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Tag Archives: digital environments

Trying out a real career in a virtual world

14-Jan-13

You’re an avatar in Whyville (a virtual world with some 1.5 million users aged 8-16) and you’re tired of tweaking your (design of your) avatar, so you’re thinking about focusing more on earning clams (virtual currency) and building a career – maybe even a real-world one. So here’s an interesting opportunity: Because Whyville now has [...]

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Mining Minecraft, Part 3: Safety & citizenship in games (do try this at home!)

14-Dec-12

Guest post by Marianne Malmstrom I’m thrilled by the competency and resourcefulness of my young students. But I also feel an urgency to inform parents and teachers that our children need us to be present and involved online. Just as in “real world” spaces, they require supervision and guidance in virtual spaces. They don’t know [...]

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Mining Minecraft, Part 2: Brilliance when students drive the learning

13-Dec-12

Guest post by Marianne Malmstrom At the Elisabeth Morrow School, we have been on a journey to help our students develop the essential skills of creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and citizenship. We turned to virtual worlds and MOGs because these are the same skills many young gamers practice through immersive play. Initially, we used [...]

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Mining Minecraft, Part 1: Little gamers’ digital play through a teacher’s eyes

12-Dec-12

Editor’s note: This week, my holiday gift to you, dear readers. Below you’ll find Part 1 of a three-part series of guest posts by teacher Marianne Malmstrom about what students learning in digital environments can teach all of us – parents, educators, risk prevention experts, and anybody else who works with young people. Editing this [...]

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