Gaming vs. Gamification Conversation

    

The concept of “gaming” vs  “gamification” came up in a conversation with colleagues, again. We were discussing what makes it gaming and not gamification. Are we just splitting hairs? Or, are the two words interchangeable?

According to Osterweil and Klopfer, both MIT professors, gamification too often means “making a game out of learning…,” and “undermines what they see as a real opportunity for games to radically, albeit playfully, transform education.”

Read the full article here: These Professors Think Schools Need Games, Not Gamification.

 Many educational games are just designed as 'drill and kill' via a computer screen and the fact that teachers tend to use the games as rewards instead of starting points for learning. “The game should be an experience, where kids get to explore and problem-solve,” Klopfer said. “Then a teacher or a peer can help them make the connection between the game experience and concepts that can be generally applied.”

Check out this STEM game: The Radix Endeavor

More Resources for Teachers

The following Prezi, by Marin Burrett, highlights some resources teachers can use with their students. It includes games, apps, assessment tools, etc. 

Have a great weekend!

Peggy Steinbronn, Ed.D.

Fun in an Online Course

     

How do you create "fun" in an online course? This is a discussion that the students in one of my online courses have been discussing--the original question was more about characteristics of effective online instructors. Several students mentioned that an effective online instructor makes the learning "fun". Does that mean an online instructor who has a great sense of humor and it shows up in the online environment? Or, does it mean that the learning activities are engaging and "fun"?

Yes--probably both ideas are "correct". I think I can be funny--sometimes (don't ask my personal kids, because they just groan when I think I am being funny), but my sense of humor may not appear in an online course. So, in my case, I just hope my personality shows through in other ways.

What else can an instructor do to make it "fun"? Is the course for a student in grades K-12 or for an adult learner, like teachers taking online courses for professional development? Does that make a difference?

Think about how you learn. Is learning easier for you if you are having fun doing it and so the time just flies? Can all learning be fun or does some of it just have to be boring? How much does the attitude of the learner play into this? As you can see, I have a lot of questions but not many answers.

Ideas? I would love to hear from you!

 

In the Spotlight: Formative

This is a program that is described as

"A superb assessment resource which allows you to gain real-time feed back through tests, quizzes and even allowing students to annotate a document that you upload. Set up your quiz/test using true/false statements, longer text answers or students can draw the answer. You can setup a marking key meaning that the site will mark the answers for you and give instant data on who is correct. Your students can either have their own free account or they can access the material using a link." 

Also advertised as: Any grade, any subject, any devise. Have you used it with your students? If so, how did it work for you?

Peggy Steinbronn, Ed.D.

AEA PD Online Instructional Designer

www.aeapdonline.org 

Gamebased Learning: What is it?

When I was a kid ( a loooong time ago) there was no such thing as video games--because there were no in-home computers yet. I know, showing my "age". Our games were those we made up, learned at recess, or the board games we received as birthday and Christmas presents.

Even when I was a new teacher, computer technology had not yet become a classroom tool. Today, many students in our classrooms have more powerful technology in their hands/pockets/backpacks, than ever. They are hardly ever disconnected from the Internet. It is hard to compete with this ever-evolving mass of multimedia. So, how do we compete with that as classroom teachers? One answer to that is game-based learning. When you really think about it, video games are essentially learning engines.

You start out not knowing anything about how to play the game and gradually you learn the rules and through repeated practice, trial and error, repeat the process over and over until you have mastered the first level. The program waits for you to master it before it will let you move on--unlike in our classrooms, where the teacher moves the students forward whether the student is ready or not--there is a curriculum to be covered and we only have 180 days to get it done.

You are allowed to fail in a video game and learn from your mistakes. Failure is rarely seen as an insurmountable block that cannot be overcome. It is a challenge to get to the next level. As a gamer, you aren't going to start at the highest level--you would quit the game before you had ever finished.

Of course if you do a search on "game-based learning" you will find a slew of resources that may spark some ideas for you to try in your classroom. In a post, A Guide to Game-Based Learning by Vicki Davis@coolcatteacher, she shares tools to analyze game-base learning along with the characteristics of various types of games. The Gamifi-ed wiki, compiled by her ninth graders and Master's program students from the Univeristy of Alaska Southeast, lists some recommended games for classroom use that are great for learning. Other sites like Common Sense Media and Free Technology for Teachers also frequently feature new games and simulations that are great for classroom use.

Are you a gamer? What games do you play on your smart phone--Candy Crush? Trivia Crack? Minecraft? Words with Friends? If you play any of these types of games, then you are a gamer. How can you take gaming experiences and make them classroom worthy? Think about that and we will talk about it in the next Friday Feature.

Shall we play a game?






Peggy Steinbronn, Ed.D.

AEA PD Online Instructional Designer

www.aeapdonline.org 

Games and Learning

I received an email newsletter from Merlot (a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community.) and in reading it, one link lead to another, to another link, and so on...

I arrived at a website with a very intriguing presentation made with Prezi. It was about games and learning--video type games and learning. It is worth taking a look, although it takes a few minutes to get through it--especially if you click on all the links and watch the embedded videos. But of course that is what made it so intriguing.

Playing to Learn by Maria Andersen.

What do you think? I think learning should have more fun in it. Research is telling us that learning happens when students are engaged and having fun. How can we do that without making the content seem trivial? How can it be done with authentic activities--so it doesn't seem contrived?

Want more on this topic? Then check out this article from THE Journal: Five Skills That Games Teach Better Than Textbooks, by Dian Schaffhauser, 11.05.2014 .

In the Spotlight

Have you seen Osmo? It is used with an iPad and lets you "play outside the iPad"--so to speak. The Osmo website describes how Osmo works:

"Osmo has a magical ability to turn physical objects and interactions into digital game elements. The technology that makes this possible is called Reflective Artificial Intelligence (AI), a phrase we created to describe the process that allows the iPad to make sense of what it sees. There are two main components of Reflective AI: the red Osmo reflector (a mirror), and the computer vision algorithms that process the data. Working together, the reflector and our computer vision software give the iPad the ability to integrate physical objects into our games in real time." (from http://blog.playosmo.com/)

Sounds complicated to me. But watch how kids interact with it:

Pretty awesome! I think it will go on my Christmas list this year. I hope my grandkids let me play it with them. :)

 Peggy Steinbronn, Ed.D.

AEA PD Online Instructional Designer

www.aeapdonline.org