Baby steps out the door... baby steps in the classroom... baby steps to success

King, B.R. (2007). Think small! A beginner’s guide to using technology to promote learning. Educause Quarterly. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm07/eqm0719.asp?bhcp=1

King doesn’t focus on video games, but does provide sound advance educators looking to start using any technology, including games, to enhance student’s learning. King focus is on four goals: small goals, smaller chunks of content, refined searches, and small classroom cases.

While this message is not revolutionary and rather practical, it provides a good jumping off point for those looking to get started using games and game strategies in the classroom. I used this message to emphasis the success that I’ve had within instruction sessions in my presentation. While I’m very excited and interested in using games to teach and experience information literacy, those are long term projects. We can be very successful starting small in our own classrooms. If we “start small” and apply gaming strategies to our existing information literacy program and classroom setting we can be successful in creating more engaging and meaning learning experiences. Start small, target a few gaming strategies, include traditional outcomes and you will enhance your students learning experience.

I’ve included three examples of how it can be successful in the “Begin your quest” section of my presentation last week.