So it has occurred to me that my course is near its end.
I wonder sometimes if I will continue to post on this blog, just because I can.
I might. Maybe if I had a few readers, I would be better motivated.
If no one reads this, it may end up becoming more of an impersonal journal than a blog.
Whether or not I choose to continue posting, and whether this is a temporary break or a permanent sign-off, I bid anyone out there on the internet reading my blog, adieu.
I have been spending some time thinking about my learning project. But I thought about this from a different perspective of learning. The improvement of my gaming skills was not the only, singular way I was learning.
Perhaps this is a slightly lateral way of thinking, but in another one of my classes, I was to do a presentation about technology in education. And of course, I wanted to do a piece on gaming in education. While doing my research, I found several ways that gaming improves general academic intelligence. I suppose I was expecting this, but the stereotype of video games being a waste of time made me slightly skeptical. Upon some cautious criticism, I found the articles I read to be entirely correct.
I found that gaming can actually improve things like literacy, problem solving, collaboration efforts and leadership skills. Many young children detest reading but will not hesitate for a moment before reading instruction manuals or tutorials for their games. Not only that, but many role-playing games require a sense of finances in order to purchase things like items or weapons. Numeracy is a part of many video games, whether it is a countdown of experience points before leveling up, saving gold for new equipment, or in my game, watching the damage percentage rise in proportion to the distance the opponent will fly. If the game involves other players, or even an artificial intelligence, then the player must learn to work with the others. These are all skills that are useful outside the virtual world of gaming.
I said myself in an earlier post that I improved much more quickly when playing with another person. Aside from learning academic skills, games can add to a person’s interpersonal skills. Technology can sometimes be limiting to social interaction. Now it is more common to text a friend than to actually talk to one in person. In my game, I can interact with a person both inside a virtual realm, but also in person. If the game is available online, then even global interaction is possible. Perhaps gaming may also develop a person’s intrapersonal skills. Because the decisions made in a game have no consequences, the player may act in a different way than he normally would. Maybe this would be for fear of social reaction, or of the more immediate consequences. I suppose if you see someone playing games that involve violence, could he have a desire to actually do as he does in the game? Maybe logic has suppressed the actions of this person, but this is a common concern of violent gaming. Nervous parents worry about exposing their children to violence in case they actually become violent as well.
Maybe this entire post was a stretch, but I thought it was an interesting strand of thought to explore. Any type of life experience has multiple possible dimensions of learning, and I think I may have uncovered a bit more.
Lately, I have been watching far too much youtube during my free time. This one particular video made my day amazing. This is partially because it talks about a world filled with Spidermen, and partially because I can identify with Ryan. My roommate tells me that I’m weird every day.
And I LOVE it 🙂
Is anyone else starting to feel as stressed out as I am? Particularly any other first year students?
Exams are only about 2 weeks away, and I feel like I still have so much to do! On top of the workload, my high school exams were never worth as much as they are here. So with last minute assignments, huge group presentations, piecing together term papers, attempting to start studying (emphasis on the attempting), and yes, LOTS of caffeine, I feel like I could really use one of those squishy little stress balls.
I don’t think I cope well with stress. So far, my sleeping habits have definitely taken a hit. Perhaps having eight cups of tea in the evening was a bad idea. It seemed brilliant at the time.
At bedtime? Not so much.
How do you cope with stress? Do any of you do the typically recommended exercise or slowed breathing? Do you sleep less like I do? Or do you manage in a less conventional way?
Picture Bibliography:
– (December 29, 2009) “Stress Ball” Fereej
(November 20, 2011)
I was going through my computer this week and I found this old video I made with some friends in grade 9. It was for my english class, but it was a lot of fun to make.
I just realized that I am officially a university student. Not in the sense that I moved seven hours away from home, not in the sense that my rent and tuition drained my savings, not even in the sense that I go to classes and sometimes spend it daydreaming more than actually working. I think the moment I passed my own type of “initiation” that actually makes me a real university student was an evening two weeks ago when I went to an Avril Lavigne concert with my roommate/best friend Mathew.
 But Avril has gone from this...
...to this.
After attempting to get my obscene homework stack completed before the concert and failing miserably, I figured I could just stop stressing, stay up late for a night and get it all done. After taking the bus to the concert, getting decked out in concert clothes and singing, dancing and screaming the entire night, it was time to head home and assault my workload. I had a friend who was in most of the same classes as me pop over so I would have some company working. Needless to say, we got a little distracted. A couple packs of noodles, a couple of hours of staring at math problems, and a LOT of caffeine later, I realized that I was like a real university student, at least in the stereotypical way. I was up until 5 working, then up again at 9 to finish it all off. Red Bull did not give me any wings that day.
I had a slightly different experience with my learning project this week. I spent an evening playing my game with a friend. Playing with a person is different than playing with an AI because as you learn, so does your opponent. Because of this, learning a new tricky attack or maneuver is not enough to beat a human opponent. When I was spending my time fighting against the AI, I could just practice until I won. Against a person, sometimes he learns faster than I do, so I continue to lose. But this actually causes me to learn faster. The AI has a somewhat predictable reaction time and variety of attacks based on the difficulty level, but a person’s style of play changes around frequently and without warning. I found this significantly more challenging than playing against a machine.
I played around with a variety of characters. With my old favorites Mr. Game and Watch and Toon Link, I had quite a few victories. But that is far too simple for this learning project. I tried out a few characters I was meaning to practice with: Zelda (I lost), Ice Climbers (I lost again) and Snake (my character was essentially the equivalent of a kite in a tornado). But my losses were getting closer and closer by the end of the night. I should spend more time playing against friends to gain more information during my play time.
Picture Bibliography:
– (2008) “Free Wallpapers” GT Wallpaper
http://en.gtwallpaper.com/avril-lavigne.html
(October 26, 2011)
– (March 24, 2011) “Avril Lavigne Talks Marriage Again” Hollywood on Crack
http://hollywoodoncrack.net/category/avril-lavigne/
(October 26, 2011)
– (October 25, 2011) “Adult Sleep Apnea” The Dallas Center for Sleep Disorders
http://www.dallas-sleep.com/adult-sleep-apnea.php
(October 26, 2011)
Happy Thanksgiving to my readers! I went home to La Ronge, which is about 6 and a half hours north of the city. I stuffed myself with turkey and other goodness. My fridge is now stuffed with leftover turkey and nam yee chicken, a Chinese dish with chicken and potatoes in a tangy bean curd sauce.
The drive to and from La Ronge were not the best. It was raining pretty heavily the entire way home, and there were 3 deer on the road at one point. On the way back, there was a duck crossing the road. There was very little traffic, so we slowed down to avoid hitting the duck. It just continued gingerly waddling across the road, so we started to steer around it. Then a car blows by from behind us, but since we were already on the wrong side, this car had to pass us on the shoulder. He didn’t even slow down, so he must have passed us going at least 100km/h on the shoulder. That was scary moment…
It was nice to be back home again. This was my first time home since I moved here. I missed my family. My older brother went to visit his girlfriend in Shellbrook instead of coming home, so I didn’t get to see everyone. I suppose I will have to wait for Christmas for that…
Picture Bibliography:
– (29 October, 2009) “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Wussu.
http://www.wussu.com/humour/chicken.html
(October 11, 2011)
lindseychow 