1. Question 1: What is gamification? ~Monica G: I included this video to help me as a novice user of this tool to understand what it is and how to use it in the classroom. One huge misconception is that students are "playing games", but "gamification, on the other hand, looks into games’ mechanism. There are typical elements which are used in most games, such as: Challenge. Chance. Competition. Cooperation. Feedback. Rewards. Winning. Progression." (Levin, 2015)
1.1. John J: Monica I absoleutely love that video. It is funny as we were toying with the idea of using that one in our lesson. It is a great introduction to gamification, glad you found it helpful.
2. Guidelines
2.1. Elaborate/work with your team
2.2. Collaboration/sharing ideas with other groups is recommended
2.3. Include YouTube videos or images when necessary
2.4. Quantity does not always mean Quality
3. Flipped Classroom Group
3.1. Question 2: How comfortable are you with gamification in the classroom? Have you used this before, or is this a new topic? ~Monica G: I am new to gamification in the classroom and have never used it before. (click arrow for a Curated List of Gaming Resources)
3.1.1. Heidi: It's a new topic to me as well. Because I'm not a gamer, I don't think changing my whole classroom management system or grading system to reflect a game would have a huge impact on my classroom. However, I definitely see how making small changes to increase student motivation with games can impact the learning community. According to Clark (2009), 94% of computer games are played by people under the age of 18. Teachers can use this to their advantage with interactive challenges using apps like Kahoot and classcraft. When using these games, it's also important to teach students how to fail— by finding the mistake and trying again. The games won't work if they give up.
3.1.1.1. Hi Heidi! I love using games in my math classroom as a supplemental tool. Students love getting to play the games and learn great social skills while doing it. _Ella Curtiss
3.1.1.2. Hi Heidi, I appreciate your honesty about how you see the implementation of gamification in the classroom. I like the correlation you made between gamification helping students learn to see failing as an opportunity to try again. The essence of learning! I am curious to hear more about why you think shifting your classroom management and/or grading system around gamification would not have a huge impact on your classroom? Thanks again for you reflection, Heidi! Sel Bariamichael l
3.1.2. Hi Monica, Just to assure you, we did see your response post within Mindmeister. I like that you added an additional introduction video on gamifying the classroom! I am sure that will help to bring further clarification for others, especially when considering visual and auditory learners)! As you mention, this is especially true given that many gamification programs offer instant visual progress and data. I am curious to know if you will consider incorporating digital gamification after this mini-lesson? Thanks, Monica! Sel (Gamification Team)
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3.2. Question 3: What motivates you? What do you think would motivate your students? How can this be translated into your classroom? ~Monica G: When working on a project or assignment, I like to know when I am doing a good job, that instant gratification. And I try to always give that to my students in the form of a kind word and rewards for a job-well-done. They love stickers and certificates and from what I can see, by integrating gamification in the classroom would give them that instantly with different assignments and they would not have to wait for me to grade their work.
3.2.1. Heidi: As Levin (2015) points out from his classroom, students are motivated by visual representations of their progress. As Monica said, gaming can give students an instant visual of their progress. This not only is helpful to them, but it is instant data that can be used by the teacher to enhance instruction or find gaps in learning.
3.2.1.1. Marissa Masters: Heidi, I think the visuals really engage our students and keep them invested in what we are doing, similar to when they get computer, Ipad, or Wii time. The instant feedback, especially positive, reinforces the skills they need to be successful inside and outside of the classroom. Thanks for sharing!
4. Danielle Howard Question 1: Gamification in the classroom occurs when an educator takes elements of gaming and combines them with content instruction. Some of these elements include challenge, rewards, and progression. Gamification is not just allowing students to play any game in the classroom. It means we are taking our typical instruction and delivering it in a manner that is fun and engaging in a game-like fashion.
4.1. Anabelle Marty Question 1: As Levin (2015) describes, "gamification" incorporates motivational elements from digital games (e.g. "Challenge," "Competition," "Feedback," etc.) into content-specific gaming platforms. Instead of it being the "actual action of playing," "gamification" integrates the "games' mechanism" into the ones presented to students for educational purposes (Levin, 2015).
5. Danielle Howard Question 2: I use gamification in my class quite frequently. Sometimes, I use it as a simple warm-up activity that last about minutes. Sometimes I use it as review for an assessment that will last the whole class period. My students love playing these games and testing their knowledge. I try to switch between having students play in teams and having them play individually.
5.1. Anabelle Marty Question 2: While I had never heard of "gamification" before, I believe that its implementation into my classroom would be of an immense benefit to my students' overall academic growth. This past school year, the majority of my students would jump out of their seats when they were granted "computer time." Thus, I am eager to use "gamification" in my classroom to increase my students' motivational levels, particular for our upcoming mathematical lessons (Clark & Ernst, 2009).
5.1.1. Hi Anabelle, I am so happy to hear that you came away with so much from our mini-lesson! You mentioned in your answer that you could see the immense benefit of incorporating gamification in the classroom. Is there any specific ways that you could see yourself incorporating it in your classes for this upcoming school year? Thanks! Sel (Gamification Team)
5.1.2. Marissa Masters: Annabelle, I completely agree. After reading about Levin's use in his own science classroom and his points about his students' short attention span, I feel gamification could really help engage our students the way they are about using computers. I hope that through practice we feel comfortable introducing this into our classrooms.
5.2. Hi Danielle, I love how you use games in your classroom. I think using games as a warm-up is a great way to engage students in the lesson. -Ella Curtiss
6. Danielle Howard Question 3: Rewards and progression are definitely motivating for my students and I. Both parties like knowing exactly what needs to be accomplished in order to move forward. Bot of these components are embedded into the requirements for gamification. It is a tool that will keep students engaged and push them to apply their best effort. We know that games are popular in our society because 65 percent of all households play games and 94 percent of computer games are played by people under 18 (Clark & Ernst, 2009). Since we know games are impactful amongst our students, we can use the components of gaming to maintain student interest and high levels of performance. Students will want to perform to the best of their abilities because hey want to advance through the game and earn the reward.
6.1. Anabelle Marty Question 3: When working on an upcoming lesson, a factor that motivates me to continue working hard on it is my students' potential reactions to it (e.g. a highly-detailed visual anchor, a "cool" video that connects to the lesson's aim, etc.). In addition, my motivation levels are fueled by how my students actually react on the day of the lesson. Similarly to the "feedback" that I seek as a teacher, my students, too, are greatly motivated by the words of affirmation and praise they receive from either myself and/or their peers. In relation to "gamification," the motivational factors mentioned above can be experienced through my students' progression through levels, their increase in points, etc. because "students count up from zero, which is motivating, rather than lose points from 100%..." which is common on end of unit assessments, for example (Levin, 2015).
6.1.1. Anabelle - I definitely agree that when doing something new, I think about how students are going to react. Sometimes I find that "cool" videos aren't as cool to the students as they are to me, or a visual anchor that I found last minute goes way better than I had anticipated. Praise/affirmation is absolutely motivating to everyone involved, and is a great way to go about gamification in the classroom. -Katey Steinberg
6.2. Thanks for your thoughtful post on gamification! I hadn't before thought about how typically, children play games in their houses growing up, but that is not continued into the classroom. Thanks for your post! -Katey Steinberg
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7. Casey Rollins: Hi Heidi, you are so right! Students are so motivated by seeing their progress towards goals visually. My students are obsessed with data tracking. The tracking is so beneficial to their understanding of progress and my future instruction.
8. Casey Rollins: Hi Annabelle, I am also motivated by student reaction. Honestly, several of these instructional approaches that we have studied make me uncomfortable, but I am motivated to try them when I think of how my students will react to them. I love your idea of count up points rather than counting down- super motivating and positive!
8.1. Casey, I appreciate your honesty in conceding that some of these instructional approaches make you uncomfortable. Implementing something new absolutely makes me nervous, but I think that it could be a cool opportunity to tell students that this is new to all of us, and that we are learning together! - Katey Steinberg
9. Jaleesa: Gamification is a way of learning for students. It allows students to participate in fun games that provide academic stimulation. Gamification is something I am comfortable with in the classroom. Although I am comfortable with it, I have not known of the many different resources that provided academic games for the classroom. I was only familiar with Kahoot – which I have used in my classroom. When I think about what motivates me, I think about professional developments (teacher school ). I retain the most knowledge when the PD is hands-on, versus someone standing in front of the room talking “at” me. With that in mind, I do not want to just talk “at” me students. I want them to always feel engaged in the lesson.
10. Totally! Anything can be made into a game! Even when i have a few worksheets for practice, i cut them into individual questions, place them around the room and have kids find them and check them off as they go! - Jessen Carley
11. John Jarosz: Melissa don't forget that gamification can also be seen in physical classroom games such as scavenger hunts, whiteboard/chalkboard races, etc.
12. Melissa Davis: Gamification is a teaching style that allows teachers to use some aspects of gaming to motivate and encourage participation from all students. As noted in "A Practical Way to Apply Gaming in the Classroom", "By using game elements in education (NOT actual games), we can motivate our students to improve their achievements" (Levin, 2015). Gamification is NOT playing actual games in the classroom, rather using gaming aspects such as competition, rewards, progress, etc to motivate students (Levin, 2015).
13. Maker Movement Group
13.1. Question 1:
13.1.1. Gamification takes tasks, lessons, etc and turns them into learning opportunities through games. Kids learn better and are more invested in the process. It put a lot of the learning onto the kids shoulders and makes it more about them. - Jessen Carley
13.1.2. Ella Curtiss: 1. Gamification is a teaching style that uses the aspects of games to teach educational concepts to students. Games use stories and other environmental aspects to create an experience in which students become an active member in their education, not a passive recipient. (Clark & Ernst, 2009). Gamification has positive effects on students’ analytical thinking, collaborative learning, multi-tasking and problem-solving skills (Clark & Ernst). Additionally, students are more engaged in learning.
13.1.3. Marissa Masters: Gamification is a teaching style where game elements are ideally "mimicked" and rewarded for expertise and a student eliciting certain behavior. Levin says, "These game elements can be easily extracted from a game content and applied to almost any field. The idea is to take the engaging elements of gaming and implement them into the teaching process" (Levin, 2015).
13.2. Question 2:
13.2.1. Melissa Davis: I am not super familiar with gamification in my own teaching methods. I have briefly used class dojo in my classroom, but solely as a classroom management tool.
13.2.1.1. Melissa, I am also not very familiar with gamification. I have also used Class Dojo, but found it to be so time consuming and distracting from student learning so I stopped. I am curious to learn about gamification resources for science.
13.2.2. I love gamification! For me, i use this most when I am teaching SEL. I have students play through a game that can teach them how being a learer and a follower is important, how listening is hard when everyone is talking, etc. I also think it works wonders in math! _ Jessen Carley
13.2.2.1. Ella Curtiss: Hey Jess! What is this game that students play? I would love to learn more about it.
13.2.2.2. Hi Jess, I am also curious about what game you played with your students! Would love to find out more!
13.2.3. Ella Curtiss: I would describe my experience with gamification as intermediate. Though I feel fairly comfortable using games as an educational tool. I use a lot of games in my math class to supplement learning. In my math class students engage in both physical and digital games. However, I don’t have a ton of experience using digital games in my classroom. I look forward to increasing digital games in my classroom. I’m excited to begin using Kahoot in my classroom as a formative assessment tool.
13.2.3.1. Hi Ella, That is exactly how I felt after reflecting on the benefits of gamification in the classroom! Like you mentioned in your answer, I too haven’t incorporated much digital gamification in my classroom. However, this is something I hope to change in this upcoming school year. Especially when you consider how much gamification helps “…to encourage specific behaviors, and increase motivation and engagement” (Hall, 2014). These are key to thriving classroom culture! Glad you enjoyed the mini-lesson! Sel Hall, M. (2014, May 13). What is Gamification and Why Use It in Teaching? [Web log post]. Retrieved April 15, 2017, from http://ii.library.jhu.edu/2014/05/13/what-is-gamification-and-why-use-it-in-teaching/
13.2.3.2. Ella: I think that it is awesome that you have already implemented physical games in your room - I think that that is the hard part (given the classroom expectations that students are expected to follow when doing physical games). Some digital games, like you mentioned Kahoot, are awesome at formative assessments. For a lower-tech alternative to Kahoot you could try Plickers, where the only person in the room who needs a phone will be you! This works great for me in my room where I try my absolute best to limit cell phone usage. -Katey Steinberg
13.2.4. Marissa Masters: I feel like I am not using hardly any gamification in my classroom, but with some practice, I would feel comfortable implementing this in my classroom! This is a completely new topic to me.
13.3. Question 3:
13.3.1. Melissa Davis: One thing that motivates me, especially with school and teaching, is receiving feedback relatively quickly so I know what I am doing well and what I could do to improve. I think I would definitely use gamifcation in the future to increase student engagement, and provide students with automatic feedback so they can quickly check their understanding. I think it is also a great tool for differentiating, and knowing which students may need more support or reteaching.
13.3.1.1. Anabelle Marty (Peer Response #2): Melissa, we identified very similar factors that motivate us as teachers and our groups of students. Although we have both expressed the immense benefits that "gamification" can have on our students' academic performance, I was wondering: Do you have any thoughts about how to best transition students from a content course that uses "gamification" platforms to those that use traditional teaching methods? For example, one of my students last year was one of the computer whizzes of the entire school. I can suspect that allowing him to be on a computer in math class, and then asking him to get off of it for reading class, for example, may cause him to escalate and misbehave (because he wishes to remain on the computer). Have you considered this type of situation at all? If so, I would love to hear your thoughts on it!
13.3.1.1.1. Hi Anabelle, I have actually had a student like that in the past. We started using timers with him to give him a five minute, and then one minute warning for when it would be time to get off. We also rewarded him at the end of the day with 5 extra computer minutes for each time he got off the computer the first time we asked. If escalated when getting off the computer early in the day he would lose the privilege, but have the opportunity to try again the following day.
13.3.2. I am motivated by learning through doing. I am not the type of student OR teacher who can sit through a lecture easily. I think my students, especially kids who have a hard time sitting, appreciate this. Gamification keeps kids entertained and keeps me from just talking at people. - Jessen Carley
13.3.3. Ella Curtiss: I’m motivated by positive reinforcement and competition with myself. I learn best when I am doing something as opposed to just sitting and listening or reading. My students are similarly motivated. They also really enjoy learning in new ways that encourage them to directly engage with the concepts or interact with technology. I think gamification would be a great resource for both me and my students’ learning preferences and motivation. Gamification encourages competition against oneself by consistently striving to perform better.
13.3.4. Marissa Masters: Learning about the benefits for my students and reasons for implementation motivates me to give this a try. I agreed with the point Levin made in a A Practical Way to Apply Gamification in the Classroom where he says, "As a science teacher, I have noticed that students lose their attention very quickly or seem to have no motivation to learn the curriculum's topics: That’s even before the mental challenges required by the science subject" (Levin, 2015). I think gamification can be used to help my students build critical thinking, inquiry, and problem solving skills in our classroom.
14. Coding Group
14.1. Question 1: Jake Fisher: Gamification is the structuring of a classroom to mimic the world of a game for students to increase engagement and address student areas of interest. Instead of simply playing games in class, students' learning is shaped by key characteristics of games such as "challenge, chance, and competition (Levin, 2015).
14.1.1. John Jarosz: Great definition Jake. You made a great point that students aren't simply playing games, but learning through game tactics, roles, rules.
14.2. Question 2: Jake Fisher: I am pretty comfortable already with gamification in my classroom. Out of the 5 resources given in the slide show, I have used 3 of them regularly in my classes. I would like to learn more about ClassCraft and Knowre.
14.2.1. Anabelle Marty (Peer Response #1): Because I have never used a "gamification" platform in my classroom before, I was wondering: Did you decide, on your own, to have your students navigate through such resources? Or, were such resources used in previous school years and/or in other classrooms at your school? Furthermore, during what time of the day do you allow your students to work on such "gamification" platforms? Is the time block labeled as "free computer time" or as a core instructional period? I look forward to your response, Jake!
14.3. Question 3: Jake Fisher: I know that I am personally motivated by getting tasks done in sequential and measurable ways. Levin's (2015) citation of "progression" as a characteristic with gamification really resonates with me. I know my students are oftentimes motivated by "challenge, reward, chance, [constructive] feedback, and competition. I feel that I can structure my class with roles and better planning to institute some of the other aspects of gamification such as "cooperation" and "progression" to really help differentiate my students' learning through exploring more of the gamification resources and planning suggestions.
14.3.1. Hey Jake! I agree that there are a lot of benefits to using gamification in the classroom. I love that it helps to differentiate instruction based on students' learning. I also like that it provides immediate feedback to students. -Ella Curtiss
14.4. Question 1: Nicholas Homa: Like many educators, I too fell into the misconception that gamification involved content being delivered using physical games. Now I understand that gasification is a teaching style that examines the systems that make games addicting to enhance motivation and self directed achievement.
14.5. Question 2: Nicholas Homa: This topic is very new to me. While I have tried to implement elements of gamification in my classroom, I was unaware of the research that had been made regarding this pedagogical practice. My school implemented Class Dojo school wide to serve as a disciplinary tracing tool, but it was not effective as it tracked not only gains but also negative marks. This tracking method ultimately failed to motivate students as the school had not also structured levels for advancements.
14.6. Question 3: Nicholas Homa: I am motivated by measurable accomplishments with foreseeable milestones. I my pace of motivation and endurance is heavily driven by competition. For these reasons I understand the benefits of the gamification movement. Simply put "competition + rewards = motivation " (Levin 2015). My students likewise will thrive from this combination. I have implemented this using competitive group work in which grades were left out. Students received points for correct problems, but did not loose points for incorrect work. Instead, students could continue to work through their mistakes until they reached a desired outcome to move on to the next level of play.
14.6.1. Hi Nicholas! After reading your reflection, I definitely agree that competition and rewards help to drive motivation. This is something that Lemov emphasized, that "...these activities draw on kids' love for challenges, competition, and play" (Lemov, 2010, pg. 2015). I am glad many of your misconceptions were addressed through our mini-lesson! Sel Lemov, D. (2010). Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to college. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.