Now that you've taken a look at a few games that may have some real classroom potential what do you think? Is this nuts? Is this brilliant? Is it possibly both? Instead of making a traditional, ho-hum list of the good vs. potentially problematic aspects of game use in education I thought it might be fun to give your creative juices a little workout with a Pro and Con Mind-Mapping Activity. Not familiar with mind-maps? Here's a refresher:
For this task I'd like to suggest that you utilize a program called XMind. It's a robust platform that's also free and I think it offers you a large array of options to assist you with visually presenting your thoughts. Many tutorials for XMind are available on the company's website. Here's an example of a mind map that I created based on a silly scene from the television show The Big Bang Theory. In this episode one of the main characters, Sheldon, can't decide whether to buy an Xbox One or a PS4. Here are the positives and negatives of each video game console according to Sheldon's extensive research. Click on the image to view a larger version.
Please share your completed mind maps on the class discussion board by Sunday. Take a look at your classmates' pro and con lists. Do you agree with their ideas? If not, perhaps you can try to sway them with a convincing argument in the comments? Interact with at least 2 of your peers by Sunday.