Module #5 - Gaming and Gamification

It's NOT about the Games.  It's about the Gaming.

Did you know that in 2017:

• 65% of US households played video games?
• Almost 1/2 of the video gamers were adults < 49 years old?
• The average gamer was 35?
• 2 out of 5 gamers were women.?
• 67% of parents play video games with ther children once a week?  Entertainment Software Association Press Release

Gaming is not a fad. Video gaming is a way of life. Gaming is an activity that provides sufficient positive feedback to cause players to exclude all else. It is challenging enough to entice gamers to continually attempt to beat their last score.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if school was like gaming? Where students would be so motivated by their learning activities that they would get up early and stay up late to engage themselves in the learning process.

Our understanding of learning has taken a HUGE leap forward in recent years.  It is time that we were Rethinking Learning with the 21st Century Learner.



Is it about playing the game or getting involved in something that is rewarding and challenging.  Maybe it has something to do with "getting into the flow of things . . . "

Flow - The Psychology of the Optimal Experience 
Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Chick-sent-me-hi) has studied states of "optimal experience" for over two decades. He is exploring the conditions and attitudes that engage people's concentration and attention to the point of total absorption. He calls this state of consciousness Flow.  In this state of attention, learners are at their most receptive level.

Dr. Csikszentmihalyi discusses his theory of Flow in this 5-minute video. 
It is the primary introduction to the Flow concept. He further explains its application to education in this short interview on Edutopia.org:  Motivating People to Learn.

9 Characteristics of Flow have been identified. Learn these characteristics so that you can later relate them to the apparent aspects of gaming and learning.
Pay careful attention to this concept of Flow because while it may seem like "good common sense," it is an underlying principle of learning.

Gaming's Elements Make for Good Learning
Gaming is a directional process where the player is guided towards a selected goal through positive and negative reinforcement. Isn't that similar to a good learning situation? How does that relate to the 9 characteristics of Flow?

Read this posting which discusses a list of 8 characteristics of Gaming. Relate these to those of Flow. What similarities do you see? What distinctions?  You will also find a video of a leading gaming researcher, Dr. James Paul Gee.  Watch this video and correlate it with the connections we have been discussing.

Gaming in Your REAL Life
Gaming is the basis of living and learning.  When you do something correctly, you are rewarded.  When you faultier, you fail.  It's about how you interact with the world. Before you can explore how you would do this in the classroom, you need to know something about how it works in your life.  Seth Priebatsch shares some interesting ideas about how Gaming appears as a layer in your real life.  



If you are interested in really applying gaming to your real life, Explore Chore Wars.  It is a quest game where you can claim experience points for housework.

Consider your present concepts about gaming. Have they changed in the past 24 hours? If so, what have you realized?  How does this affect your perspective as a trainer, teacher, educator?

Using Gaming Practices to Improve Learning
In this 10-minute video, Paul Anderson explains how he reinvented his course to make it a gaming learning experience. Pay attention to the insights that he shares about the elements of active student-centered learning environments.

 

Explore Like a Pirate
One of the leaders in the gamification world is Michael Matera, is a 6th grade world history teacher who has been using interactive play, passion and purpose-driven learning to transform the classroom for a decade. He has designed his classroom to build upon the human need to earn recognition through achievement. 

Captain Matera's book, Explore Like a Pirate: Gamification and Game-Inspired Course Design to Engage, Enrich and Elevate Your Learners, explores how he developed a gamified classroom and leads readers through the process of gamifying their learning environment.  While this is not a required reading for this class, it could be useful for you to review if you decide to use gamification for your final project.

Short of reading his book, listen to this 25-minute interview with Michael Matera on The Principal Center podcast.  This is a unique interview because it involves a principal interviewing a rogue teacher who is having incredible success in his classroom. Listen to what he says about 80% failure rate and how it aligns with Csikszentmihalyi's concept of Flow. 

Gamification and Instructional Design
All of this background is "well and good" but how do you really adapt this to your own classroom.  I have looked for a number of resources - templates maybe - that you could use to begin thinking about this for your own teaching/learning situations.  There is a PLETHORA of possibilities out there.  I 

One resource that I found that might guide the instructional designers in us is an Infographic called Gamification and Instructional Design from Ethical Island.  Follow this link to find a succinct overview and Instructional Design process based upon Understanding By Design.  It is a good beginning.

Here's YOUR Challenge (If you decide to accept it)
This doesn't fit the aspects of gamification necessarily, but here is YOUR chance to add to the stew.  Next week's assignment will involve you beginning the process of planning how you would include gamification in your teaching/learning situation.  Instead of having Dr. Z find all of the resources to guide you towards the end, here is the Gamification Resource Page where you can place guiding resources that you would like to share as you explore gamification this week. You might begin at this Gamification Pinterest Page or whereever you want to go.  

This week you read and explore.  Next week you will begin the process of exploring the opportunities of gamification in your learning/teaching space.  You will have the opportunity to finish this for your final project.

Here are some foundational resources for gamification:

What is Gamification?  A Few Ideas (video)

Outstanding 8-minute video introducing gamification. Introduces the gaming concept and then explains how gamification fits into education.

Kahoot on Gaming

ChoreWars
Claim experience points for homework

The Ultimate Guide to Gamifying Your Classroom
Provides overview of gaming and a step-by-step process for gamifying.

Module #4: Universal Design for Learning

The world isn't equally accessible to all people. There are many challenges that we have to be able to function and succeed in our worldly activities.  In the past, people have tended to emphasize the deficits in others' ability to function in the world. This has led to always talking about people being handicapped and disabled. This can cause a great divide between groups. 

Here is a TED Talk (TEDMED) video of Aimee Mullins who talks about what the term, disabled, means to her. She is a double amputee who is an Olympian runner and motivational speaker.  This will cause you to rethink your perspective of what it means to be called "disabled."

Having Special Needs
Consider, if you will, that all humans have special needs. It is just a matter of degree. It might be the need for glasses for reading, the need for an auditory reader because someone has vision problems or the need for alternate means of communicating because someone has Lou Gehrig's disease or cerebral palsy.  As we get older, we might review articles on our computer screens at 150% so that they are easier to read.  It's all a matter of degree.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a combination of pedagogy and technique that acknowledges the different levels of needs. UDL uses brain-based research to identify the need for addressing multiple methods of representation, expression and engagement of learners with information and knowledge. It involves instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments. 

The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) is a leader in the field of UDL. Here is 6-minute introductory video where they actually show the how it is used in the classroom to better address your students' needs.






UDL Guidelines
As you know by now, UDL has 3 specific areas of interest.  The CAST center created the UDL Guidelines and described them using a 9-cell chart.   This is a video of Director David Rose providing insight into how to best use this chart to support your UDL implementation. Open the UDL Guidelines, review them, and then watch this video to develop deeper insight. What is quite interesting is how he explains that the whole reason for using UDL is to achieve what is described in the bottom row. 


Do you think that you know enough to integrate it into your teaching environment?  Maybe watching videos about information is not your favorite means of learning.  In the spirit of UDL, here is an informative article entitled  Technology and Learning: Meeting Special Student's Needs (.pdf)  It might look a little familiar but it is a great parallel with the video.

http://www.tlc-mtss.com/assets/udl-infographic.jpg

For Visual Learners, this UDL Infographic depicts the various cognitive areas of UDL, applications, and resources that you may find useful in your classroom. 

The Difference between Universal Design for Learning and Traditional Education
So what is the difference between UDL and K-12 Traditional Education?  You need to understand that before you can even hope to implement it into your classroom.  The Understood Team created a useful chart to compare the two approaches.  Review it with your classroom (or learning/teaching experience) in mind. It addresses a number of aspects including focus, accommodations, classroom setup, and grading. 

Applying UDL in Higher Education
Now that you have developed a foundation about UDL, how can it be applied in the real world classroom?  The answer is not direct. It all depends upon the learning situation that is involved. Read/watch these resources to see some best practice and good ideas for integrating UDL into course design.  Both of them are situated in a post-secondary learning environment (Notice the diversity you non-NK12 Teacher candidates), but consider how these strategies might work at the lower levels.

San Francisco State University is a leader in using UDL in Higher Education. They created a website that addresses how to UDL could be applied on campus entitled Using UDL on Campus.  This is a 30-minute workshop on using UDL in your teaching. You don't have to complete the workshop, but the support documents are what give it depth. You will see that they follow the UDL principles by sharing the information in video, audio and printed formats. They even deepen the content by providing videos of case stories. Use the Quick Links on the side to find a wealth of additional information.    

Differentiated Learning
Recognizing that students have varying backgrounds, levels of readiness, preferences in learning, and interests is important if you are going to be able to address their needs. You will need to Differentiate your teaching styles to address their learning needs. You try to meet students where they are from an educational perspective. UDL is a strategy that is based upon differentiated learning and teaching. Read this article, Differentiated Instruction and Implications for UDL Implementation, to see how these strategies work together.

Assistive Technology

While UDL involves strategies to benefit all learners, Assistive Technologies (AT) are devices (some electronic and some not) that increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. UDL is a teaching practice while AT is something that you can touch. 

There are many Types of Assistive Technologies. (These technologies are grouped by manufacturers but they are explained on each of the websites.)  Not all AT are electronic, but this list includes a variety of ways that people can interact with technology to function in the world. They may involve input devices that control computers using a variety of methods. They may be output devices that allow computers to communicate with people through Braille, voice, visual representation or even physical activity. 

Examples of UDL and Assistive Technologies

iPads in the Special Ed Classroom
This is a blog run by a special education educator. This page is a treasure-trove of resources. It explains a variety of benefits of using tablets (yes, I know that it is iPad-based, but think "tablet") as computing tools for students. These are from the teacher's, student's and education's points of view. Explore the many resources in the right column as well.

Universal Design in the Workplace
Universal Design can refer to learning or it can refer to accessibility in the workplace. This can mean a great deal when we want to make the workplace a welcoming environment for people with special needs. While UDL has 3 areas of implementation, UDW (UD in the Workplace) has 3 as well: 1) Workplace environment, 2) Workplace technologies, and 3) Workplace policies and tasks.

How Do We Apply Universal Design for Learning?
Now that you have been introduced to UDL and experienced the needs for using such strategies, the question remains about "How to implement UDL strategies." The Readings and Watchings that you just completed will provide a strong foundation for the activities that you will be completing for your assignment.

Module #3 - Connecting Through Your PLN

georgecouros.ca

georgecouros.ca

The networked teacher is a successful teacher.

This graphic depicts the myriad of resources our educators have at their fingertips.  These aren't just Wikipedia, Google, and Flickr. The networked teacher is connected to the world of education through a plethora of social media including Twitter, Blogger, and Pinterest.

It's not about the tools, it's about using tools to access the wisdom, creativity and experience of your worldwide colleagues to enrich your students' learning experiences and make your life easier.

PLN is an acronym that has many meanings and connotations.  Primarily, it is a network of people and resources that we use in our everyday lives both personally and professionally.

Personal (Professional) Learning Network - This is the set of connections that you use in your personal or professional life.  With most educators, there is a drastic overlap between their personal and professional lives so making the distinction is not necessarily important. What is important is how we build our PLN and what we do to grow it as needed.  What is important is how we contribute to our PLN so that others can benefit from our experiences as much as we benefit from theirs.

Why are PLNs important?  Here are a couple of educators who share the true meaning of using PLNs in their personal and professional lives. The first video is an elementary school teacher explaining how integral his PLN is in his life.  The second is a technology coordinator who explains his strategy for growing his PLN over the year.

Almost makes you want to pop open your Tweetdeck to see what has appeared over the past hour, doesn't it?

Sure, your PLN can include a collection of Twitter pals, favorite Bloggers and interesting Flickr collections, but this is just the beginning.  Kathy Schrock, one of the leading educational technology specialists, has created a 25-minute webinar about how to use and build your PLN.

Students Use PLNs Too
Creating PLNs isn't just for teachers.  Students can find opportunity in organizing their resources. This next video was produced by a 7th grade science student who is taking you on a tour of her PLE (Personal Learning Environment).  She has used Symbaloo as a simple way to create a page of resources that she can use for her research all year long.  Notice that she is even connecting with scientists around to world as part of her research. Can you see how this tool could be useful for your students? (Notice that she has over 85,000 views - someone thinks this is important.)

There you have it, you have reviewed how PLNs can change your personal/professional life and what you can include in your own PLN. Let's return to our UNI elearning page and see what we can do with your own PLN.