Fear of Failure in School but No Fear While Gaming

The video at the end of this post - created by the Extra Credits show - provides a great explanation for why games in school and/or gamified learning scenarios can help students learn to accept failure as a part of life. Games and iterative processes in general allow students to see the failure as temporary condition. This all reminded me of the idea around the two mindsets displayed in the image below.

What type of mindset are we promoting with today's educational system?

Image by Nigel Holmes

 

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. - Thomas Edison

The Evolution of Gamification

Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics

Learning vs. Gaming Session #ICE14

Recently, I completed a Learning vs. Gaming session at Illinois ICE, which had about 4,000 attendees this year. George Couros and Mike Muir were the keynotes and then there was little-old me presenting on the same stage as Jay Leno, Eddie Murphy, PeeWee, and other comedians because I had the privilege of presenting to a fairly packed house at Zanies.

Image courtesy of @jtwillmannhttps://twitter.com/jtwillmann

Session Notes

Here are the sessions notes that accompany the slideshow.

Slides

Backchannel

Gaming in the Classroom

Here is a GBL infographic from OnlineSchools.com. It's an older graphic however it points out a variety of positive aspects for the use of games in the classroom.

As educators, we should remain sceptical of gaming in the classroom. Sid Meier considers a game a series of meaningful choices and that is what teachers need to make meaningful instructional choices when attempting to incorporate games into the classroom. Many teachers have been using video games (or even just video game elements) to promote student engagement, classroom discussions, student reflection, and student creation. Over the next year, I believe the concepts and conversations around Game-Based Learning, Serious Games, and Gamification will become more serious trends for education.

The corporate world has really taken gamification seriously as an engagement and motivation tactic to keep customers coming back. But, its use in the classroom has been relegated to afterschool clubs and/or free time during the day. Why? Is it because gaming is the enemy that keeps students from doing classwork? Are many video games too violent to be considered educational? Are they dismissed as only fun? What do you think about Gaming in the Classroom?


Courtesy of: http://www.onlineschools.com

The #Gamification of Education #Infographic

The Gamification of Education 

I wish I created the following Infographic, but regretfully I didn't.  Scanning through this infographic is a great gateway into the the concept of gamification.  To start, here are a couple gamification definitions to keep you in the loop:

1. "Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems." Gabb Zichermann and Wikipedia 
2. "Gamification is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging."  Gamification Wiki

Everyone loves games!  I will say it again.  Everyone loves games, but they might not all like video games.  Games are just fun, and create pleasureful chemical reactions within our nervous systems.

Nevertheless, since I was a kid in the 80s, video games have been getting a bad rap.  Not until I read the book Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal (TED Talk), did I feel proud to be a gamer. I've always had this in-the-closet mentality about my video game play--especially as a teacher. Teachers didn't ask in the teacher's lounge, and I didn't tell them.  However, rather than discredit video games' value or claim they are the reason behind unmotivated students, try to see the value in using existing video games or game elements in the classroom.  Heck, why not start to play video games yourself or better yet try to make your own basic video games through online platforms like: Scratch, GameStar Mechanic, or Spolder.

It's probably safe to assume that many teachers have used some type of game to promote learning.  The use of games for learning isn't really anything new and neither is video gaming in the classroom (i.e. Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego).  As a teacher, I have been gamifying (to a degree) non-game systems within the classroom for a while.  But, we haven't always been using the types of games near and dear to students' hearts.  For instance, Jeopardy PowerPoints created to review the concepts before a test are cool and all, but what student cares or even knows the Jeopardy theme anymore.  Most of the time, games within the classroom are arbitrary instances that are temporary solutions for engaging students.  I would like to see students engaged within a gamified learning system that occurs regularly.

The idea of using Game Elements, Game Design, and/or Games for Learning within the classroom, isn't a completely new concept, but has been intriguing me for the last two years.  I have always employed the use of games for learning, but I can always become a better classroom "game designer." If you want to join me in implementing game elements within the classroom, feel free to book a time with me to plan an on-going project.  If you aren't privileged to work with me on a regular basis (JJ), please comment with any Gamification ideas you have below.  Hopefully this infographic inspires some ideas for the classroom and/or makes you want to learn more about Games and Learning.

Two Questions  

1. How can we add game elements (especially from video games) into the classroom on a more regular basis?  
2. What other opportunities are there for gamifying classroom activities?  

 
Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Kahoot - Getting a Game Started

Kahoot! is an easy-to-use student response system.  It makes giving quizzes engaging.  Teachers and students would benefit from using Kahoot! from time to time in the classroom.  Why not create a Kahoot for the end of the year and have a classroom competition.

To get started, you can open play already created games or create your own games. To create your own there is an option to construct quizzes, polls, or surveys in a game-type format.

Teacher View/Student View

The following directions attempt to explain how to use Kahoot with your students.  On the left, the teacher's screen is displayed on the left and the student's screen on the right.  Check out the resources below for more information.

Kahoot - Getting Started

Additional Resources

Kahoot! by Dan Gibson