Joining the Microsoft Educator Community

By finishing the course, Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning, I gained my first badge in the Microsoft Educator Community. I have decided to check out the community a little closer, as there are so many opportunities to learn from other educators!

Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification

Community Member

Capstone: My Plans to Create Gameful Changes in My Classes

This is the final reflection from my class, Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning.

How did having choices about which lessons to participate in, and in what order, impact your learning experience in this MOOC?

When I first started looking into gamification, I took a quiz to find out “What Type of Gamer Are You?” It was no surprise to me to see that I was an “achiever.” These types of gamers loved to “catch ‘em all.” I am the type of person who wants to do well at everything (hence the reason that I took this MOOC on my own terms, as well as why I put a lot of thought into my answers). I also want to collect as many achievements as possible.

Because of this, I greatly enjoy the way that this MOOC is structured. I know that I can focus on particular parts of it to obtain an overall understanding of gameful learning, but I chose to complete each and every module. This way I know that I was able to delve into each and every bit of knowledge that is shared in the MOOC, helping me to fulfill my “achiever” tendencies.

What do you want your school/context to look like in 1 year? 3 years? 5 years? What are the barriers you foresee impeding progress to those milestones? How are you planning to mitigate those barriers?

The teachers in my building/district are of the same mind when it comes to what truly matters; we want our students to be productive members of our global society. In order to do this, many students need motivation. My district has been moving to grades based on summative assessments instead of based on formative assessments. We are also moving to standards-based grading.

I see us continuing to move toward these goals, but I know that introducing gameful learning can help us reach beyond those goals. Because gameful learning provides choice, students will be intrinsically motivated more often. With more motivation, they will be willing to complete more practice (formative assessments), which in turn will help them master the skills that we use summative assessments to measure.

The first barrier that I have already experienced has been our grading system. Our grading system is based on the A through F model, which does not meld well with the 4-point grading scale. Our district has been moving to remedy this by finding ways to put the 4-point grading scale into our existing system. The district also discourages giving students zeros and instead encourages pushing and motivating students to complete their work. In our district, 60% and above is passing, which is different from other districts. I’m not sure exactly how this motivates students, but a lower passing score does stop low grades from de-motivating some students.

Other barriers include teachers not willing to change their ways, parents not completely understanding the changes, and students resisting the changes. These can all be remedied with some professional development and the dissemination of information to each group to help them understand why we are making changes.

In addition, if I simply share out what is occurring in my classroom and show that students are motivated to succeed, I can prove the worth of gameful learning. Of course, everything isn’t hunky dory every day and there are times when students aren’t motivated, but I have noticed a connection. When the activities in my classroom devolve to traditional teaching methods, student motivation takes a dive. When I focus on gameful activities, motivation increases incredibly. Showing the difference to stakeholders can be all that I need to convince them that gameful learning makes a positive difference.

I can also share my journey with stakeholders. By showing them how I have set up gameful learning modules and activities, as well as how I find ways to motivate students, can also be helpful to persuade them that gameful learning is valuable.

What are the “bright spots,” i.e. learning experiences in your context that have already been designed to support learners’ intrinsic motivation? How can you build off of those bright spots?

I have found that games and simulations are a great way to increase motivation. Even when students don’t earn something outright (no points, no grade, no treats, just having fun), they are motivated when we play games or role-play in simulations.

In my gamified classes, I award experience points (XP) for positive behavior. Sometimes when we play games, I will award XP, but not every time. Here is an example activity in which I awarded points, though randomly:

I was teaching WWII. In general, I focus on the big picture and what we can learn from the past when teaching history. It is important to cover specific information such as battles (including who won, when they took place, and who was involved), but the most important part is understanding why each battle was significant and how it led to a long-term impact. I don’t force my students to memorize information such as the specific date of certain battles, as long as they understand an overall chronology of history.

For our WWII battle activity, I put together a “WWII Battle Stations” activity. I chose 13 battles (5 in the European theater and 8 in the Pacific theater) and put together a graphic organizer that required students to find the date, victor, and significance of each battle listed in the chart. I posted a short one-page reading about each battle around the room so students would get up and moving.

After reading about one battle and filling in the row in the chart, the students were to come to me and have me check for accuracy. If their information was accurate, the student was allowed to choose a card.

The cards were another element that I added in to increase motivation. I put together cards that either had positive effects (You have found some penicillin. This can help heal you.) or negative effects (You have run out of food. If you do not find SPAM by the end of the next battle, you die of starvation.) This made the information scavenger hunt into more of a game; after each battle, students chose a card. Some cards required students to roll a die to see if they lived, died, became sick, or deserted.

I added another mystery element by awarding a certain amount of XP to each student based on which cards they held. For example, one card was worth 10 XP, another was worth 100, and one very rare card was worth 500 XP.

Creating this activity was an example of building off of prior successes; I created a Civil War game just like this last year. Including the cards into the activity motivated students to complete the activity in just one class period instead of stretching it out over three days, which is how long it took before I introduced the cards.

I have also created other simulations and games that have captured my students’ interests and kept them motivated during class.

In general, I want my classes to be the classes that I would have wanted to be in while I was in school!

If you are a classroom instructor, what are going to be (or have been) your first forays into gameful curricula?

I have included gamification in my classes for the past two years. I first learned about gamification at a Social Studies conference. Michael Matera, a world history teacher himself, presented about how to increase motivation in the classroom by including game elements. I was hooked right away!

Since then, I have been using Classcraft to keep track of my students’ XP, HP, AP, and GP. They can also log in and train their pets, buy equipment, and use their powers.

Just including a system where students can “level up” has greatly increased motivation, but I have continued to add more game elements to almost each day to help increase motivation even more.

I have earned my certificate!

I successfully completed the course, "Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning" on edX.

It was a lot of work but I learned so much!

Thoughts About Micro-Credentialing and Badging

This is one of my reflections from my class, Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning.

How might you support your learners in getting micro-credentials for extra-curricular learning?

In my classes, students already earn experience points (XP) for following expectations and completing various tasks. Offering XP for completing micro-credentials could be an option as well.

I have had students create art projects outside of class just to earn XP. I could create similar experiences and challenges in which students earn XP and badges from those challenges.

I’m not entirely sure how to integrate this system with existing micro-credentials in the area, but I will conduct some research into that aspect.

What might be the advantages of connecting your formal learning context with an organization that offers digital badges? 

Connecting my classes with an organization that offers digital badges will tap into the motivations of students who are the “achiever” gamer type. These students (like myself, as I fit into this category) strive to earn as many badges or achievements as possible, and badges can be a concrete way of showing the achievement of learning.

Conjecture Map - Implementing Gameful Learning

This is one of my reflections from my class, Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning.

The task set before me in this section of the class was to create a conjecture map; essentially a plan for how my colleagues and I are going to implement gameful learning in our district.

Conjecture:

We will aim for student mastery of educational standards. In order to reach this goal, we will focus on student willingness to take risks and fail, knowing that the mastery is what matters in the end.

Embodiment:

We will implement a 4-point grading scale. My district is in talks with our grade book system to figure out how to accurately depict a 4-point scale within our grade book, which is currently based on the traditional model.
We will teach students what the standards say. This will allow them to know the goals they are striving for.
We are already allowing for student revision/redo/retake on various levels of assessment.

Mediating Process:

We will provide quick and constructive feedback to students so they know if they are on track to meet standards.
We will inform parents about our process and instruct them how the new grading scale will work, especially within the constructs of our existing grade book.
We will discuss our process with each other (how the 4-point scale is working, what it looks like when students gain mastery, what to do when students aren't gaining mastery, etc).

Outcomes:

We will measure students' willingness to try again (keep track of the original score in the grade book as well as additional attempts). We'll talk to students so they know that this isn't a record of their failures, but instead, it is a record of their growth.
We will measure student mastery on the 4-point scale in the context of standards-based grading.

Here is a visual of the Conjecture Map:

Key Elements to a Gameful Learning Community

This is one of my reflections from my class, Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning.

The key elements to a gameful learning community are as follows:

Attendance is voluntary. The idea behind gameful learning is that much of the involvement is voluntary and people are taking part because they are interested.

There is a sense of belonging. Members of a gameful learning community feel a sense of belonging and everyone welcomes new members. We understand what it is like to be trying a new pedagogical approach without the benefits of others in our district trying the same thing, so we work together and help each other out.

There is open discussion. Members of a gameful learning community appreciate the input of others and often seek out feedback and advice from those who have been trying out this approach for a longer period of time. Moreover, those with advanced knowledge are absolutely willing to share with the group, whether it is advice, constructive feedback, or stories of their successes and failures. There is a real sense of mutual respect and willingness to help.

Having a forum such as Twitter to have these open discussions with a gameful learning community is an excellent way to operationalize the elements. Twitter chats such as #XPLAP are a great example of this. People share ideas, give positive feedback, and share successes and failures, which helps other people develop activities for their own classes. This is exactly how gaming forums online work. People ask questions, receive answers, and can talk about what works and what hasn’t worked for them in their game.

If people are responding to questions and giving constructive feedback, the people receiving that feedback are supported. They are respected for their questions and input and are supported by a group that wants to see them succeed.

Professional Development Experiences

This is one of my reflections from my class, Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning.

In general, the most beneficial professional development experiences have been experiences that I have voluntarily taken part in. I understand the need for mandatory professional development, but the two experiences that I have chosen to discuss are experiences in which my district might not even be aware of my involvement.

One experience is the EdCampMadWI, which is an ed camp (teachers meet and propose sessions and the schedule for the day is made right there, allowing teachers to share and learn from one another by choosing which sessions they would like to attend) in Madison, WI. I attended last year and meant to attend this year, but subzero temperatures led to my missing out this year. This experience was so valuable to me because I met plenty of passionate teachers who really want to do what is best for their students and the students of others. They were so open to sharing ideas and listening to ideas, asking questions, and offering future help by exchanging emails and twitter handles.

Another experience is actually a multitude, but I’ll sum it up here: Twitter chats. I wasn’t involved in Twitter until a couple of years ago, but it has greatly opened up my world and allowed me to learn from so many other people, as well as ask questions and receive helpful feedback.

Both of these experiences have commonalities; both are organized and attended by passionate teachers who are willing to share ideas, discuss openly, ask questions, answer questions, and most of all, are willing to welcome new members into their learning community.

Challenge #1: Try an Online PD Course (5 Ways to Learn for FREE Online)

In this post I talk about the courses that I am taking or have taken. Some are free and some are paid. The opinions in this post are my own, and I was not paid to say anything in this post.

In this next series of posts I am going to focus on Kasey Bell's "18 Challenges for Teachers in 2018" (Shake Up Learning). I know that 2018 has come and gone, but it doesn't hurt to try out the challenges even now!

The first challenge is to try an online PD course. Bell's course is just that, so check number 1! I have tried a great deal of online PD to a varying degree of success. Here are some available types:

1. Online Courses

I have tried a few online courses, but I am strapped for cash and am unable to pay for most courses that I would like to try. There are a lot of options out there for free courses and sometimes there are promotions that make courses free or much cheaper than they would have otherwise been.

Currently I am undertaking two online PD courses (in addition to Bell's "Challenges" course).

The first is "Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning," a MOOC ("Massive Open Online Course") that I found thanks to Bell's first challenge. When taking a MOOC, you can either complete a free version of the course or pay a fee to earn a certificate. The fee for the Gameful Learning class is $49, so at least it is cheaper than most other online courses. I have been posting my reflections for the Gameful Learning class on this blog.

The second is a course offered by the Gilder Lehrman Institute titled "American Indian History: A Self-Paced Course." I am able to take this course for free because my school and I are affiliates of Gilder Lehrman. I highly suggest becoming an affiliate. They offer many free resources and primary sources that are excellent to use in the classroom! I haven't completed much of this course yet as I have just started, but my reflections will be posted here on my blog as well.

I also took part in the National History Day program's "Legacies of WWI" course, which was a college course. I earned a scholarship to complete the course and we used Schoology to meet our requirements. I liked the ability to use the online discussion format on Schoology. I have many posts about this course, and it was an incredible opportunity in which I learned a great deal.

2. Webinars

Webinars are a great way to achieve some quick and meaningful professional development. Most webinars last 30 minutes to an hour and cover a specific topic. I actually took part in a webinar last night in which I discovered a new, engaging resource to add to my toolbox.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and World Strides put on a webinar titled, "Bringing Native American Perspectives into the Classroom." In this webinar, Colleen Smith (Education Products Developer at the NMAI) discussed how to use Native Knowledge 360 in the classroom. The interactive platform is really incredible and it offers a variety of perspectives and primary sources concerning issues such as Native American removal during the 1800s.

There is still one more webinar in the Smithsonian Insider Access Webinar Series titled "Discovering the Inventor Inside of You." This webinar will take place on February 12, 2019 at 7pm ET.

Many museums, educational websites, and ed tech tools these days have webinars available to teach about various topics. I suggest signing up for some newsletters for websites that you frequent often to make sure that you know when they are holding webinars.

3. Twitter Chats

I haven't been available to take part in many Twitter chats lately, but talk about an amazing way to share ideas with a professional learning network online! I have been introduced to many incredible resources and engaging activities just by taking part in Twitter chats.

It's worth a shot to simply watch a Twitter chat happen. I took part during the first Twitter chat that I came across, but it took me a bit to understand the rules! No one will get mad if you forget to tag your post with "A2" to say that you are answering question #2, but it does help for organization's sake so people know what you are talking about.

Twitter chats are not only a great way to learn new information; they are also an easy way to meet some awesome educators who have ideas to share.

4. Digital Summits

Digital summits seem to be becoming wildly popular. So far I have taken part in three different ones: Ditch Summit, Hive Summit, and Strobel Summit. Most summits are annual events.

In each summit, one video was posted each day. Each video was an interview featuring a different educational leader with something to share. Some topics include ed tech, engaging students, and wellness.

I learned an incredible amount through watching the one-hour interviews, and I have posted many of my reflections here on my blog.

5. YouTube

YouTube is excellent for providing videos on almost every topic possible. Many educators are moving to YouTube for various purposes. Some post videos for students, some post to show the community what is happening in the classroom, and some post videos to help teachers develop professionally.

I subscribe to a couple of educators on YouTube and look forward to when new videos come out. Even if the video is two minutes long, there is something new to learn or something new to try.

Two of my favorite channels are Michael Matera and Carrie Baughcum. Matera, author of Explore Like a Pirate, posts videos about gamification and activities that he tries in the classroom (how to make the classroom fun) as well as games that he enjoys playing outside of school. Baughcum also posts about gamification, but also has videos about sketchnoting. I love their creativity and they inspire me to add game elements to my classes.



In general, there are many ways to earn professional development, but I prefer to find ways that save me money! Hopefully you were able to benefit from what I've learned about searching for professional development opportunities over the years.