"Educators said they look forward to online content playing a greater role in the classroom but have lingering concerns. Though the online textbooks are free, they question how cash-strapped districts will pay for the infrastructure required – more computers, school-wide wireless Internet access, teacher training programs -- and ensure equal access to students from varying socioeconomic backgrounds."

Los Angeles Times - Seema Mehta - August 11, 2009 - 10 online textbooks ready for use in California classrooms

XBMC Media Center for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux

XBMC Media Center (formerly named XBox Media Center) is a cross-platform free and open source software media-player and entertainment hub with a 10-foot user interface design for the living-room TV. It was originally created for the first-generation Xbox game console, but is now available for the Linux, Mac OS X (Leopard, Tiger, Apple TV), and Microsoft Windows operating systems. There is also a bootable Live CD and Live USB version referred to as "XBMC Live"

"Buffalo Public Schools (NY) recently selected DimensionM™ education video games to supplement their math curriculum for 12,000 students in 45 schools. The district will begin using the games during the upcoming summer school session and continue in the fall."

Source: School CIO - July 13th 2009 - http://schoolcio.com/ShowArticle/21816

I was reading the magazine Tech & Learning of May 2009 (pg14) and i think that the survey about the textbooks we use in schools are quite an eye opening outcome. The next generation of students and the current one are going to be using a lot more of digital devices for learning.

Even if you think that todays ecology is responsible for the new generation to adopt and change their ways - you cannot close your eyes that our world is becoming more and more digital. The re-usability idea behind digital book is great. You can update at any moment the content of a book and push it to your readers in real time. Now that is interactivity!

"NASA Learning Technologies (LT) project supports the development of projects that deliver NASA content through innovative applications of technologies to enhance education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)."

 This is some great news that NASA will be following the steps for online learning through an online platform such as a MMO game engine. Many organizations have tried to use virtual worlds like Second Life or There world builder but the learning curve is very high for some users. Also the lack of standards makes virtual worlds a unique platform.

Introduction

The idea of using video games inside the classrooms is very appealing and must be planned accordingly. I will try to focus my article around video games on computers, console games and virtual worlds over the Internet. We will cover single player to massive multiplayer played over the network in class or worldwide. We will discuss the integration of such technology in the classrooms.