- [G] setting Goals
- [A] planning and performing Actions to meet those goals
- [M]constantly monitoring thier progress toward their goals
- [E]evaluating the effectiveness of thier actions toward meeting the goals and updating their plans accordingly
Once the students understand the GAME plan process then I think the next logical step would be to provide them with a template game-planner that allows them to identify goals in technology and NETS-S skills that they'd like to improve upon. Once the students have identified goals and actions, they can begin monitoring their progress toward those goals and updating their status through a blog, video-diary or some other evolving record of their progress.
I like the idea of video-diaries because the students can create and then later refer to a clear visual multi-media presentation of their progress. I think that can help them stay motivated and also help them organize their thoughts for presentation. The very process of organizing their thoughts to video-diary their progress helps them with the maintenance part of the GAME process and assuming that inital goal and action planning template helps them to clearly identify their end-state goals they will be able to evaluate objectively how they are progressing.
I think one important factor is that the students realize they aren't necessarily being graded on how quickly or efficiently the progress toward their goals so much as how well they document the process and present some valid reflection on how they've learned and not learned along the way. The real goal of the GAME plan is not so much to quickly conquer a topic but rather to create a personalized process of self-directed learning that the student can apply to practically any task or goal throughout thier life. For this reason, the video-diary (or voice-diary if the student is truly uncomfortable with video media) can be a tremendous artifact throughout the process as it helps the student see where he or she struggled and where they found their successes.
I like that you want to familiarize your students with the steps of creating a GAME plan. Being sure that they know and understand these steps is imperative to the success of achieving their goals. I also like that you want to incorporate video diaries. How would you manage their entries? Would they be done from home, or at school? It sounds like a great idea that students would be excited about.
ReplyDeleteIf the students have web-cams at home they can use those to capture a short video which can be incorporated into their video-log. If that isn't possible, then students can come in and record a video log in the classroom before school, after school, during prep or lunch if it has been arranged. The file can then be pulled over on fire-wire and added to the video log.
ReplyDeleteCapturing the video isn't the tricky part, it's making sure the students are organized and have a specific understanding of what the goal for the video-log is so they can get the most out of the exercise.