My students also buy the Pokemon and Game codes books to help them cheat better. Amazing what they find an interest isn’t it? .

I found that while the comments on the article in the NY times were for the most part negative, there were few individuals who saw the potential of the media. I guess what I am saying is that media is becoming more convergent all the time (i.e. comic books become movies become games), is it so strange to think that new stories will be created with this aspect in mind?

Anyways thanks for the quick response and if you have any students or colleagues who would like to weigh in on the subject, I’d love to hear from them.

Thanks for the comment on the name change!

Lee

Virtual Worlds like Second Life and Quest Atlantis provide opportunities for enhancing learning and definitely could be used to increase reading. My friend Dean Groom who is really into Second Life has been using it with students who struggle with English really well. You can read more about how he uses it here. His students had to build, design and film a scene from Shakespeare in Second Life. To come up with the ideas for the set, avatars and story line they would have spent quite a bit of time reading the book getting a feel of the story and what it was about. Plus they would have also do quite a bit of research to gain ideas on how to create the feel of their set. I’m sure this would have taken students that struggle with reading books like Shakespeare and given them a better understanding of it.

MMORP like World of Warcraft offer different opportunities for learning within schools plus they provide mechanisms for increasing the confidence of students that struggle to fit into the norm. At Dean’s school they grabbed all the old computers, gave them to the students and let them fix them in their lunch times. Then the students were given access to a room where they could run their own online game area and work together to show/help each other. The students had to organise and coordinate everything; be responsible. Students are amazing with WOW and gain so many skills (not to mention very quick typing speeds). Take a group of reluctant writers who are into WOW and get them to set up their own site explaining how to use WOW — you will probably find they are no longer reluctant.

Libraries on the other hand as I mentioned before will have to look at strategies of evolving to meet the needs of their clients — this is a good option.

So going back to your original question I would say Second Life definitely especially if it made you want to learn more about the topic. The Pokemon video games — my kids bought the books that help you with the game so that they could cheat better.

PS Sorry for long answer like how you have changed your name.

Speaking from experience, some the kids I have taught are “click” users. As soon as there is text on the screen they click through it as fast as they can. This is even if the narrative gives them clue on how to solve the problem, find the treasure in the game etc.

Do any of you know of video games that would come close to even creating interest in reading books?