If you want to learn more about Gamification. . .

If you want to learn more about gamification, there is a seminar and a related MOOC coming up in a couple of weeks. I signed up - maybe I'll "see" you there. Thanks to the ITC Network for these announcements.
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Free Webinar: Game Elements for Learning (GE4L)

June 26, 2013 - 2:00-3:00 p.m. eastern time

https://events-na3.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1002564123/en/events/event/shared/default_template/event_landing.html?sco-id=1185107464&_charset_=utf-8

What if you could build a course as a game, using native LMS features? What exactly are game elements for learning? How can the elements be applied to teaching? Do they add value to learning?

To answer these questions, Academic Partnerships Faculty eCommons presents a micro-MOOC, Game Elements for Learning (GE4L). Kicking things off is a free live webinar, hosted by Kenneth C. (Casey) Green of The Campus Computing Project, who will moderate a lively conversation with Dr. Gerol Petruzella, Coordinator of Academic Technology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Dr. Petruzella will discuss his experience designing, building, and teaching an introductory philosophy course as "Dungeons & Discourse," a quest-based roleplaying game.  This webinar is part of a professional development micro-MOOC, Game Elements for Learning (GE4L). GE4L introduces participants to game elements for teaching and learning through sharing, game elements, discussion, and participation in self-selected methods. For more information about the micro-MOOC, visit http://facultyecommons.org/game-elements-for-learning-ge4l-july-1-29-2013/

 

MOOC - Game Elements for Learning

from Academic Partnerships

July 1, 2013 to July 29, 2013

Cost per student: Free

https://www.canvas.net/courses/game-elements-for-learning

Gamification is the integration of game elements into a non-game setting — such as building online communities, education and outreach, or building educational apps. When used meaningfully, game elements can enhance the learner’s experience in an online course. In this professional development MOOC, you will learn how to utilize common game elements like collecting points or resources, quests, avatars, levels, social graphs to engage online students. The course covers the following topics: Introduction to Gamifying Your Course, Game Thinking and Dynamics, Game Elements, and Applying Gamification to your Course.

• Provides video lectures
• Provides opportunities to interact with the instructor or students
• Uses discussion forums
• Contains external social networking participation or elements
• You will not be given a final grade in this course
• Intended for educators or professionals

Gamifying my class - Part 1

The only really new thing I'm going to try this summer is to gamify my class. Gamification is basically making elements of your class like a game as a way to get students to spend more time with the course material and to motivate them to do things they might not otherwise have done. It is also a non-grade way of rewarding students. Plus, it makes learning fun.

Now, I should confess that I am not a gamer. I don't play Angry Birds, I don't play Words with Friends, I never played Farmville. It's not that I have anything against gaming, it is just that, on the rare occasions that I have a few spare moments, gaming is not what pops to the top of my list of things to do. I have, however, watched my son and husband and their huge devotion to games. I see other people putting a lot of energy into earning points and moving up levels. I am fairly convinced that this will motivate at least some of my students to engage in class more than they otherwise might have.

So, step one was to read up on simple ways to gamify a class. I included some of the articles I read below. I've decided to have a badge based system, where students can do three kinds of tasks to earn badges, similar to a merit badge that one might earn in the Boy Scouts. Here are the three kinds of tasks, as suggested in A Teacher's Guide to using Badges in the Classroom by Keith Sorensen:

• Specific badges - basic tasks aligned to course outcomes. I'm thinking thinks like mastering the basics of Canvas, making substantive discussion posts on 5 days during a week, adding a website review to our course resources and the like.
• Random targets - random tasks aligned to course outcomes. I'm thinking getting question #7 right on 3 quizzes in a row, finding a mystery icon that I hide somewhere in each module, etc.
• Challenging targets - really hard stuff. I'm thinking reaching 100 people with your service learning project, having a viewing of a class related movie attended by 50 people, etc.

Now, once one earns the badges, what then?   In Education Levels Up! – A noObs guide to Gamifying your Classroom , Mr. Daley suggests letting students level up, earn experience points, and earn rewards. This all sounds like a bit much to me. I'm thinking of having some basic rewards like, earn 3 badges, get a late pass, earn 10 badges, get to drop an assignment, earn every badge and your grade will  go up one grade point. Daley also suggests earning class dollars for spending on rewards. I'm also pondering that idea - let them earn points for each badge and the points can be used to buy the rewards - giving the students a bit more control.

The next thing is how to organize this. All of the articles I read recommended Class Badges. I signed up. It's pretty basic and it seems like if I went with anything more complex than adding up badges, it would be more work for me. I then checked the Canvas LTI page for something that would plug right into Canvas. I actually found a couple of options including Open Badges and BadgeStack.  I like the idea of Open Badges, as I saw a great presentation from them at the Open Education conference last fall. I'm going to check that out. I also like the idea of whatever I use hooking right up with Canvas. BadgeStack required working with their development team, not an option 2 weeks out from the start of the course.  I'm going to a pre-conference session at InstructureCon on LTI's, so I should be a pro by next week.

More later as I continue to investigate gamifying my class.

The planning cycle begins again

It's that time again - Summer quarter is right around the corner and fall quarter will be here before I know it. It's time to get serious about course planning. When I started this blog this time last year, we were just learning we had adopted Canvas. Now we are deep into the pleasures of this new Learning Management System (LMS). I am really a huge fan of Canvas and love how it is constantly adapting to our needs, getting better and better every few weeks.

One of my favorite parts of this time of the year is thinking about what my focus will be for the new quarter. For my Global Studies Environment class, which I teach every summer at Highline, I hate to say it but this class needs a complete overhaul.  I love what I have there, but several of my favorite readings are dated, environmental problems that were pressing, like the global food crisis, have passed into being everyday miseries instead of headline grabbing events.  Thinking around climate change has matured.

I don't use a textbook.  Instead, I've gathered together a huge selection of articles from our library databases and open educational resources (OER).  One of the challenges of teaching with OER is that I have to stay on top of the readings and make sure everything is current - I can't rely on the textbook publisher to do it for me. That means rewriting all of my quizzes, recrafting essay questions, creating new discussions.  This is a ton of work, but it is work that is worthwhile. Students regularly comment on how relevant this course is and a good portion of that is because I craft the content to what matters to my students. Plus, the students don't have to buy a book and save a lot of money. They like that too :-).

Additionally, I want to think about gamifying my class, which is the process of incorporating game like rewards into the course.  I also want to make the class more personal for my students, allowing the selection of a book or movie to report on and having a class journal.  Whenever I add work, of course, I need to think about what I'm going to take away. This is already a robust class and, in keeping my student workload in mind, I need to maintain balance.

I have to be realistic, though. I am a part time instructor and am teaching this quarter in the graduate school at Seattle U.  I only have so many hours to give to indulging in course planning (which I genuinely do enjoy).  So, with the genuinely pressing need to overhaul the summer class, trying new things might have to wait for fall and my American Government class.

What new pedagogies are you thinking of indulging in this summer? Share your thoughts in the comments.