Yesterday Bernie Dodge gave a presentation entitled WebQuests and other Viruses. The focus was on understanding how some useful ideas take hold and take on a life of their own. The “virus” was the metaphor for this process of dissemination. Today, I attended a session by Lloyd Rieber in which he gave some attention to the same topic. Dodge’s idea/virus is the WebQuest. Rieber is attempting to encourage a focus on student authored PowerPoint games. He argues that while students can author games in many ways, PowerPoint games have the advantage of being based in a software that is familiar to educators and widely available. Reiber is also taking a similar approach to Dodge and is promoting the PowerPoint game through a web site – Homemade PowerPoint Games. This site provides examples of games and game templates.
