My daughters have been playing club penguin all summer. I see how they are able to go in to these virtual worlds and go through different challenges either on their own or collaborating with buddies. They may not be learning a lot of “academic” skills but this they are learning how to navigate these online environments very easily. So, the verdict? There is a place for gaming both structured “teacher monitored” and unstructured “free exploration”. Play/Fun is learning too.

At the core, computer programs like the ones you name cost money and school districts are often hesitant to fund them.

When I was an English teacher, I was an early adopter of technology in the classroom. I had an electronic gradebook and was giving my classes weekly feedback on where they were grade wise and where that grade came from and how it could be improved, before anyone else did. I paid for the program myself. Of course most districts now fund electronic gradebooks but, as an early adopter, I was funding this out of my own pocket.

I had this great Jeopardy program where I would review Latin prefixes and suffixes by competing as teams in a Jeopardy format. My SAT Prep classes loved it. They clamored to review their Latin prefixes and suffixes. I bought it myself and didn’t buy the full version, which would have been more useful, because the full program was expensive and I thought my teaching assignment would change (which it did, moving to full-time librarian).

We have some teachers using an innovative approach to research. Rather than having their classes submit a paper on a topic, they submit a rap or poem incorporating what they learned in researching their topic. They came to the library, researched their topic and then created a rap. These students were actually excited about researching the chemical elements!

I approached our Head of Technology about getting a microphone and ancillary equipment so these classes could create podcasts of their raps to share with other students and the community. I was told they could perform their raps, speaking into the microphone that is incorporated into our computer monitors. *sigh*

But, the good news is I got a grant! So this fall our students will be able to perform their raps for their class and have them recorded and posted on our library webpage….research in action!! I also plan to sponsor some after school poetry slams in the library, which will also be recorded and the podcasts posted.

Learning can be fun. Learning ought to be fun. Yeah, some of it is drill, but as my Jeopardy program demonstrated, even drill can be fun. Part of the key is to get funding for learning programs that are FUN.