games based learning | Liam O'Donnell

Talking Minecraft at OLA Super Conference 2013

by liam | Jan 28, 2013 | appearances, education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, literacy, video games, virtual worlds

I do a lot of talking about alternative literacies in education, like graphic novels and video games. On Friday, February 1st, I’ll will be talking Minecraft with my GamingEdu pals at the Ontario Library Association’s Super Conference 2013in Toronto....

Play is the Thing for Gaming Curious Teachers

by liam | Dec 19, 2012 | education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, literacy, media, Teacher's Guide, Uncategorized, video games, virtual worlds

I regularly receive emails from teachers around the world looking for advice on how to use video games with their students. While each teacher, student and learning environment is unique, my first piece of advice is always the same: Play the game yourself. For fun....

Minecraft Madness and Play at ECOO 2012

by liam | Oct 27, 2012 | appearances, education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, literacy, media, virtual worlds

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of talking Minecraft with my two GamingEdu pals, Diana Maliszewski and Denise Colby and many, many fantastic educators at the ECOO 2012 conference. We were there presenting our talk: Playing with TNT and Other Lessons from...

Patterns holds promise for gaming educators

by liam | Oct 14, 2012 | education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, Teacher's Guide, video games

Earlier this month, Linden Lab released a very early beta-version of their new sandbox game, Patterns. Clearly inspired by Mojang, Patterns takes the block-building structure Minecraft and adds two very interesting elements: triangles and physics. I downloaded the...

Talking video games, learning & Minecraft gardening on CBC Radio

by liam | Aug 14, 2012 | appearances, education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, literacy, media, video games, virtual worlds

Last month, I was contacted by the good folks at CBC Radio One to talk about how I use video games with students to help with their literacy and language learning. It was for a new show called Babel and the results of our interview were broadcast yesterday....