I had the pleasure of presenting at the 2011 Mid-South Technology Conference with my friend and colleague Carmen Weaver. We we were thrilled to have the audience engage in thoughtful dialogue about their own experiences with blended learning platforms, online resources and flipping their F2F instruction - all very exciting stuff! Kathy Schrock and Dr. Carl Owen were the key note speakers and I can't wait to share everything I learned with other teachers.  I also talked with an amazing 12 year old young man who taught me about a comic strip creator he and his classmates used to demonstrate strategies to solve linear equations.  Stay tuned for more info on integrating technology for language arts!

Who loves Photoshop?  I do.  Who loves Creative Commons?  I do.  Anyone love Wordle? I do.

Who loves expressing ideas in creative ways? I DO. 

I love this assignment: create a VISUAL definition.  My example is one I created for a graduate class in Instructional Design and Technology.   Teachers and students can also use the project in any subject, any classroom, any grade.  Let your students draw or combine multimedia and text in order to express their understanding of content.  What better way to use higher order thinking and problem solving skills!  Print out the definitions and hang them around the room, OR make a slide show set to music. 

Click here to download a PDF image and list of resources.

Q:  Why do you like to play video games?

A:  I like to figure them out, to see how to get to the next world or level.

Q:  So you like to figure out the problems?

A:  Yes, that is why I keep playing – to figure it out, how to get to the next level.

Q:  So what do you learn from playing the games?

A:  I learn HOW to play the game.

I am an art teacher on special assignment for E4TN, Tennessee’s online and blended learning program for secondary students.  A few months ago, someone from the E4TN curriculum department emailed the link to a TEDx video about game-layers.  Since watching that video, I have been paying particular attention to the games integrated into our daily lives and multimedia.  The thought of a Game Layer On Top of the World motivated me to research Game Design and it’s intersection with Instructional Design.  All this ties back to my interests in creativity and quality teaching (yes I am still an artist and teacher at heart). 

While reading about this IDT leader, I had hoped to create a game to present information about Van Eck.  After thinking about it, I realized that a game format may not be the best "presentation" tool - it is better suited to developing knowledge and skills in situated contexts and problem solving.  Hence, I created a cartoon :)  Enjoy!

Richard Van Eck is Associate Professor and Graduate Director of the Instructional Design & Technology program at the University of North Dakota.  Van Eck completed a Ph.D in Instructional Design and Development from the University of Alabama and subsequently taught Instructional Design and Technology for five years at the University of Memphis. 

While serving as an IDT faculty member at the U of M, Dr. Van Eck was also a member of the Institute for Intelligent Systems and the committee chair for the Center for Multimedia Arts in the FedEx Institute of Technology.  He has published at length in the area of digital game-based learning (DGBL) and has numerous keynote and speaking engagements to his vita.  In 2006 and 2007, Van Eck called for Institutional Support for faculty development and research in the area of DGBL and challenged instructional design scholars to focus on three key areas DGBL study: 1) Generating and Validating DGBL Theories and Models, 2) Generating Guidelines for Practice, and 3) Generating a Body of high-quality DGBL (Van Eck, 2007).  As a result of Van Eck’s challenge and corresponding ten critical tasks, the body of research in DGBL has grown.  Current research is focusing not just on how games work, but also how different types of games work.  In addition, researchers are investigating questions about culture, age, gender, preferences, interaction, etc. in relation to DGBL.

Van Eck is a self described gamer, his first being Cave/Adventure in 1976.   Van Eck also suggests that games are preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s workplace (Van Eck, ELI Spring, 2007).  In my estimation, Van Eck is a significant figure in the fields of education, Instructional Design, and Digital Game-Based Learning.  His research and theories are paving the way for the collaboration of instructional designers and game designers, and thereby perhaps changing the face of future instruction.  

To learn more, listen to Dr. Van Eck's 2007 presentation at EduCause: Generation G and the 21st Century

Click here to download a PDF version of this blog and resources.