aimed to attract a more diverse audience of gamers and non-gamers – and to bring video games off the screen and into the living room. While not all games are well suited for multiplayer play – ‘It’s hard to avoid getting in each other’s way and impeding rather than advancing game progress’ (p. 133) – most games are intended to be played while in the room with other people. ‘The Wii is just the latest attempt by Nintendo to bring a version of this kind of social gaming into the living room, closer to arcade parties and karaoke than to, say, bouts of online multiplayer military simulations’ (p. 142). Jones and Thiruvathukal’s book is as much a user’s manual for the potential of the Nintendo Wii as it is an academic and technical deconstruction of the console as a computing platform. Their joint approach to considering the topic works well, but it isn’t until the very end of the book that Jones’ cultural contextual approach really shines. In the final six pages of the sixth chapter (pp. 143–148), the authors consider the paratext of the Wii, as well as the diegetic and nondiegetic elements of video games – and the various layers of the platform and the games, interactions and activities it supports. ‘This social layer of a video game platform is an essential part of what the system means, because it’s the environment in which the platform gets used’ (p. 148). Much of the existing literature on Nintendo – such as Osamu Inoue’s (2010) Nintendo Magic: Winning the Videogame Wars and Jeff Ryan’s (2011) Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America – concentrates on the company’s success as a business. The more technical literature to date focuses on the use of the Wii Balance Board, another controller for the platform, in healthcare and therapeutic settings. This text sits comfortably in the middle, Wiimote and Nunchuk controllers in hand, making a valuable contribution to the study of the Nintendo Wii and how technology and culture work together.

It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens

Non-representational Theory

If you really want to be smarter, reading can be one of the lots ways to evoke and realize. Many people who like reading will have more knowledge and experiences. Reading can be a way to gain information from economics, politics, science, fiction, literature, religion, and many others. As one of the part of book categories, blog theory feedback and capture in the circuits of drive always becomes the most wanted book. Many people are absolutely searching for this book. It means that many love to read this kind of book.

Blog Theory: Feedback and Capture in the Circuits of Drive:

This is a fundamentally practical book and all the more so because Youdell avoids the temptation to reach for superficial answers, searching instead for how radical change might actually be achieved. Much of the book is devoted to a presentation of her understanding of the nature of the social in general and of schooling in particular, and the possibility of doing things differently and better. Her starting point is

School trouble: identity, power and politics in education

Katie Salen (ed.), The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games and Learning (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008), ISBN: 978-0-69364-6, 278 pp., £10.95 (pbk) £20.95 (hbk). The study of computer games ...

The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games and Learning

As students increasingly engage with alternative social networking (or realities) there is a scope for educators to explore whether they pose opportunities for rethinking learning and teaching spaces. The authors argue that there is a requirement to shift away from mapping traditional thinking about what constitutes a learning experience when considering virtual worlds. This chapter draws upon two case studies that have provided two distinctly different learning designs for Logistics students and pre-service teachers. These cases, alongside a comprehensive review of the use of virtual worlds in education will draw out issues and factors which need to be considered when pursuing virtual worlds as learning spaces. Specifically, discussion and recommendations will have a focus on pedagogical, organisational, equity and access, cultural, economic and social factors relevant to the use of virtual worlds in distance education.

Alternative realities: immersive learning for and with students

Although the potentials of ICT such as blogs seem to be obvious, universities find challenges in using them pedagogically. For example, there is dissonance between blogging and pedagogy, or rather a gap between rhetoric about blog potential and blog practice, which has prompted this investigation and professional development in the use of blogs at the University of New England (UNE). Preliminary findings show fundamental implications for professional development in pedagogical uses of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

/pdf/blogging-at-university-as-a-case-study-in-instructional-tz0xq8mb0l.pdf

Blogging at university as a case study in instructional design: Challenges and suggestions towards professional development

Snapchat, released in 2011, is embedded in the youth culture of advanced capitalist societies. Theorising Snapchat from a socio-material ontology, we explore the application’s capacity to evoke the...

Snapchat and digitally mediated sexualised communication: ruptures in the school home nexus

An investigation will compare students using the virtual world environment of Second Life to those using traditional methods of distance education (Web 2.0 tools and resource materials) to determine whether there are variations in the amount of collaboration and discussions by students with these synchronous and asynchronous eLearning tools. All students will undertake the same assessment tasks and the results compared. The Second Life group will participate in a number of online sessions to familiarise them with the

/pdf/virtual-worlds-can-virtual-worlds-promote-a-higher-level-of-51oldp08dj.pdf

Virtual Worlds: Can virtual worlds promote a higher level of collaboration, engagement and deeper thinking for students than traditional Web 2.0 tools?

................................................................................................................................. xxi Chapter 1:	   Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Background ....................................................................................................................... 4 Research Approach Overview ........................................................................................... 5 Research Aims and Objectives .......................................................................................... 6 Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................... 7 Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 8 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 9 Data Collection ................................................................................................................ 13 Analysis Techniques ....................................................................................................... 16 Overview of Research Phases ......................................................................................... 17 Overview of the Publications .......................................................................................... 20 Introducing the Publications ........................................................................................... 21 Impact of the Research .................................................................................................... 32 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 2:	   Context and Background ................................................................................. 33 Publication 1: Introducing Jass Easterman: My Second Life Learning Space .............. 35 Publication 2: Teaching Higher Education Students with Diverse Learning Outcomes in the Virtual World of Second Life ...................................................................... 55 Publication 3: Adults Learning in a Virtual World ....................................................... 83 Chapter 3:	   Impact on Learning ......................................................................................... 99 Publication 4: Taking the Distance out of Learning for Students through a Virtual World ................................................................................................................... 101 Publication 5: Do Virtual Worlds have a Role in Increasing Student Engagement as Measured by their Higher Academic Grades? ..................................................... 129 xii Table of Contents Chapter 4:	   Engagement with Learning .......................................................................... 147 Publication 6: Engaging Classes in a Virtual World ................................................... 149 Publication 7: Learning in a Virtual World: Student Perceptions and Outcomes ...... 173 Chapter 5:	   Immersion in Authentic Learning Activities .............................................. 209 Publication 8: Real Thinking with Virtual Hats: A Role-Playing Activity for PreService Teachers in Second Life ......................................................................... 211 Publication 9: Second Life: A Novice/Expert Teaching and Learning Tale .............. 235 Publication 10: Changing Directions through VirtualPREX: Engaging Pre-Service Teachers in Virtual Professional Experience ...................................................... 257 Publication 11: Comparison of Role-Play in a Virtual World .................................... 277 Chapter 6:	   Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 289 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 291 Recap of Research Aims and Objectives ...................................................................... 291 Key Issues ..................................................................................................................... 292 Research Findings ......................................................................................................... 293 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 297 Limitations of the Overall Study .................................................................................. 301 Strength of the Overall Study ....................................................................................... 302 Implications for Policy and Practice ............................................................................. 303 Impact on the Sector ..................................................................................................... 304 Future Research Directions .......................................................................................... 304 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 305 References ............................................................................................................................. 307 Appendices ............................................................................................................................ 333 Appendix A – Survey 1 ................................................................................................ 335 Online Survey – pre semester – Publications 1 and 5 .................................................. 335 Appendix B – Survey 2 ................................................................................................ 337 Online Survey – post semester – Publications 1 and 5 ................................................. 337 Appendix C – Survey 3 ................................................................................................ 345 Online Survey – Publications 4, 6 and 7 ...................................................................... 345 Appendix D – Survey 4 ................................................................................................ 350 Online Survey – Publications 2, 8, 9 and 11 ................................................................ 350 Table of

Susanne Gregory

Papers

Alternative realities: immersive learning for and with students

Blogging at university as a case study in instructional design: Challenges and suggestions towards professional development

Snapchat and digitally mediated sexualised communication: ruptures in the school home nexus

Virtual Worlds: Can virtual worlds promote a higher level of collaboration, engagement and deeper thinking for students than traditional Web 2.0 tools?

Exploring authentic learning activities for enhanced learning outcomes: Adult learners and their perceptions of learning in a virtual world