Old Playground Circa 1897

Assessment weeks are winding away and hopefully learners will have more opportunity to play and explore new learning experiences. A recent post via Daily Adventures, shared global hero, Henry Jenkins – “Play is at the heart of learning – USA” and his influence on educators throughout the world. “Give yourself and your students permission to play, ” say Henry Jenkins. PLAY stands for Participatory Learning and You. Jenkins goes on to state play is the basic human mechanism for learning. Many schools view play as disruption of the educational process but Jenkins notes that play actually motivates learning and provides new forms of engagement. He highlights five core principals to embrace participatory learning. These core principals are key concepts to frame and apply to learning new media literacy’s. Jenkins says, “New media literacies cannot be an option (meaning new media shouldn’t be set aside for the end of the week if the students have been “good”). It is not about the tools or technology; it is about experimentation, more collaboration, more creativity and more play. ” Read entire post about this global hero in education and be inspired. How will you tilt the seesaw and provide new opportunities for participatory learning? Will you wait till work is finished or testing is complete?

Four For Friday – Apps to Take Outside to Play

VidRythm is free app to share learning experiences easily remixing short video clips. There is no actual game to play but it is a lot of fun to play and create. Promote play by sharing play.

Viddy is another video capturing app with cinematic features that allows you to quickly share memorable moments. Viddy is the instagram for videos.  Check out this one titled “Water!”

Kinotopic creates kinos, which are also known as cinemagraphs. Kinotopic allows you to make still photographs and add small areas of movement. Make some playful animations!

Snapster is new app released this week that allows you to take square photos. To improve your photography skills you have to play and take lots of photos plus it is always fun to play with something new!

Photo Courtesy of iRewired – Old Playground in Colorado