Panel Discussion and Presentation at TCEA 2009

As noted earlier, I’ve been invited to participate in a panel discussion on educational gaming at TCEA 2009 in February. This will be similar to the panel discussion I was on at FETC earlier this year, and promises to be an interesting time.

The TCEA folks also invited me to present on educational gaming, and so I’ll speak on a topic thread based on everything teachers want to know about educational video games but are afraid to ask. I’m looking forward to TCEA’s 29th annual convention in Austin, and hope to report more on it as the date draws near. TCEA remains one of the premier ed tech conventions in the country, drawing in thousands of educators and most major vendors.

Educational Games to be a Focus of TCEA 2009

I was asked recently by the folks over at the Texas Computer Education Association to serve on a panel discussion about educational videogames at TCEA 2009. This proves to be similar to the one I was involved with at FETC 2008, to which Lee Wilson invited me. With educational gaming being a focus at the conference, TCEA 2009 is shaping up to be extremely interesting.

FETC 2008: Virtual ChemLab

I’m fresh back from FETC 2008, and I’ve got lots to share. I’ll start with a presentation I attended by Brian Woodfield over at Brigham Young. Dr. Woodfield is project director for the Virtual ChemLab (VCL) computer simulation that BYU has been working on the past several years, and is offered to high schools and universities through Pearson Prentice Hall.

Several simulated laboratories are offered through the software, and Dr. Woodfield provided many interesting demonstrations during his lecture, including ones for a Physics Lab, Physical Science Lab, General and Organic Chemistry Labs. Improvements and additions to the offerings continue to occur with each passing year. Graphics art students at BYU work on the computer graphics, and each year new students attempt to outdo previous efforts. Coming soon will be a simulated Biology Lab, complete with microscopes and genetics.

Graphics indeed were good. Dr. Woodfield opened the presentation with photos of traditional chemistry labs, and explained how tedious and time consuming classroom experiments are to set up, and how they tend to stifle experimentation and creativity among students. Placing accurate simulated experiments within appropriate contexts, though, does allow free exploration and additional opportunities for serendipitous discovery. Plus, it allows much faster and less expensive experimentation. It’s also safer. Click here for a brief list of horrific accidents that have occurred in high school chemistry labs over the years. Dr. Woodfield demonstrated an “explosion” by mixing the wrong chemicals, and the beaker came back ready for another experiment. This was much safer than real world explosions.

Over the years, BYU has found VCL to be as useful as any other tool in the classroom. In other words, most of its effectiveness depends on the teacher or professor using it. Implementation is key, and instructors with a positive attitude will have the most success with the product (I think this is true of every educational product).

They’ve found most kids take 15 – 30 minutes to learn the interface. BYU instructors have also found giving students the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument before classes using VCL helps pinpoint those who prefer direct instruction over personal discovery, and who therefore may need more initial assistance with the program.

VCL seems to be most useful when assigned as homework. Dr. Woodfield indicated instructors have noted a 30% increase in performance on exams in classes using VCL versus those who do not. Also, students who did not use VCL invariably performed poorly on quizzes over the covered material.

Dr. Woodfield shared many interesting anecdotes about using the program. One involved a teacher in Indianapolis who wanted the program for her students. The school was unwilling to provide a site license, so she bought a single license and installed it on a computer in the back of her room. VCL became so popular, the students told their parents about it, and complained they did not get enough time on the program. The parents pitched in and paid for a site license so VCL could be installed on every computer in the school. Stories like that attest to the program’s popularity.

Worksheets that teachers have put together are available. Also, a couple of papers by Dr. Woodfield and his colleagues appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education concerning use and assessment of the program in college course. These are available for download at the main VCL site:

B.F. Woodfield, H.R. Catlin, G.L. Waddoups, M.S. Moore, R. Swan, R. Allen, and G. Bodily, “The Virtual ChemLab Project: A Realistic and Sophisticated Simulation of Inorganic Qualitative Analysis”, J. Chem. Ed. 81, 1672-1678 (2004).

B.F. Woodfield, M.B. Andrus, T. Andersen, J. Miller, B. Simons, R. Stanger, G.L. Waddoups, M.S. Moore, R. Swan, R. Allen, and G. Bodily, “The Virtual ChemLab Project: A Realistic and Sophisticated Simulation of Organic Synthesis and Organic Qualitative Analysis.” J. Chem. Ed. 82, 1728-1735 (2005).

Finally, there is a nice wiki on VCL for Sloan-C members that has more details. From all accounts, and by every indication, this looks like an excellent addition to high school and college chemistry courses. Highly recommended.

Teaching and Motivating Students: Discussing Educational Games at FETC 2008

FETC 2008 starts next week, and it is shaping up to be an exciting conference. Lee Wilson over at Headway Strategies invited me to participate in a symposium, “Using Games and Simulations to Teach and Motivate Today’s Students.” The symposium will be led by Dr. Karen Billings, Vice President for the Software & Information Industry Association’s (SIIA) Education Division. The forum format should provide for a variety of topics to be discussed, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the discussion and learning from it as well.

FETC 2008 Pits Educators in Competitive Videogame Tournament

I was honored to be invited to apply for press credentials to cover FETC in Orlando later this month by Todd Schimpf at PR firm RB Oppenheim Associates. FETC is one of the three biggest and most important ed tech conferences, along with NECC (national) and TCEA (Texas). I’ve noted previously the sessions on academic gaming that will be covered this year. I was also intrigued to note in the latest press release the following:

One of the most anticipated components of FETC 2008 is the Tabula Digita Multiplayer Educational Video Game Tournament, which will give educators the chance to step into the roles of today’s Generation.NET students as they compete head-to-head for valuable prizes. By using their algebra skills in a video game format, educators will advance through qualifying rounds to the final championship match on Friday, Jan. 25.

This seems an interesting way to introduce teachers to math drills via videogames. We’ll see how it works out.

Educational Gaming Topics at FETC 2008

The annual Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC), FETC 2008, is coming to Orlando, January 22-25 at the Orange County Convention Center. Here’s a blurb from their web site:

FETC is one of the largest, most successful conferences in the United States devoted to educational technology. The conference program is designed so educators and administrators have an opportunity to learn how to integrate different technologies across the curriculum–from kindergarten to college–while being exposed to the latest hardware, software and successful strategies on student technology use. FETC is designed for teachers, principals and deans, district administrators, curriculum designers, media specialists, technology directors and various other educators.

I noticed that Dr. Chris Dede of River City fame is a featured speaker. In addition, there will be at least three sessions on educational video gaming:

- Leading Digital Immigrants to Teach Math to the Video Game Generation, Ntiedo Etuk

- Using Educational Games to Develop Student’s Content Knowledge, Meredith DiPietro with Richard E. Ferdig and Jeff Boyer

- Why Game Development Matters, Jeff Boyer with Rick Ferdig and Meredith DiPietro

FETC continues to gain national recognition and prominence each year. This year will be no exception.