Blogging for Educators

Click on this link to open the presentation on Web 2.0 and Blogging for Educators:

Blogging for Educators

Click on this link to get a copy of the resources handout:

Blogging for Educators Resources

The following excerpts are taken from news articles all over the world about the Wii game system.

Why a Wii could be good for your health: Nintendo’s Wii console is not just a toy – one US hospital is using it as a training tool for its surgical residents

August 8, 2008
Paul McNamara, The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/07/research.games

Doctors playing the wii “The surgeons develop an increased efficiency, less errors, more fluid movement – basically they’re just better,” says Dr Mark Smith, director of the hospital’s Simulation Education and Training (SimET) Center. To be precise, the doctors who regularly played on the Wii scored 48% higher on tool control and performance than those who didn’t.

January 9, 2007

http://www.wiiinjury.com/?p=19

Having been the proud owners of a Wii for about half a day and having racked up about one whole of hour of gameplay we had our first Wii accident. I thought it would be Paul who would be first to fling the Wii across the table knocking over a wine glass, but no, it was me. Soon after we cleared up it was our favourite new Christmas baubles that copped it! We basically need a bigger house.

http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/show_cat.php?cat=16

3/30/2007

“I’ve had my Wii for 3 weeks now. I’ve been playing just long enough to discover that you can do some cool moves in Wii sports, tennis. High underhand balls, smashes and screw-balls. I was practicing the screw-balls with great empathy and excitement. Suddenly I bang the Wii remote up in my ceiling lamp which is made of glass, and cut my index finger all the way to the bone. “

February 13, 2008

http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/show_cat.php?cat=16

“Last night I was playing Tennis on my Wii. My girlfriend was sat on the sofa behind me. I was really getting into the game, and I do play it hard! She tried to get off the sofa and do to the kitchen. I went to take a swing for a long forehand shot and I hear a massive BANG. The corner of the remote smacked her in the face, right next to her eye. When she stopped covering her face, I saw all the blood and had to rush her to the hospital.”

January 29, 2007
http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/show_cat.php?cat=16,
“My 7 yr old son had just accepted a challenge from his sister to play his new game he just got for his birthday, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. They settled to try the Hammer Throw mini game, he was confident he could out throw his sister, so he started to spin and spin, then he fell down catching the leg of my computer desk with his forehead. After a lot of blood, a lot of screaming/crying and a trip to Urgent Care, he ended up having 4 stitches in his head.”

May 15, 2008

By Mike Snider
USA TODAY, WASHINGTON

The Nintendo Wii is making inroads not only with non-traditional video game players but also in unlikely places.

At retirement communities, the Wii is transforming the social scene into a whole new game. At medical centers, the game system is being plugged into rehabilitation regimens. An arts and crafts room at Riderwood Retirement Community in Silver Spring, Md., on a recent afternoon had the feel of a bowling alley.

“Some are embarrassed to try at first in front of people. They think they can’t do it,” says Earl Davis, 73, a resident and retired Marine, who showed newcomers how to use the Wii remote to bowl. “Sometimes I have to take their hand and play it with them. But once they get it, you can see the change in some people. They are more talkative and have a sense of humor. There’s a lot of joking going on in here.”
After Carol Fales, 63, shot a 198, she said, “I have progressed. I didn’t think it could be done from a wheelchair.”

Use of the Wii in retirement communities nationwide, estimated at fewer than 100 sites so far, is growing, says Majd Alwan, director of the Center for Aging Technologies in Washington. “We are noticing that it has the potential to increase the socialization when used in groups or congregate living settings, both among peers and intergenerational.”

All 21 Erickson retirement communities nationwide — Riderwood included — have at least one Wii. Riderwood has four, and several residents, including Davis, have bought their own. The residents are organizing a Wii bowling league, and a Wii Olympics is in the works for the summer, says Riderwood spokesman Dan Dunne. “It truly is reflective of an active retirement community lifestyle,” he says.

Each of Leisure Care’s 40-plus retirement communities has a Wii as well. Three days a week, Wii game sessions can be found on the social calendar, and personal trainers have incorporated Wii golf and tennis games into residents’ workout plans, says Luke Frank, who directs Leisure Care’s PrimeFit program.

April 24, 2008
http://www.tnsglobal.com/news/

(London) According to a new study by TNS Technology, parents in the UK believe that social gaming platforms (such as the Nintendo Wii) are having a positive influence in their home, as well as encouraging children to do more exercise.   More than half of all users (52%) think social gaming encourages children to bond with their friends, rising to 64% among parents with 16 to 17-year-olds, who played games in the past six months. Concerns about children locking themselves away in their rooms to play computer games, seem to have subsided, as 60% of all parents who have played games in the last six months say their family now like to play social games like the Wii together, rising to 68% for parents with 10 to 15-year-olds.

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By Damon Darlin June 22, 2007
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com

Let’s hear from someone with a high tolerance for video game violence, the reviewer at NGamer, a British video game magazine focusing on Nintendo games that got the exclusive first look:
“A lot of people are going to be offended by it, for its copious violence and occasional sex scene … Manhunt 2 is what Wii’s parental controls are for. The sticker on the box says it’s for over 18s only and, believe us, it’s not wrong.”
Our Seth Scheisel went to TakeTwo headquarters to play the unreleased game. In his article, he wrote:
“The problem is that in addition to just hitting a bad guy a couple of times with a bat, there are other options, like slitting his throat, sticking a scythe in his nose and yanking his head back. Rather than stab him with a shard of glass, you can stab him, wrap a cord around his neck, stuff his head in a toilet and smash him on the back of the head. With the motion-sensitive controller on Nintendo’s Wii, that means jerking and shaking the controllers around in vague imitation of the mutilations on screen. There are three levels of executions, with escalating levels of savagery: Hasty, Violent and Gruesome.” ■