QA Engagement and Questing on a Sick Day
A vice-principal came into my classroom a few days ago. My students were working on the “Ingolstadt” mission in Quest Atlantis. She watched them for a few minutes and said, “Man, are they ever ENGAGED”. I have a friend that calls virtual games like this and the activities they contain, “Behaviorist Pedagogy“. I think it could be considered to be experiential learning as well. I am not certain which of us is more correct, perhaps we are equally correct. But I do know one thing for sure, my students are engaged, learn self-direction, and have fun when they are in Quest Atlantis. They are learning to interact, communicate, and collaborate with others in an on-line, teacher-monitored, safe environment. They are investigating Social Commitments and how to treat others respectfully, all the while being invested in a standards based curriculum. The more I see kids work with Quest Atlantis, and as I become increasingly efficient at teaching with it, the more I believe that MUVE’s like it definitely hold a very strong place in the future of education.
