All in the game | noreply@blogger.com (Steve Wheeler)

I have written many times about game based learning and its place in education. Here’s a revisit to a post I published several years ago. It examines the long game and strategy elements of learning through game playing. I am, as ever, interested in your views.

Games playing is not always viewed as a serious pedagogical method. Some teachers dismiss it as time wasting, or as a frivolous activity that is best employed at the end of term, when the serious business of teaching has started to wind down. For those teachers, games fulfil a similar function to ‘sticking on a video’. It’s a…

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Connected learning | noreply@blogger.com (Steve Wheeler)

Connected learning is currently a popular phrase in education. Learning in the digital age involves a lot of technology, but fundamentally the role of the learner is still to explore, discover and acquire knowledge. Through technology, we can connect not only with content but also context – people, resources and ideas, and we can also share our own ideas for discussion and further learning. There are many theories and constructs that can inform us of the nature and potential impact of connected learning. The following some thoughts from a post I originally published in 2015:

From a cognitive…

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Mistakes, marmalade and me | noreply@blogger.com (Steve Wheeler)

Photo by Leslie Seaton on FlickrI submitted my manuscript for Digital Learning in Organisations to my publishers today. It’s been half a year in the making, and will be published on April 3, 2019, so it’s good to finally complete the writing. I published a brief synopsis of what can be expected last week, and also unveiled the front cover graphics. There will be copy editing, graphics and other work still to be done, but I notice that Amazon is already taking pre-orders of my book on its sites.

So, just to pique your interest (and just in case you might be thinking about grabbing your ow…

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Digital learning in organisations | noreply@blogger.com (Steve Wheeler)

Bless me blogger – for I have sinned. It’s been more than a month since my last post on this blog. That’s unusual. But there’s a very good reason for neglecting this for a while.

I have been busy writing a new book, and the last month has involved a lot of research and writing, completing, editing and polishing of my manuscript for final submission later this month. It’s a book I was commissioned to write for Kogan Page, and will be aimed at the learning and development (L and D) sector. It’s quite a departure for me, because my last 5 books have focused on learning and technology for…

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Dirty tricks | noreply@blogger.com (Steve Wheeler)

Image from Wikimedia CommonsIt’s the silly season. Universities in the UK are scrabbling frantically to recruit as many students as they can. When everyone else is sunning themselves on the Costa, the poor admissions tutors (I know … I was one) and their beleaguered marketing teams are chained to their telephones, straining a gut to grab every last school leaver they can possible lay their grubby little mitts on. Extraordinary lengths are being taken.

Two universities in particular are laying into each other just like two lads in a school playground. Dissing each other in a social media…

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State of play | noreply@blogger.com (Steve Wheeler)

Photo via Pexels Those who play video games discover that failure can be a common theme. Because it’s a game, it doesn’t really matter. Gamers can constantly reiterate moves and decisions to try to reach the next, higher level. Often, a move has to be repeated many times before a solution is found and the gamer can legitimately move to the next stage of the game. This aligns neatly to the idea that we can learn through failure. In this way, learning for gamers is a journey from novice to expert.

Game based learning should be one of the most important strategies for 21st Century education,…

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Weapons of mass deception? | noreply@blogger.com (Steve Wheeler)

Image by Mike McKenzie via http://www.vpnsrus.comFake news. Alternative facts. Deception. Lies.

The media seems full of reportage on how social media carries content designed to deceive users. This recent article from the BBC News website calls into question some of the electoral results, including allegations of deliberate targeting of voters during the Brexit referendum. There does seem to b growing evidence that this may have been perpetrated, but in the midst of all the hyperbole and accusations, what role does social media actually play in the deception of the masses? How much of these…

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