gail dyer

Moshi Monsters has taken our school by storm.

The program was first introduced , in Beta form, by Anna Rossvoll, of the GLOW team in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Driving across the UK gives plenty of time for thinking and discussion and that is where this idea evolved.

This little program seemed as if it might be the answer to introducing the students (and their teachers) to regularly using the web for working, playing and communicating.

Aim: to learn to be responsible users of Web 2.0 and social networking in a secure environment.

Charateristics of Moshi Monsters program:

• Create own Moshi, it is up to the creator how outrageous or demure a Moshi might be.
• Encourages students to take responsibility for the monster they create, it needs to be named, clothed, fed, housed, have friends and generally be very well cared for, if neglected the Moshi can become very nasty!
• Students earn currency, Rox, with which they are able to keep their Moshi happy and content. They earn Rox, by playing the variety of games available in the Hall of Puzzles. The student and their Moshi achieve higher and higher levels.
• Moshi’s live in Monstro an ever evolving and developing land especially for Moshi Monsters.
• Moshi creators are able to invite friends to join in chat on the noticeboard.
• Moshi creators may visit each other’s sites and rate them.

Benefits of using Moshi

• Students are simulating a social network in a safe environment where no one is to invite a friend to join if they are not known to them as part of the school community. Each student has to accept their friends and delete or report those who act inappropriately.
• Students use the Beta edition of the game, however, with parental permission they can become members at a cost which enables a wider range of choice when purchasing items for the Moshi.
• Moshi Monsters is a game environment, it uses games and puzzles to develop students literacy, numeracy and thinking skills.
• Creativity, communication and collaboration are encouraged.
• It is competitive among friends and personally.
• Great vehicle for developing good social skills and collaboration in a whole class situation when modelling how to access and create a Moshi.
• Excellent opportunities for authentic communication about internet safety and appropriate and inappropriate use of social networking sites.
• Discussions about what constitutes constructive comments (in preparation for blogging)
• Requires students to plan and make decisions.
• Develops good social habits, every day I have students asking if they can be my Moshi friend, as they do of all the teachers. It is a good way of students and teachers getting to know alittle about each other and at the same time observing good social networking etiquette.

Teachers found using the program as a whole class activity early in the year was great for

• team building,
• turn taking
• developing positive relationships
• classroom management.

New teachers who had not used an IWB before found

• students taught them a lot about the boards, especially not be afraid of breaking them!
• built confidence with the IWB.

Moshi Monsters has provided an ideal opportunity and environment for teachers, students and parents to talk about what is happening in the world of Moshi’s. Parents are often as interested and excited as their children are about Moshi Monsters with quite a few students becoming members under their parents approval.

Involvement in this community is a great way in which our students are able to exercise responsible and appropriate actions in a social networking environment. The lessons are learned and the rules for our school community observed.

The students value this opportunity so much that they are prepared to observe the rules and enjoy the opportunity to be responsible participants who are able to create, communicate and connect in a fun, motivating and engaging way.

The opportunity to be trusted, develop confidence as social networkers and be constructive commentators is preparing these students to engage with the www community in a meaningful and discerning way.

This is a far more powerful way of having students learn about the www. All too often educators and education authorities try to block students out of sites that have great educational merit rather than teach them to be discerning aware global, digital citizens who actually know what is right and what is wrong.