IntaPodcast

Following our conversation about gaming in class. I feel that I must refute one of the main points that were brought up against gaming before I continue about my post about Podcasts.
If one compares DotA to Basketball, they are strikingly similar when it comes to strategy in the mind, perhaps even more so as DotA has 104 different characters with 115 different items creating much complexity alone, without even considering the complexity of the agency of players using them. One can argue that Basketball engages the players physically and is a form of exercise, I do not dispute that at all, I am just proposing that DotA is a viable example that gaming can create an atmosphere conducive to learning, building key aspects of how one operates in the world.

One of my buddies brought up a point that in terms of communication in games, his experience was that it was rather anti-team-building and that most of the communication was badmouthing. While I do not dispute this, I would point to my example about basketball. There are countless examples of badmouthing in baketball games especially when competition is high, or if one player is not playing well. The same way in DotA. Especially when one enters the realm of professional level of playing (basketball or DotA), there is much clearer communication and affirmation in a team. Yet I would like to direct your attention to an instance in professional basketball now popularly referred to as The Brawl which occurred in Detroit when NBA players Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, and Stephen Jackson were knocking out fans (not even players!) during a game against the Indiana Pacers. One cannot disagree that basketball does not have an aspect of team-building. In the same way, I would say DotA has just as much team-building potential as basketball does.

Moving onwards, class last Friday was my first time making a podcast. We were assigned to create a podcast where we advertised an Edublogger that we follow. Mine was about Larry Ferlazzo, an edublogger in the realm of ELL, ESL, and EFL. I partnered up with another buddy of mine and we mixed it up with a few Korean Pop songs by After School and 2pm for the introduction. This was the first time I was on the creation end of this type of media and it was absolutely fascinating. I was reminded of one of my good friends who was a former MAC'er who was a teacher at Northville High who would make a (shorter) podcast for his lectures for students who missed class or for students to review material. Podcasts were thus his way to supplement his lectures. It sounds really cool. I hope I will be able to utilize this in the classroom in the future! Time to go figure out how to use garage band to make longer clips, and perhaps record a few of my songs.