play hours on end. I have not used nor have I been taught in way where games and simulation were used which is kind surprising to me. Many of my peers at other universities or colleges have had some kind of experience where gaming and simulation was used to facilitate a class exercise and/or by the teacher in the classroom. However with the way technology has grown I feel this will be only the main way classes will be taught. The tools used will be not pencil and paper but computer and tablet based. Which to me makes it a little interesting because not only will you be learning about whatever the subject may be but you will also be learning about the device or devices used to facilitate the lesson.

-David Pasquale