Jourdan Smoot Annotated Bibliography for Dr. B *Cited in MLA Richardson, Will.

Gaming Gains Respect: Digital Games are on the Rise in the Classroom. District Administration. Online journal (July/August 2012): Web. 04 November 2013. The introduction to this article begins by giving an antidote of a young, first grade student named Chanse. Chanse likes to play video games, and he currently is playing one on the classs Ipad. The games on here are accessible to all of the children, and the teacher gives positive feedback in support of learning through the video game. Ms. Kathleen Gerard comments, Theyre developing problem solving and tinkering skills, learning how to use trial and error effectively, and learning some basic physic principles (Richardson 44). Ironically enough, this journal mentions James Gee, the author of the book we read for our project, just in brief mentioning about his discoveries in the video game/literacy world. The author throws quite a few numbers around. He talks about statistics, positively representing video games in the classroom, such as, Seventy percent of teachers found that digital games increase motivation and engagement (Richardson 46). The author continues on to discuss the changes the world is seeing in technology. There are a lot more technological advances, and this is especially noticeable in video games. From personal experience, playing video games in the 90s compared to the video games that are releasing with the Xbox 1 are crazy different, not just in graphics but in complication and popularity.

The article continues on to discuss a school in New York, in which their entire curriculum is surrounded by video games. All of our curricula are developed by teachers in collaboration with game designers, curriculum developers, and content experts, says Rupo-Teffer of Quest to Learn, public charter school. He continues on to say, The curriculum itself is gamelike in that it is immersive, participatory, allows for social engagement, and provides a challenged based context for students to work within (Richardson 47). Everything matches up with the state standards, but they are addressed in a unique way. The next paragraph talks about my biggest issue with the other source. Richardson talks about a former game designer, Sylvia Martinez, who now advocates for technology in youth classrooms. She argues that games being used in classrooms today are simply, digitized versions of curriculum (Richardson 47). She believes that many of the games currently used are just the same as what we do with pencil and paper only students are performing these tasks through a computer, which is exactly what the following article is doing. Sure they are using technology, but are they really using video games? The games are already out there for us, such as popular games like Angry Birds and Minecraft, but educators tend to ignore these technological gifts. Currently, I agree with Martinez, because that is how things in school were for me. Any chance we got to use technology; we could have simply done with the normal, average means of education. Video games in the classroom have to be VIDEO GAMES, not just advances in technology. I really enjoyed this article and there are a plethora of different ideas, quotes, and beliefs that we can use in our paper.

Guillen Nieto, Victoria. Serious Games and Learning Effectiveness; the Case of its a Deal! Computers and Education. Online journal (2012): Web. 04 November 2013. The introduction to this article is simply stating that video games are beneficial to students because students enjoy them, At present the value of video games in education is undeniable and the potential benefits of using video games as ideal companions to classroom instruction is unquestionable (Guillen 436). Educators are not stupid, and the benefits of video games on children show great value. The article takes a video game called its a Deal, and attacks the idea of using this video game in the classroom. The author labels this video game as serious and also calls the game a business simulation activity. Players have to use decisionmaking strategies to further themselves in the game, and must also use strategy to ensure prosperity throughout various conflicts, which at sometimes can be culturally significant to help diversify students. The author goes on to talk about how different subjects in school may benefit from video games, such as foreign languages. On a personal stance, I believe that would be beneficial in learning another language. There is an application that is available for those owning an IPhone called Duolingo. This application helps you learn a different language, all while playing games. This helps me keep up with my German without actually doing an old fashioned version of studying.

Throughout this article, I found myself questioning whether or not this technology could even serve as a video game. On one page, the paper shows how this video game would be used. The page gives text on a word document with a little symbolic character in the top left corner, who tells the student whether or not the answer to a multiple choice question is correct or not. This isnt a video game, but more of tool that teachers can use to have someone else correct their students instead of themselves. The next example is a cartoon. How is a cartoon a video game? This is just a mere picture description that anyone can pull out of the Sunday newspaper, but since the image is online, all of the sudden this is a video game? The article goes on to say that the researchers conducted a study to see if this Its a Deal video game would take off in a classroom. After their study, they found an extremely positive result of those in favor of this video game for foreign language. The problem I seem to come across with this study is the fact that the study surveyed college students. This game is created for secondary students currently going through their foreign language requirements in school, not third year students at a University. Personally, I thought the article makes a valid argument for having video games in the classroom and implementing different technological games does have a positive reaction amongst students. The issues I have are as follows. Does this its a Deal, game really constitute as a game? Does this type of game help with other subjects besides foreign language? Is this game intended for secondary students or is it more of a college level helping guide?

Overall, the article will prove beneficial to our point, but we must adhere to extreme caution when using this source because of the actual authenticity of the source.