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Marc holds graduate degrees in teaching (Yale), language (Middlebury) and business (Harvard Business School, with distinction.) He has taught at the primary, secondary and college levels. He has been a school administrator and has worked extensively as an educational and business consultant. Marc has also worked as a CEO, professional classical musician, and Broadway actor. Marc is the author of three books: and of numerous essays on education and learning. Marc is the founder and Creative Director of Spree Games, and the founder and CEO of Games2train. Marc Prensky has created over 50 software games for learning, including the world’s first fast-action videogame-based training tools and world-wide, multi-player, multi-team on-line competitions. Marc has been featured in articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and the BBC.
 * Marc Prensky is an internationally acclaimed speaker, writer, consultant, visionary and innovator in the field of education and learning.**
 * Teaching Digital Natives
 * Don’t Bother Me Mom – I’m Learning!
 * Digital Game-Based Learning

In the Boook, the author’s attempts to show that video and computer game playing, done appropriately, is actually very beneficial to today’s Digital Native Kids, who use them to prepare for life in the 21st Century.

Prensky opens the book by acknowledging the fear and concerns that parents have with video and computer games. As a parent, this was in itself, very powerful and assuring. He affirms that video and computer games are not the enemy.

He gives several examples of how video and computer games have a direct impact on student learning and skills.
 * Dr. James Rosser, a head surgeon at New York City’s Beth Israel Hospital, found that doctors who played video games earlier in their lives made almost forty percent fewer mistakes in surgery. Dr. Rosser has his doctors warm up before surgery by playing video games for half an hour.
 * In 2004, Neuroscientists from the University of Rochester found that playing action, video, and computer games positively affects players “visual selective attention.”
 * Prensky references such games as Sim City, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Toontown, EverQuest, City of Heroes, and World of Warcraft.

This book challenges current educational methodologies and practices that exist today. Some students refer to going to school as powering down. Today’s learners are the first generations to grow up immersed in technology.

Prensky talks about the motivation of video and computer gaming. One of the biggest problems in formal learning, whether classroom, online, distance, or e-, is keeping students motivated enough to stick with the learning process. According to Prensky, Kids learn when it is not forced on them. Playing video and computer games are fun, engaging, and students learn while playing.

The goal and primary objective of the video and computer game is to keep the user engaged. In contrast the goal of the educator is not to keep the student’s engaged. The goal is to instruct and to get the material across.

Prensky affirms that the goals of rigorous learning and having fun are not incompatible and mutually exclusive. More and more people are discovering that adding fun into the process makes learning not only more enjoyable and compelling, but more effective as well.

Prensky closes this book with some practical ideas for parents, educators, and other stakeholders, and a “vocabulary” section for Digital Immigrants. Some of the ideas include: This book is a must read for all educators and parents. As a parent, it is challenging to find the balance between traditional educational practices and video and computer gaming. This book is a guide to many of the nuances of gaming. As an educator, we must be willing to change our methodologies and allow students to use video and computer games to supplement learning, in an effort teach, and to reach, today’s learners.
 * Becoming educated
 * Start asking our children the right questions
 * Monitoring
 * Becoming an active participant

Links: [|www.marcprensky.com] [|www.DodGameCommunity.com] [|www.GamesParentsTeachers.com]

By: Tarrence Holmes