Steinkuelher, C. (2010). Digital literacies: Video games and digital literacies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(1), 61-63. Steinkuelher's article seems to be less of a research study and more observational conjecture based on a single student. His article explores the conundrum that is a smart student who is an avid gamer, has a particular interest in history, and even writes fantasy novels based on games, Despite all this, the student was doing poorly in school.

Dede, C. (2011). Developing a research agenda for educational games and simulations. Computer games and instruction, pp. 233-250. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Dede used this article to plot out an agenda for educational gaming research going forward. He lays out five major principles for researchers to follow in order to create meaningful research in the field of educational gaming. These principles are usable knowledge, collective research, what works, treatmen

Greenhow, C., Gibbins, T., & Menzer, M. (in press). Re-thinking scientific literacy out-of-school: Arguing science issues in a niche Facebook application.  Computers in Human Behavior. In this article, the authors tackle a commonly discussed issue in society; young adults tackling socio-scientific issues on social media platforms. The authors utilized a Facebook application called Hot Dish that involves users in discussions of environmental issues. Users ages 16-25 were

Salmon, G. (2009). The future for (second) life and learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(3), 526-538. This article by Salmon discusses current (as of 2009) trends in 3D virtual technologies for learning. The most popular of which is Second Life, an interactive online environment created by Linden Lab that is similar to a Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). SL is a 3D multi-user virtual environment, which differs from a game in the way that it does not

Ertmer, P., Richardson, J., Belland, B., Camin, D., Connolly, P., Coulthard, G., Lei, K., & Mong, C. (2007.) Using Peer Feedback to Enhance the Quality of Student Online Postings: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 412-433. This study used a small group of graduate students to assess the impact of peer feedback on the quality of students discussion posts in an online course. Each student posted a response to specific discussion questions and

Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2014). Studying new literacies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 57(9), 1-5. Of the articles read this week on New Literacies,the article by Knobel and Lankshear provides the best overview of the subject. They define the idea of New Literacies and go on to explain why and how it is different from what came before. Knobel and Lankshear provide an overview of what has been learned so far from New Literacies research since the 1990's and discu

A Quick Introduction: This is my first critical review of research. The article reviewed here is cited below. It was written in Microsoft Word with proper formatting, which did not translate over to blog format. I have done my best to recreate that formatting below. Erhel, S. & Jamet, E. (2013). Digital game-based learning: impact of instructions and feedback on motivation and learning effectiveness. Computers & Education, 67, 156-167. Problem 1. Identify the clarity with wh

Hrastinski, S. (2009). A theory of online learning as online participation. Computers & Education, 52(1), 78–82. Hratinski's article centers on student participation, empirical evidence to back up participation's use in learning, and how participation can be applied to online learning. It begins by drawing attention to student participation as something educators have only recently begun to value and spends a lot of time driving the value of participation home. Finally, he co

Abrami, P. C., Bernard, R. M., Bures, E. M., Borokhovski, E., & Tamim, R. M. (2011). Interaction in distance education and online learning: using evidence and theory to improve practice. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 23, 82-103. This article takes a step back from traditional analyses of distance education uses a compilation of research to try to determine what is next for distance education and online learning. Existing research is compared back to motivational a

Harris, J. B., & Hofer, M. J. (2011). Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in action: A descriptive study of secondary teachers’ curriculum-based, technology-related instructional planning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education , 43(3), 211–229. This study by Harris and Hofer took an in-depth look at seven different social studies teachers and examined how they integrate TPACK into their lesson planning and how their lessons can be improved with a grea

Clossen, A. (2018). Trope or Trap? Roleplaying Narratives and Length in Instructional Video. Information Technology & Libraries. 37, 1, p. 27-38. The main focus of this article is how to maximize interest and engagement in students during an instructional video. Clossen used her research to determine the correct length of a video, direct instruction vs. narrative role playing, and the effect of demographics on interest levels and engagement. Over 1300 people were surveyed and

Schwartz, D. L., & Hartman, K. (2007). It is not television anymore: Designing digital video for learning and assessment. In Goldman, R., Pea, R., Barron, B., & Derry, S.J. (Eds.), Video research in learning science (pp. 349-366). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrance Erlbaum Associates. Schwartz and Hartman address the uses of digital video research in education. Specifically, they separate digital video from computer-aided learning and delve into what each type of video is most effective at

Azevedo, R., Moos, D., Witherspoon, A., & Chauncey, A. (2010). Measuring cognitive and metacognitive regulatory processes used during hypermedia learning: Issues and challenges. Educational Psychologist, 45, 210-22. Azevedo, Moos, and Chauncey examine methodological issues with researching self-regulated learning. In particular, the writers focus on the challenge of measuring the level of cognitive processes occurring while a student is learning online. They begin by setting

Deterding, S. (2013). Gameful Design For Learning. T+D. 67(7), 60-63. Deterding explores how the concepts found within games that make them fun can be applied to learning and training. One of the failures with current educational games is a structure that fails to motivate learners. Deterding breaks down the structure that games use to motivate their players and explains how this may be applied to both classroom learning and workplace training. He introduces issues with the c

Salomon, G. & Perkins, D. (2005). Do Technologies Make Us Smarter? Intellectual Amplification With, Of, and Through Technology. I n R. J. Sternberg, & D. D. Preiss (Eds). Intelligence and technology: The impact of tools on the nature and development of human abilities (pp. 71-86). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. In their 2005 article, Salomon and Perkins seek to amend their former publication about effects with and effects of technology and add a third dimension: eff

I had originally planned on basing this second post on my individually-found reading this week, but the beauty of learning is that we don’t always find what we expect. I had so much to say on this one particular article this week that the margins of my printed copy could barely hold all of my notes. I hope to get this post up this morning and a post of my thoughts/ideas (basically my margin scribbles 😊) posted later. I am about to head into a 12 hour shift at work though, so

Collins, A. & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and the Schools. New York: Teachers College Press. In their summary of the arguments presented in their forthcoming book, Collins & Halverson discuss what the education system may look like after the “digital revolution.” They contrast the current education system with the apprenticeship system that was in place before the industrial revolution. A vision of a new educat