ClassDojo’s virtual world is intended to be a closed, safe environment in which kids can build and hang out afterschool – all while participating in activities intended to subtly build valuable soft skills like creativity, collaboration and sportsmanship.
“We don’t want to turn it into an edutainment thing where we do math games with robots. That’s been done a million times,” says Don. “We want to expand the creative toolset that kids have.”
The article below is relevant to thinking about media for learning, and what can be done with advanced online toolsets. Perhaps we might want to hang on to the descriptor “Edutainment Thing” though…there’s so much value in knowing that online tools and worlds are competing for eyeballs with wildly entertaining video games, and new VR adventures.
The idea of a “closed” environment online is also perhaps more relevant to a proprietary thrust into the market, then a practical reality in a world as much multiverse as metaverse.
Remains to be seen what sort of online “captive space” students will find attractive for learning. Eventually there will be a number of captive spaces competing with each other…the world of Platforms. A physical building encloses students in a captive way, including control of how access to indoor plumbing is allowed. Online at home, in the parking lot, at the mall, or wherever teens find to “hang”…captivity would be different.
Such physical restrictions and limitations we find in school buildings form the core of a pedagogy from earlier eras. We have yet to discover what “meta” spaces which seemingly lack walls and doors, might look like, and what sort of pedagogy would apply best for the new forms.
Kudos to Gary for the link.
ClassDojo Won Over Classrooms. Now It’s On A $125 Million Mission To Bring Kids To The Metaverse