My GAME Plan

My GAME Plan

One of the most important aspects of my learning has been in the process of the GAME plan itself.  The GAME plan provides a simple, useful way to structure self-directed learning (Cennamo, Ertmer, & Ross, 2009).   I have found the process to be easy to focus and implement.

I had to postpone some of my plan.  I got very into the first goal, to the exclusion of the second.  As I learned more about ethical internet behaviors, I got more interested in developing ways to teach this information to students that were not boring.  This is such an important thing for students to learn, especially as they have more and more options for sharing media with the world.  I have several students right now who create music videos regularly.  These students believe that they are behaving completely ethically when they use programs to shift the song slightly to evade YouTube’s piracy filters.  These students do not understand the basics of ethical use.  I am most excited about creating a gallery for students to share their own work with others.  This will provide an audience for my students and their work.  It also reinforces the idea of ethical use, as my students have an investment in getting credit for their creations.

I have already begun to use the GAME plan with the faculty who report to me.  I supervise the dorm parents at my school, and have used the GAME plan model to shape their professional goals this year.  Each dorm parent created a GAME plan on a google doc and shared it with all of the rest.  As they work toward their goals, they share reflections and updates on the google doc for all to discuss and provide support and encouragement.  So far this has been an extremely useful tool to help my faculty take ownership of their learning and provide the best program for our students (Cennamo, Ertmer, & Ross, 2009).

Next year, I am planning a way to focus my course around GAME plans for my students.  This is still in the idea stage, but I would like to have students create goals for themselves to improve their reading and writing, using a GAME plan, and then have each student create some kind of product to demonstrate her learning.  This is something I will need to think about much more before finalizing but I have had such a positive experience using this format that I feel certain it will be successful.

Adjustments to my instructional practice

As I reflect on how this course will change my practice, I have some immediate changes I want to make in my classroom.  First, I plan to implement collaboration into each class.  After implementing my collaboration lesson in my classroom, I am convinced that students will benefit from working together much more frequently.  My school uses moodle, and I have not made nearly enough use of the threaded discussion opportunities available on that platform.  I will increase the use of backchannels as well.  Most of my students have challenges with memory and language, and the backchannel allows students to participate in classroom conversation more effectively, since text allows each student to process the conversation at her own pace and contribute at her own ability.

More long term, I want to explore problem-based learning much more fully.  I will begin by implementing postholes, or short problems designed to teach students how to participate in problem-based learning (Ertmer & Simons, 2006).  Then, I will move on to longer and more complex assignments.

Reference:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.