There’s a term you need to know if you serve in children’s ministry: serious game Especially if you’ve ever played Rayman Raving Rabbids, you might be wondering, “Serious games? How can a game be ‘serious’?” Serious games have been around for since the 1960′s and with the growing use of digital games in homes and [...]
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Hopefully you’ve had the chance to read my first last two posts on serious games (Introducing Serious Games and Serious Games Defined). It is possible for a game to have an educational purpose and these games are becoming more and more popular and embedded into the cultural landscape kids in our ministries are developing in. [...]
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Have you heard about Quest to Learn? Quest to Learn is a new school that is using game-based learning to build 21st century literacy skills. Here’s a video podcast from the school’s executive director of design, Katie Salen, who talks about the philosophy behind the school, including the similarities between the way game designers work [...]
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Latitude in conjunction with ReadWriteWeb has released research on what children want from their technology. It’s a fascinating look at the future from a child’s perspective. You can download the entire summary here. Here are the highlights: • 39% of children’s innovations called for more immersive content experiences (3D features and integrating physical/virtual spaces). “For [...]
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One of the critical questions that children’s and family ministry leaders face is the issue of how technology impacts relationships. Regardless of where I travel to speak with children’s ministry leaders and volunteers, in every venue I am asked to respond to this issue. A subset of questions on this issue include: • Does the [...]
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I came across a couple of great resources for Digital Immigrants who want to become more fluent in the language and tools of Digital Learners. The Digital Diet is a new book by Andrew Churches, Lee Crocket, and Ian Jukes. The contributors have also create some “Small Byte” ebooks. According to the Committed Sardine Blog, [...]
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I just finished reading a Wired Article entitled “Why Aren’t Games About Winning Anymore?” by Jonathan Liu. Liu uncovers a recent trend in video games where modern games are less about actually getting to the last level (a la Super Mario Brothers) and more about gaining achievements during the game. For instance, I have become [...]
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This is a great video that challenges current models of education and proposes a different, more organic way to educate children. Watch the video! Here are a couple of quotes that I love: • “So I think we have to change metaphors. We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, [...]
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I am continuing the series of posts on kidmin and video games. In my research, I came across Evoke. According to Evoke’s blog, “Evoke is a ten-week crash course in changing the world. It is free to play and open to anyone, anywhere. The goal of the social network game is to help empower young [...]
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I wanted to post my answer to the question, What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry. I chose the word, digital. Here’s why… Research makes it clear that the generation of children in our ministries today is vastly different than any other group of children the Church has sought to reach. They engage and edit media, [...]
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