This week was spent digging in the Gamify your Classroom
book. I had read through the first two chapters over Christmas break, so I
started with Chapter 3 and have made it to Chapter 9 of 13 so far. As I have
been reading, I have been taking notes on each chapter and trying to figure out
where it will fit in to our planned course content. For this week’s blog, I
thought I would discuss the highlights of each of the chapters that I read, my
thoughts on how it will support what we are trying to teach, and any ideas that
I had about “quests” we can have the students do based on the reading (Note: I
didn’t necessarily have assignment ideas for each chapter at this point, but
for some I did). I hope to finish reading the rest of the book this weekend, so
depending on how my meeting with Molly goes this Monday I may finish this
analysis of the chapters up next week (or I may be talking about something
completely different – that is one of the joys of working with Molly)
Chapter 3: Who Plays Games and Why
This chapter discussed Bartle’s Player Types and how they
are used by game designers. It looked at rewards and motivation (both intrinsic
and extrinsic), as well as the flow channel. It also looked at how the
different types of fun could lead to engagement (the different types of fun are
hard fun, easy fun, altered states, and the people factor). This chapter should
fit quite nicely into Molly’s section on types of fun. There is a Bartle’s
Player Type quiz that the students could take, and they could also test out a
game called Darfur is Dying, which the book discusses.
 |
| Bartle's Player Types |
Chapter 4: Iterative
Design
The author basically states that in his opinion, teaching is
designing, and that it is possible to use what you know as a teacher to
implement games as a form of teaching in the classroom. Paper prototyping is
explained, as is prototyping with interactive fiction. He also discusses play
testing and using students as co-designers. He also discusses the importance of
doing a post mortem with your students after you have tried out a new game or
gamified unit. This chapter will tie in with the unit on gamification design
framework/tools for gamification. I didn’t have any specific ideas for
assignments, but this chapter lists quite a few authoring tools that are
available, so having the students test drive one of those might be fun.Chapter 5: Play Based Learning
This chapter was all about play as a method for learning. It
discussed Montessori, Piaget, and the Zone of Proximal Development. This chapter
spent a lot of time talking about digital toys, and more specifically sandbox
games like The Sims, or Minecraft. It also discussed the Playmaker School which
uses open learning, but not structured games as a teaching method. Chapter 5
could be used with the unit on types of games, or the unit on uses for
gamification. We will need to see which one it ends up fitting in with. Having
the students try out a sandbox game or look into ways that schools are using
them could be a potential assignment.Chapter 6: Learning in Cooperative Mode
This was a great chapter on cooperative learning. There was
an interview with Lee Sheldon who is a pioneer in the gamified classroom. He
explains how to use narrative to drive learning and gives examples. The chapter
also introduces a way to build civilization as a class with a game called
Historia. There were several other examples as well. The main point of this
chapter is that cooperative learning is basically a game. I found this chapter
to be very interesting, but couldn’t really match it specifically to any of the
units that we have designated for our course.
 |
| Historia |
Chapter 7: Gamification and Quest Based Learning
This chapter contains a definition of gamification and gives
examples of gamified experiences. It introduces the gamification mechanics of
leaderboards, badges, modding, avatars, in-game economies, game geography,
Easter eggs. It also stresses that gamification should be a tool for learning,
not tacked on as an after-thought. The second part of this chapter looks at
quest based learning and project based learning and discusses the Quest to
Learn school. The player journey (see image), and Amy Jo Kim’s Social Action
matrix were also discussed. This chapter will tie in quite nicely with our unit
on game elements. A few ideas for assignments might be some kind of learning
quest (although that is basically what the first half of the course is going to
be), or analyzing how a game that they play uses different game elements and
the player journey.
Chapter 8: Personalized Learning
Games are a great way to personalize learning, and proposes
that the current system of organizing schools grouped by the age of the
children is lazy and ineffective. A lot of time in this chapter is spent on
badges, why they work, and different ways to use them. The author also talks
about how badges can show progression and growth in education as the student “levels
up.” Another exciting area that was discussed was adaptive assessments. There
is research into ways that video games can be used as assessment tools since
they are so good at collecting data. The concept of stealth assessments was
introduced. It explained the concept of dynamic difficulty adjustment where the
challenges adjust as a student progresses through the lesson. This chapter will
tie in quite nicely to our unit on tools for gamification. One assignment idea that
I had was to have the student design a badge.
In Conclusion
I didn’t get a chance to finish chapters 9-13. Reading
through this book has taken me longer than it usually would because I am trying
to take notes and explore ideas that it presents. One of the great things about
the book is that it includes lesson plan ideas, games, and resources at the end
of each chapter. If I am anywhere near my computer when I finish a chapter, I
have spent time on-line examining the resources. I am quite excited about
everything that I have been learning and I am looking forward to using what I have
learned in the development of our course content. Molly and I plan to meet
again on Monday. I believe that she was re-reading the textbook as well, so we
will compare notes and see where we need to go next.
Picture Sources
Caron, F. (n.d.). My Take on
Bartle's Types. Retrieved February 04, 2016, from
http://frankcaron.com/Flogger/2011-07-23.html
Glover, I., & Latif, F.
(2013, September 13). Open Badges in Higher Education - Perception and
Potential. Retrieved February 04, 2016, from
http://www.slideshare.net/IanGlover2/open-badges-in-higher-education-al-tc
Kim, A. J. (2014, February
28). Beyond Player Types: Kim's Social Action Matrix - Amy Jo Kim. Retrieved
February 04, 2016, from
http://amyjokim.com/blog/2014/02/28/beyond-player-types-kims-social-action-matrix/
Kim, A. J. (2014, June 09).
The Player's Journey: Drive sustained engagement with Onboarding, Hab...
Retrieved February 04, 2016, from
http://www.slideshare.net/amyjokim/the-players-journey-drive-sustained-engagement-with-onboarding-habitbuilding-and-mastery
Kirjavainen, A. (2013,
February 22). How to Design and Playtest Your Games? (version 2.0). Retrieved
February 04, 2016, from
https://learninggamedev.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/how-to-design-and-playtest-your-games-version-2-0/
ODonnell, L. (2014, February
02). Multi-School MinecraftEDU Server Launches! Retrieved February 04, 2016,
from
http://www.gamingedus.org/2014/02/multi-school-minecraftedu-server-launches/
SimCityEDU: Pollution
Challenge! (n.d.). Retrieved February 04, 2016, from
http://www.playfully.org/games/SC
W, Z. B. (2015, February 28).
Historia – The Mythical Mobile Board Game ‘Soft-Launched’ on Google Play.
Retrieved February 04, 2016, from
http://justsaying.asia/historia-soft-launch-google-play/
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