blog entry 6 - video_video_games_and_virtual_reality.zip

 While videos are now commonly used and accepted within the classroom, video games and virtual reality as learning tools are still very new to the scene. In unit five of this course, my peers and I dove into the use of these new learning tools and how they can be integrated into a learning environment.

In the article Fostering Multimodal Analyses of Videogames: Reflective Writing in the Middle School, we saw how literacy and learning practices are represented within video games. For example, when playing a video game the player will be presented with many decisions that they will need to make. These decisions will often need to be made quickly, and each decision made impacts the game in a different way. This requires the player to always be thinking about the future and what path they want to take in their game. Multimodality holds a great presence within video games as well. Aside from dialog between other players or characters in the game, players receive stimuli in the form of visuals and audio from the time they turn the game on to when they decide to log off. Using these modes of stimuli reception will also aid students in sharpening their decision-making skills as well as give them practice with analyzing non-print texts which is something that will prove very useful in the classroom and allow them to connect many forms of texts to what they are currently learning about in class. 

The article Using Augmented and Virtual Reality in the Language Arts Curriculum was an that I loved. Coming from a high school that was not necessarily behind technologically but was certainly not ahead either, I find any application of virtual reality inside of a classroom setting super interesting. Reading about how a seven-year-old girl was able to utilize an HTC Vive virtual reality headset to build and create whatever she wanted within the Google Tilt Brush program fascinated me. I believe that each generation of children is born with a higher technological fluency than the last, however, teaching these children how to use and operate current technology starting at a young age is something I believe can do nothing but begin to prepare them for their future careers in a world in which technology advances faster than the seasons change.