Image © Rocket Jump: Video Game High School
"All the classroom's a stage, And all the students merely players!"
(W. Shakespear: If he was alive today!)
(W. Shakespear: If he was alive today!)
To Gamify or Not?
In a discussion piece titled, 'Game designers are beating teachers at their own game', university lecturer and former primary school teacher Misty Adoniou (via The Conversation) commented that:
In a discussion piece titled, 'Game designers are beating teachers at their own game', university lecturer and former primary school teacher Misty Adoniou (via The Conversation) commented that:
'When playing games, kids show all the attributes their teachers wish were visible in the classroom. They stay on task, they are determined to achieve their objectives and persist despite failures along the way. They work cooperatively to solve problems, and praise the good efforts of others.'
Furthermore, she then stated that:
'Kids play games, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. They persist because they feel the reward of having achieved something that was a challenge. The ultimate reward is the “epic win”'.
Whilst I disagree with her view that 'game designers are beating teachers at their own game', educators can explore the philosophies embedded within game design and decide if they are suitable to apply them in the classroom to increase the 'levels' of student engagement and/or learning in a classroom or school. This process, the use of game thinking and game mechanics to engage audiences, is known as gamification, but does not extended to include game-based learning.
Whilst gamification has its origins in the business and marketing world, it has also made appearances in classrooms around the world in different guises. The sections below discuss the teaching and learning approach taken by Paul Anderson (of Bozeman High School in Montana, USA) and compares it to the approach that Anton Reiter (a primary school teacher in Melbourne, Australia) applied in a multi-age primary school classroom during 2013. Statements from Misty Adoniou's article relating to video game design will provide context and also essentially provide a potential solution to the issues that she raised in her article.
A Gamification Discussion
In his TEDx talk, teacher Paul Anderson explains how he has experimented with using gamification to engage his students in learning. Watch Paul's TEDx talk before reading the analysis contained below.
Whilst gamification has its origins in the business and marketing world, it has also made appearances in classrooms around the world in different guises. The sections below discuss the teaching and learning approach taken by Paul Anderson (of Bozeman High School in Montana, USA) and compares it to the approach that Anton Reiter (a primary school teacher in Melbourne, Australia) applied in a multi-age primary school classroom during 2013. Statements from Misty Adoniou's article relating to video game design will provide context and also essentially provide a potential solution to the issues that she raised in her article.
A Gamification Discussion
In his TEDx talk, teacher Paul Anderson explains how he has experimented with using gamification to engage his students in learning. Watch Paul's TEDx talk before reading the analysis contained below.
In his TEDx talk, Paul discusses that we aspire to see in the eyes of our students the very same dynamics you see when children play video games. He proposes that teachers can take the most compelling elements of gaming and apply them into the classroom, including:
- learning ("that look of...")
- being engaged
- having fun
- taking turns
- experiencing and celebrating success
- experiencing failure and trying again (and knowing that failure is okay - that it is part of the learning process)
- levelling (students moving at their own pace - as opposed to teacher-controlled pace - where students can master a level and then be able to "level up", recognising that they are becoming more powerful as they learn new material - and then move onto the next level of learning
- socialising!
What is Required?
Paul discusses that the keys to setting up a classroom as a video game are the creation of a:
Paul discusses that the keys to setting up a classroom as a video game are the creation of a:
- Levelling system: Students start with zero experience points at the beginning of the year. As students gain experience points they can move themselves up to various named levels.
- Leaderboard: So students can compare how they are going in regards to their classmates.
- Learning center (e.g. a blog/website/network folder) which contains a series of:
- teacher-made tutorials (e.g. videos/podcasts/PowerPoint presentations) that teach the students the required content
- hands-on activities that the students work through, applying the material they are learning in real world scenarios
- quizzes that the students can take over and over until they "get it" (much like credits in a video game, promoting to students that failure and reattempting things is okay - and that it is part of the learning process).
Important Considerations
During 2013, I undertook a number of steps with a senior class of primary school-aged students (Years 4-6), to get them to embrace more active student-centered learning, rather than rely on passive, teacher-directed learning. However, before responding to any 'call to action' that Paul identifies that all good TED talks end with, there are various considerations that I believe must be made:
Learning Content/Center Design
Depending on their target audience and the maturity of the game designers, the difficulty levels of video games vary. Many people who have played video games that are simply 'too hard' know what it is to 'rage quit'. It can be hard to bring yourself to invest the hundreds of hours needed to play or clock a video game if it is too hard to play or to commit to.
This same philosophy must be considered when designing the learning content/centers. This teaching and learning approach requires the creation of many easy to understand, student-focused lessons (much like the Goodger Maths programs implemented in schools in the 1980s and Kent Maths in the 1990s). These learning centers should embrace the same philosophy embedded within game design that 'well-designed games teach you to play whilst you are in the midst of playing.'1 Each learning scenario should differentiated and personalised so that it can meet each student's zone of proximal development.
Teacher Preparation Time
Teachers would need a significant amount of time to plan, develop and source resources to make this work. However, once these resources are made over one academic year, they could then be tweaked when needed and then reused for every other year. As Paul discussed, these resources could include a series of:
Towards the end of 2012, having been inspired by the design of literacy resources at a school in England, I personally spent four months working from home full-time designing every lesson and activity to meet the content descriptors, elaborations and standards for the Australian Mathematics curriculum from Foundation to Year 7 to work on PC, smartphone and tablet devices. As a result I barely need to create another mathematics lesson for the next few years no matter what academic level my students are at.
In 2014, I observed a school who gave their students access to their testing data and then presented them with the opportunity to design their own lessons using Blendspace (click here to learn more about that approach).
Student Reading Skills
In his TEDx Talk, Paul discussed that he discovered that when implementing his approach for the first time, he experienced a number of failures that he wishes to improve upon in the future incarnation of the idea with the next cohort of students. Most importantly he discovered (as I did too - see below), the importance of reading - that the students struggled to read when participating in individual learning, as the text requiring reading, may no longer be presented as best as it could when compared to a teacher paraphrasing and presenting the work in a dynamic way.
I too discovered this, when I initially introduced and implemented my English and Mathematics teaching and learning resources in my classroom in 2013. I found that some students initially struggled with the reading demands of such an approach, as they were required to read and interpret instructions, as opposed to the norm of any classroom, wherein students listen to the teacher read and paraphrase the lesson content to them. This is where the addition of videos and podcasts can help. However, once students start to learn or be taught how to read critically, the student engagement and learning levels increase.
During 2013, I undertook a number of steps with a senior class of primary school-aged students (Years 4-6), to get them to embrace more active student-centered learning, rather than rely on passive, teacher-directed learning. However, before responding to any 'call to action' that Paul identifies that all good TED talks end with, there are various considerations that I believe must be made:
Learning Content/Center Design
Depending on their target audience and the maturity of the game designers, the difficulty levels of video games vary. Many people who have played video games that are simply 'too hard' know what it is to 'rage quit'. It can be hard to bring yourself to invest the hundreds of hours needed to play or clock a video game if it is too hard to play or to commit to.
This same philosophy must be considered when designing the learning content/centers. This teaching and learning approach requires the creation of many easy to understand, student-focused lessons (much like the Goodger Maths programs implemented in schools in the 1980s and Kent Maths in the 1990s). These learning centers should embrace the same philosophy embedded within game design that 'well-designed games teach you to play whilst you are in the midst of playing.'1 Each learning scenario should differentiated and personalised so that it can meet each student's zone of proximal development.
Teacher Preparation Time
Teachers would need a significant amount of time to plan, develop and source resources to make this work. However, once these resources are made over one academic year, they could then be tweaked when needed and then reused for every other year. As Paul discussed, these resources could include a series of:
- teacher-made interactive presentations (e.g. PowerPoint, EasiTeach, Promethean, TouchCast etc.) videos and/or podcasts that teach the students the required content
- hands-on activities that the students work through, applying the material they are learning in real world scenarios
- quizzes that the students can take over and over until they "get it" (much like credits in a video game, promoting to students that failure and reattempting things is okay - and that it is part of the learning process).
Towards the end of 2012, having been inspired by the design of literacy resources at a school in England, I personally spent four months working from home full-time designing every lesson and activity to meet the content descriptors, elaborations and standards for the Australian Mathematics curriculum from Foundation to Year 7 to work on PC, smartphone and tablet devices. As a result I barely need to create another mathematics lesson for the next few years no matter what academic level my students are at.
In 2014, I observed a school who gave their students access to their testing data and then presented them with the opportunity to design their own lessons using Blendspace (click here to learn more about that approach).
Student Reading Skills
In his TEDx Talk, Paul discussed that he discovered that when implementing his approach for the first time, he experienced a number of failures that he wishes to improve upon in the future incarnation of the idea with the next cohort of students. Most importantly he discovered (as I did too - see below), the importance of reading - that the students struggled to read when participating in individual learning, as the text requiring reading, may no longer be presented as best as it could when compared to a teacher paraphrasing and presenting the work in a dynamic way.
I too discovered this, when I initially introduced and implemented my English and Mathematics teaching and learning resources in my classroom in 2013. I found that some students initially struggled with the reading demands of such an approach, as they were required to read and interpret instructions, as opposed to the norm of any classroom, wherein students listen to the teacher read and paraphrase the lesson content to them. This is where the addition of videos and podcasts can help. However, once students start to learn or be taught how to read critically, the student engagement and learning levels increase.
Student Mentality
'In game play it is not only fine to make mistakes, it is necessary to make them because mistakes are creative attempts to reach a solution. Game designers call this a “fail positive” environment and it means you feel safe to take risks. It gives you the freedom to step outside the box, to try something different - to be creative.'2
If teachers are going to consider implementing a teaching and learning approach that has parallels to playing video games, (e.g. using experience points and.or a leaderboard - both are discussed in more detail further below), it would be important to prepare the students mentalities to be able to reject the fear of failure, instead rebranding failure as reiteration by:
- Getting them to play Mario 1, 2 or 3 (NES) or Angry Birds for a week prior to introducing this learning situation (potentially secretly filming them like Paul did to then be used later), discussing the aspects of the game they found frustrating, including how they felt when they died/couldn't immediately solve a problem (e.g. the fail and learn process), drawing parallels to the teaching and learning process.
- Show Paul's Tedx Talk to show the students where the inspiration for this teaching and learning idea came from.
- Discuss how such an approach could reach every student at their individual learning level and what the benefits of that would be.
- Watch the following videos for "making" projectsL Dodge Dart design process video, the video of the Grade 4 students at Calgary Charter School building mouse-trap cars, and the Institute of Play's video 'Failure is Reframed as Iteration
- Discuss the mentality that one must possess when participating in any process that may need constant redesign and tweaking to perfect an approach, drawing parallels to the teaching and learning process.
- Place large 'NOT YET' and 'TWEAK" posters at the front of the classroom that should be referred to by students, peers and teachers when any student encounters difficulty or feels like they are failing. 'NOT YET' is a dynamic, on-going approach to thinking, allowing students to realise they are in a non-static period of learning. 'TWEAK' gives the students a prompt to critically evaluate their current approach, think differently to change their approach or to ask for assistance to improve their problem-solving ability should they get stuck.
Feedback Loops: Immediate, Meaningful, Ongoing and Directional
'Games are a feast of positive reinforcement. For every action, players receive immediate feedback, targeted directly at them and focused on helping them achieve their next objective.' 3
To ensure for proper feedback loops in the approach that I used to teach in the latter half of 2013:
- the resources that I designed at various points provided the answers to the question(s) (but not all) on the following slide (similar to game FAQs), allowing the students to constantly monitor their levels of success and seek assistance when needed (asking a students who had recently completed the same task, a student expert and then teacher, in that order) - download a sample lesson here
- I monitored the levels of success the students were achieving by occasionally roving around the classroom engaging the students in dialogue, whilst also ensuring that I was building independent students by removing myself from helicopter teaching by not 'hovering'
- I then read student work at the end of the lesson to ensure that they had correctly assessed their work and to monitor their success and progress
- Students monitored their progress through the learning of the relevant curriculum by using their Progressive Capacity Matrices.
'Most games have clear objectives, but there are many different ways to achieve them. This gives players a sense of control, as they set the agenda, and give their ideas a go.' Furthermore she reflected that, 'the freedom to experiment and explore, and to see the consequences of your actions, is captivating. The pleasure is in your own achievements - the motivation is intrinsic.' 4
In line with my former school's wish for students to direct their own learning, and to also respond to the widely differing of academic levels in a multi-age classroom (Years 4-6), I had the students use the Progressive Capacity Matrices that I developed to:
- get students to determine knowledge levels/current knowledge "capacities"
- use curriculum codes to direct students to the resources that would expand their knowledge/capacity/capabilities
- state where the evidence was to prove their knowledge of the curriculum
- note when they received help from other students
- note when they gave help to other students.
To (L)earn or Not to Learn, That is the Question: Experience Points & Leaderboards
'Earning badges and amassing XP quickly becomes not just the reward but the end goal itself. The task is done for the badge/XP/air miles. It’s not the learning that matters, but the reward for getting through the unpleasant task of actually doing the work.' - Liam O'Donell 5
Anytime that educators introduce a points system they must consider that whilst gamification, like all extrinsic motivation, is effective, will it truly lead to what educators and parents want; for students to develop a love of learning, where learning is in of itself, the reward? Read below to help you determine whether a points system is a suitable solution.
Experience Points
Each video gamer brings in different levels of experience and video game competency when starting a new game. This is the same scenario with student learning of the required curriculum.
Whilst Paul's concept of all students starting at zero experience points does not reflect the nature of the differences in academic knowledge between students, it is a great idea if students are given individual learning guides (e.g. highlighted curriculum capacity matrices indicating what they know and what they need to improve upon - i.e. using the curriculum progression frameworks or a progressive capacity matrix) and gain experience points when they complete any lesson, activity or learning module/unit. Therefore, no matter their curriculum "level", students can "level up" (not curriculum level wise but knowledge and experience wise) after gaining x amounts of points.
Whilst Liam O'Donnell's opinion on the downside to the use of gamifcation in the classroom is very valid, if teachers chose to implement an experience points system, if it was set up correctly and it was gave students a fair and achievable goal to work towards (e.g. a class game if x amount of learning has occurred) it could lead to engaging even the least motivated and gifted students. However, one must consider whether the points system would detract from deeper levels of student yearning for learning.
Leaderboards
Having taught in many primary school classrooms where there are many years difference between the high, medium and low students, the concept of a leaderboard is fraught with social danger. I personally would not implement leaderboards.
Experience Points
Each video gamer brings in different levels of experience and video game competency when starting a new game. This is the same scenario with student learning of the required curriculum.
Whilst Paul's concept of all students starting at zero experience points does not reflect the nature of the differences in academic knowledge between students, it is a great idea if students are given individual learning guides (e.g. highlighted curriculum capacity matrices indicating what they know and what they need to improve upon - i.e. using the curriculum progression frameworks or a progressive capacity matrix) and gain experience points when they complete any lesson, activity or learning module/unit. Therefore, no matter their curriculum "level", students can "level up" (not curriculum level wise but knowledge and experience wise) after gaining x amounts of points.
Whilst Liam O'Donnell's opinion on the downside to the use of gamifcation in the classroom is very valid, if teachers chose to implement an experience points system, if it was set up correctly and it was gave students a fair and achievable goal to work towards (e.g. a class game if x amount of learning has occurred) it could lead to engaging even the least motivated and gifted students. However, one must consider whether the points system would detract from deeper levels of student yearning for learning.
Leaderboards
Having taught in many primary school classrooms where there are many years difference between the high, medium and low students, the concept of a leaderboard is fraught with social danger. I personally would not implement leaderboards.
Video or TouchCast? Flipping the Flipped Classroom On It's Head
Teachers operating within a "flipped classroom" deliver lessons via pre-recorded videos instead of face-to-face teaching, freeing classroom time for group discussion and other types of active, two-way learning. The arrival of TouchCast could be of enormous benefit to this approach.
TouchCast is an app that can be used enrich the flipped classroom approach and take student engagement in a flipped classroom setting to the next level. TouchCast is not just a static video of a lecture, it provides a simple way for an educator to include a wealth of related content and interactivity, inside the video. Watch the video below to learn more:
Teachers operating within a "flipped classroom" deliver lessons via pre-recorded videos instead of face-to-face teaching, freeing classroom time for group discussion and other types of active, two-way learning. The arrival of TouchCast could be of enormous benefit to this approach.
TouchCast is an app that can be used enrich the flipped classroom approach and take student engagement in a flipped classroom setting to the next level. TouchCast is not just a static video of a lecture, it provides a simple way for an educator to include a wealth of related content and interactivity, inside the video. Watch the video below to learn more:
As you could see in the video above, TouchCast allows the educator to present the content to be learned in a more interactive and multi-modal manner as well as including timed insertion of supplemental information. By including these interactive elements, from web pages and pictures, quotes and polls, the educator significantly increase students’ engagement.
Click here to watch and interact with other TouchCast videos.
Click here to watch and interact with other TouchCast videos.
TouchCast is available for iPad (free) and PC (beta version).
Download this free PDF guide containing ideas on how to integrate TouchCast into educational settings or access the online version here.
Click here to access a step-by-step guide on how to use the TouchCast app for iPad.
Download this free PDF guide containing ideas on how to integrate TouchCast into educational settings or access the online version here.
Click here to access a step-by-step guide on how to use the TouchCast app for iPad.