Technical
http://kimberlyallard.org/e-game/home.htm
Reflection
My team and I designed GoLive! Teacher as a game to offer practice in classroom management prior to facing students in the actual classroom. This game would provide an extension activity for the credential students to practice the concepts they learn in a classroom management course. This simulation game allows the credential students to role play a classroom teacher in a simulated classroom with virtual students and master teacher.
Together our group decided to focus on an audience with which we are all familiar, student teachers. Three of the four team members are currently teachers, so we understood what student teachers go through. We then created objectives, context, scope, and design details for the game. We also developed profiles for the game characters and all the character graphics.
To begin our design of the game, we decided to use Second Life (http://secondlife.com/) as our simulation technology. Second Life is a virtual online world that we could use to emulate an actual classroom. Our professor encouraged us to use this technology because it could truly simulate the classroom experience for a student teacher. This virtual world offers student teachers experience with situations that may happen in the classroom before they actually set foot inside the classroom. We felt this would allow student teachers many opportunities to interact with students and teachers while receiving instant feedback after their actions.
To aid in our development process, we also looked at competing products of already existing teaching simulation games including Virtual School and Sim Teacher. These were not created with the use of Second Life in mind; however, they are similar to our idea so we could use them as resources for our own game.
There are many benefits to working with a simulation technology for student teachers. First of all, participants can use Second Life to experience events that actually happen in a real classroom. Student teachers face many unknowns when first stepping foot in front of a class, but this tool allows them to at least gain insight into what will happen in the classroom. Also, a virtual classroom offers many opportunities to practice in real life situations. Instead of simply responding to written scenarios, participants can actually experience the situation and make decisions as they would in real life. Finally, the game offers immediate feedback to the participants. When student teachers first begin, they do not always know if their actions are the best way to handle a situation. Only time and experience can assure a teacher that they are doing the right thing; however, this simulation experience can help relieve some of the anxiety of their decision-making. In addition, the student teacher in a real classroom can not receive immediate feedback. They must at least wait until the end of class to hear what the observing teacher has to say about their actions and decisions during class. With this simulation technology, student teachers do not need to wait, but can receive the feedback instantly.
Despite all of the advantages to using Second Life, one drawback existed. This technology did not run smoothly on all computers. Some of the older computers had difficulty with the graphics. Also, the computers would sometimes freeze or actually shut down the program. If a teacher implemented this game into the curriculum, the computers would all need to be up-to-date.
In general, I believe this simulation game could be a great asset to student teachers. Giving a brand new teacher a chance to experience a real classroom situation before walking in the door would be an invaluable experience, as well as ease the nerves of those teachers.
[Sample artifact by Carolina Counts, sample reflection by Kristina Killian]