The following is the interview from Derek Braman based on the Kodu Club at Explorer Elementary.
Please DO NOT use any of interview without permission from both myself and Derek Braman. Thank you in advance!
Please answer the following questions regarding Kodu to your best abilities. Any information I obtain from you will be used in a research project for my Educational Technology masters degree from the University of Texas at Brownsville. Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.
● Jessica Pettyjohn
1. Please share some general information about your school and how it utilizes Kodu.
Explorer Elementary in Kentwood, MI has been using Kodu from Microsoft in an after school setting for the past two years. We have had four sessions of approximately 25 students in each session (total of about 100 students). We have tied Kodu in with our English Language Arts curriculum, specifically the area of writing. The writing process ties in well with what we have been doing in Kodu. At the beginning of each of the four sessions we have had, each group brainstorms vital storytelling elements and what are great characteristics in effective writing. Examples of these would be characters, setting, dialogue, action, etc. The students then brainstormed individual ideas to make a story around the theme of action and adventure. They created graphic organizers and drafted their stories within the first week, then spent the remainder of the seven weeks designing their games around the story they made.
2. Please share some information about yourself and your methods of teaching.
My name is Derek Braman and I will be starting my 9th year of teaching in the fall. I taught my first two years as a middle school resource room teacher before teaching at Explorer Elementary in fifth grade, where I have been for the past 6 years. I teach science and language arts to my students and my teaching methods can be described as guided discovery and highly hands on experiential learning. In our science classes, we do a lot of questioning and experimenting both in real life and through a variety of technological means through websites, simulations, etc.
3. When and how did the use of Kodu first begin? We began using Kodu in the winter of 2008/09 after an Explorer parent, Scott Quibell brought the new project to our attention. He had attended a conference where Kodu was presented and brought the idea to our building principal, who then brought the idea to a few staff members who would have found it to be an interesting idea. Other than the software available through Microsoft, we shaped the program into what was described above, with the blessing of Microsoft and the Fuse team.
4. Do you have corporate or community partners? Pfizer, Blue Sphere Solutions, and Microsoft were sponsors of getting our program started.
5. What have you used this program for? See #1. We have used in for an afterschool program/
6. What are the positive reactions from the students? Just about everything they had to say about the program was positive. THey loved how they were able to take their ideas and turn it into their own games and were then able to have other students play their games and get feedback. They were also excited about looking at other people’s games and how they could “borrow” ideas from them to add to their story and game.
7. What are the negative reactions from the students? About the only negative aspect we heard was that they wanted to take their game with them when they were done (something that seems to be an option now after feedback to Microsoft.). Some also wanted more time and didn’t want to be done so “quickly” after seven weeks.
8. Is the program user friendly? If so or if not, can you please give an example? The program is generally user friendly because of the menu screens for building a programming command. Rather than entering text and code, the users simply choose from visual commands and descriptions. Fourth and fifth grade students seem to have very little difficulty with the program, even when they run into trouble, it provides a great opportunity for problem solving and trial and error solutions.
9. How can Kodu be integrated into classroom curriculum? We have used it in the realm of language arts and writing to “publish” our stories in a different way, but the program also has potential for use in areas of math, specifically sequencing, in science, by using the scientific method to try to achieve certain elements of the games or stories.
10. Are there any examples from students or videos of students working with the program that I would be able to have access to? Here is a Prezi I put together for a board meeting that you have permission to use. Please make sure that it is only used for your presentation and project as some of the individuals in the videos haven’t released their information for use yet. However, it is pretty neat, so I hope it helps! (webaite removed for privacy issues. Please contact me or Derek Braman for this site.)
11. What issues or obstacles have you encountered while using and teaching this program? There have been few, but being able to have more time for students to use Kodu has been a little struggle. As they use Kodu mainly after school, some aren’t able to participate because of transportation issues or parents’ work schedules. Finding a way to have consistent time during the school day with fourth and fifth grade students would be great, but still a challenge.
12. How long does it normally take for students to become familiar with Kodu? In our experience, it has taken anywhere from about 15 minutes, to two full hour sessions to become completely familiar with Kodu. Much of this has to do with the familiarity of the game controller or lack thereof.
13. What other forms of technology do you use regularly in your classroom? I would describe myself as a heavy technology integrator in my classroom. I use a interactive whiteboard from Polyvision called a Walk and Talk board, a document camera, a class set of Palm handhelds (purchased in 2003), an interactive tablet, a classroom microphone system, students response system (clickers), we have access to a mobile laptop cart, and a Flip video camera.
14. Please give any other additional information that you would like to share in regards to using Kodu with students.
15. Do I have your permission to use the answers to this interview for research purposes? Of course!
Derek - Thank you again for your help and guidance while I am completing my work with this program! You, your school and your students are an inspiration!
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