Game Maker

Game maker is an innovation which allows users to create their own games.
It's aim is to make it relatively easy for anyone to make their own games.
I personally found it quite confusing to create a game, but I believe that if you use it several times one might grab a better grasp of creating a game.

The only benefit that would be obvious for use in the classroom is that it may motivate students to complete work and improve hand eye coordination.

It is free to download and use. There are not very many tutorials.

Game Maker 8.0 is soon being released which will have more helpful tutorials on it.

I would not use this in the classroom as I don't think that it would be easily applicable to many learning areas other than ICT, and it would take many lessons to introduce to the students.

second life

Second life is an innovation which is a 3D space where people can interact through avatar representation.

It would be difficult to incorporate second life into a primary school classroom as users need to be 18+ to use it as it contains some inappropriate content.

I can see the educational benefits for using it in either high-school classrooms, university classrooms or TAFE classrooms. It could be a motivating tool to engage students about their work, it has the ability to be adapted for students with both educational and social limitations within the classroom. it also aides students who are external as they are able to go into secondlife and gain the information and tasks that they need.

i would not use this in my classroom, as it is not yet appropriate for primary school students. it also seems quite difficult to use and would take more than one or two lessons to introduce and explain to students. If students were already equipped with the knowledge and know how of secondlife then it would not be such a challenge to incorporate, although i don't think that i would use this innovation within a primary school context.

sleducation.wikispaces.com

Glogster

Glogster is an innovation which allows teachers and students to create interactive, online posters.

This tool allows students to make an online poster which is able to be used for educational purposes.

It is freeware at the moment - but it may not be free in the future.

Students are able to make these posters for fun or for education. These posters could be used at the start of the year, students can put their photos in and videos about things that interest them - this gives students the opportunity to introduce themselves to their classmates.

These Glog's are easily edited, are private and secure (within the classroom), interactive, fun, and valuable for use within the classroom, not to mention they are also environmentally friendly!!

Teachers are able to check and monitor the students’ progress within their Glog's as they have a 'master account', this allows them to check for any inappropriate context, progression with the task at hand and spot any errors.

These Glog's can be adapted to any learning area within the curriculum. They appear to be easily adapted for Learning Areas such as science, mathematics and literacy.

The Glog's are also easil able to be added to social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook. There is an embedded code, or a link that is easy to copy and paste.

I would definitely use this within my classroom - I think it is a fantastic tool and innovation for interactive learning experiences, and integrating Technology and Enterprise into the classroom.

Below is the Glogger that I created in class today.

http://s005.teacherlorraine.edu.glogster.com/rachyd89/