I took a longer break from blogging then I was planning on, mainly because I got caught in that trap of looking for wider relevance and therefore sat down and have written, re-written, and scrapped this post a number of times. I really don't want this pattern to take hold again so I told myself that I just needed to get some quick thoughts down and move on.
I recently came across a post from Vicki Davis who talked briefly about gamification in classrooms. For the uninitiated, this refers to the application of traditional gameplay elements within regular school routines. Having grown up playing a lot of games, board- and card-based and electronic, this seemed like something right up my alley. My thinking was that if I loved playing games and I saw that lots of my students also loved playing games, this would be fairly easy to implement.
I was wrong.
Don't get me wrong, though, as I have had some successess in this area. Last year, I started using ClassCraft as another layer on top of the work that we were already doing. Students can receive XP for doing well on assignments or for demonstrating positive behaviour. Likewise, they will receive small penalties for not completing assignments or being a disruption. However, I can't help but feel like I'm not really using this as well as I should.
Vicki Davis (courtesy of Kae Novak) wrote about the idea that gamification can't just be "chocolate on broccoli." It can't just be throwing in meaningless points and rewards in addition to the work that needs to be done. Instead, it has to become a complete approach overhaul to how classrooms are done in the first place. I haven't really done this... I've merely thrown in the appearance of something new and exciting and the result has realistically been something of a casual level of tolerance. "Oh, look. Mr. Thompson's gave me points. Or something." This won't do.I've decided to look a little bit more into this, beginning with Lee Sheldon's book "The Multiplayer Classroom." I also want to engage with my students on a more meaningful discussion about the kinds of things that they feel would make for a more relevant and enjoyable experience. It's with this post that we're going to begin looking more at online commenting and the building of digital connections.
Here we go...
One More Cool Thing
I came across this a few days and have viewed it a few times. Not only is the song one that I've found myself humming to myself every now and then, but I'm just amazed at the work that went into making this possible.
~Mr.T
To me gamification of the classroom would be a great idea to do. After all games have become a integral part of this generation. we love most types of games. from card to board to console. Plus some people like REALLY BAD GAMES. like im not talking about bad graphics or bad rules. im talking about the games that make no sense have TERRIBLE graphics and it's a game based off of a movie. i know this has nothing to do with this comment but some people love games no matter what happens. Like me. so i would love for our classroom to be gamified
ReplyDeleteI agree about your point because gamification because, games can cause all sources of those things that you just showed.And that chocolate with broccoli because I think it means that is something bab and something good and combining them into one decilious treat.Classcraft would be considered as gamification because classcraft is agame but you get to get the expierence of the game because you are in the game.
ReplyDeleteI think it's (gamification) is a great idea, and I would love to have an entire class playing minecraft while learning about how the crusades went. While class craft is a start, I think it should be more than a number going up. I think it would be cool if you could do more than just take a forbidden item. I would love to see a battle mechanic, where your level, equipment, pet, and skills effect your dice roll. I think that would be really cool, and at the end of the year, each team tries against "The Hydra" which is the teacher. But that's just my opinion. :D
ReplyDeleteHonestly I am not a fan of the term gamification. I am the type of person that gaming does not interest me and I am more wanting to have my work right in front of me and just work the old school way. I learn from speaking and writing the information down not by game play. In fact game play seems too competitive to me and being a competitive person I would try to get the right answer first and end up rushing and get the answer wrong. I feel this topic will help engage students in learning but not all students as some of us have no interest in including technology and fun games into our learning. And I am one of those people. I feel that including games in somethings is okay, don't get me wrong! Games are fun... But school isn't meant to be fun all the time. School is meant to learn and learn a lot in that fact. These games might take a lot of time to set up and wait for your opponent. This causes students to not be able to work at their own pace.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely, and frankly classcraft seems more like a waste of time than a useful learning tool. Sure it's a pleasant way to begin class. However if you take into consideration the effort to set it up and get everyone to calm down enough to actually get through it, it's a waste of time we could be using to work on our assignments. I do admire your attempt to turn our classroom into something more than just a classroom though.
ReplyDeleteI think its a good idea to do this everyday, because a lot of people enjoy having exitement before class starts. I would say gamification is when you create a game that everyone would play and learn througout the game. I also think that we should do it more often because the class likes to play games and have fun. So maybe try that and see how it goes
ReplyDeleteI think that gamification is a good idea if we use it the right way. For example: Classcraft, l like it at the beginning of class because we get to find out what in happening in the community and outside of the community, but sometimes I think that it is best to just skip it and get straight to work and not haft worry about it. I think that we should just have class craft three times a week, maybe on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Getting off Classcraft I think that it might be cool to try another way to use gamification in our classroom, then I might think of it differently if we try something else. I haft to admit though gamification is a cool idea to add to the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think that gamification is a good idea because it will make class more interesting and fun for everyone. Its also a good idea because it will get more people to do there work and be exited to go to this class. It will make class easier for some people to do work this way instead of the way we where doing it before. Those are some of the reasons why I think its a good idea to gamify the classroom
ReplyDeleteIn my personal opinion, I find that I would rather just learn the lesson rather then doing it while playing a game. Of course, not everyone has that perspective. So I believe that perhaps a game could be instructed to follow through the course of history, almost as if reenacting it as well as playing your own character. As I find using games could help some people learn and understand the way of history, I don't think thats something I would follow myself
ReplyDeleteI like the term gamification. If we were to bring it into the classroom I think people would enjoy class more instead of just a boring class with no fun at all. I do think Classcraft is a watse of time because in the morning usually when people get to school they are hyper because they have already been with their friends. And having to take the time for them to calm down and actually taking maybe 10-15 minutes on it is quite a bit of class time which we could be using for work or possibly even reading.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that using gamification with classcraft isn't helping the class. I feel like it gives something to work towards, such as leveling up or getting more items in game. Some people may not find it useful, but I find it to encourage me to do my assignments more frequently, as you get rewarded for doing so.
ReplyDeletewe were asked to read the paragraph and write about what we thought about it. I thought it was a really good idea. So we can have for fun with our work. and we can not do so much work and sit and write notes all day. gamifiacation is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't like the term gamification. I am not a fan of gaming so to have things like Classcraft in the classroom doesn't interest me. I feel as if Classcraft is more of a waste of time of the work time that we could have. I would much rather just have the work in front of me on a booklet, rather then include games. School isn't meant to be fun, so I feel as if we should keep the gaming concepts out of school
ReplyDeleteGamification is a good idea, but some people may still not care about the whole idea. I still like the idea of it but I don't think it's the best for me. I find that it encourages me to have fun at the beginning of class, but sometimes it can take half of the class to finish working with it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great way of explaining gamification and how it works. I enjoyed how you talked about what inspired you to used this approach in learning, and how it could make the classroom more fun and loose. It is a unique way of getting us to enjoy and make school more interesting. I personally am not a huge fan of gamification; as I like finishing work and getting homework over with. I believe that school should have a way of learning that everyone can get involved with, and this a unique way of getting people learning.Overall, I believe it is a great way to get kids engaged in their learning and to have fun while learning at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, and feel like it is a waste of time to be using Gamification as a daily routine in the class. Why play games to "help" learn when you can just come to class and and get straight to work without wasting time when instead you can get way more stuff done by just working without any interruptions. I dance and that is not a waste of time because you get exercise, you get involved with activities and get to see other people such as friends and it's super fun.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea of Gamification. I think it will help make social studies more fun. I have a hard time doing work on paper so making things into a game makes it easier for me to get started. I really like ClassCraft and I think it is fun. I personally play a lot of video games in my spare time so I automatically become engaged when we use technology in the classroom. Creating a real life video game out of social studies would probably make me actually like class. Now I find it a lot of work but I might not consider it as work if I am having fun doing it. That is why I think Gamification is a good idea.
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