WiiLearn

Karl Kapp shared this hilarious, ultra-sarcastic video from sarcasticgamer.com.

Even with all the great opportunities that gaming opens up in the classroom, it’s always good to step back, laugh really hard, and admit that video games are just another tool available to teachers. I don’t have a Wii Fit, my wife wanted DDR instead. I’m just as bad in virtual dancing as I am in real dancing. The same is true with bowling on Wii Sports.

One of these days I’ll break 150.

I caught this video from Ben Jones on the Wiimote Project forums. I like the handwriting recognition demo. Maybe the word “Hello” wasn’t the best demo word to use, because the software recognized it as “Hells”. I wonder how much that app costs. Ben features Microsoft OneNote software, which has some cool uses for direct instruction in the classroom.

Johnny Chung Lee is almost single-handedly obliterating the line between the Wii and the PC. Using the wiimote, Johnny has developed finger and head tracking, and my personal favorite: the wiimote whiteboard. Check out the video:

With more and more teachers jumping on the interactive whiteboard bandwagon, this affordable alternative is worth developing and testing in the classroom. Others have joined the cause in developing hardware and software solutions to bridge the gap between Wii and PC.

Wiimote project: a growing community of enthusiasts sharing their successes (and failures) with the wiimote and PC.
WiiBrew wiki: a site created to document do-it-yourself projects for the Wii.
WiiLi wiki: a site dedicated to connecting the Wii and Linux-based PCs