Tried "Gamification" in my classroom.(Check updated post 283 for User Group info, it's now ready)

[dancinginfernal]

Wow, that's actually pretty amazing.

A pity you aren't a substitute up in New Hampshire, not only would it be great to have an Escapist to speak to, but I'd be overjoyed to have you in one of my classes.

 

[Sandytimeman]

I am really impressed, I'm curious to see what the extra credits crew thinks of all this.

Also great job, I remember a teacher doing something like a reward system with tickets. You go so many tickets for not causing any problems in a day lost some for causing problems at the end of the month got kind of an auction day where you got to buy what you wanted from his selection of prizes.

But honestly if we could somehow combine Bill Nye and Gamification of the class room...well I'd want to be a kid again thats for sure.

 

[suitepee7]

i gotta say, first off, congrats man! this is impressive that you tried it, good to see that somebody who can actually enforce this, is enforcing it!

however, i'm quite pleased that it managed to work. i have 3 main criticisms however

1) i would guess that the age is a big factor. as kids as younger, this system would probably work even better. but i think as the children get older (particularly with college education) this may be less effective.

2) this system worked on the principles of bribery. the children were getting a reward for doing what they were meant to do in the first place. if you a permanent teacher for the class, all day achievements/all week achievements would be a much cheaper way of doing this.

3) my biggest concern is that these kids may have been interested because it was something new. the novelty of the idea may wear off eventually.

i would be interested in seeing what further work is done on this, possibly addressing these issues.

once more, nicely done!

 

[Chiefwakka]

It's still just applied behaviorism, gamification just refined it. Seriously, we should be leaving behaviorism behind, not improving it.

Excellent, I love dissenting opinions. The fact is, not one method is going to solve the woes of the education world. I can tell you now, this would not work in say, in an elementary grade level.

But the other thing to consider is the force teachers have to always fight with and it's a force that strips people of natural desire to do well in school and that's a rough home life. Kids who get beat, pressured to do well, hang out with scum bags...that's just a taste of the outside factors that makes a teacher's job difficult. I would love to press a button and make kids who can't stop texting care about the "Industrial Revolution", but that can't happen with everyone. Sometimes a different approach is required, but all cases are different.

Also, you forget that in getting the students to press the lever, I.E. watch the movie, they are, whether they mean to or not, engaging themselves. A transformation begins where the student goes from simply doing the simple act to actually engaging in the lesson. They begin to watch the video and they lean something from what they see. In the end, it's all about encouraging students to engage and once you get a lot students going, you'll find you got a bright eggs in your class.

 

[blarghblarghhhhh]

giant snip

This was quite inspiring to read. Im not a teacher or anything close to that, just had a general feel good vibe throughout the post. 9th graders are a rough crowed to deal with too, very odd time in ones life. I wish you luck.

one thing though. there might be some legality issues with recording minors for a documentary without parents consent. I have no idea what laws are like for that sort of thing. just a constructive thought.

 

[Chiefwakka]

Wow, that's actually pretty amazing.

A pity you aren't a substitute up in New Hampshire, not only would it be great to have an Escapist to speak to, but I'd be overjoyed to have you in one of my classes.

My family actually lives in South Hampton and I'm applying for work over there cause I'll take work where ever I can get it.

 

[asleep at the comp]

good god man leave Colorado and be my sub in Minnesota

 

[dancinginfernal]

Wow, that's actually pretty amazing.

A pity you aren't a substitute up in New Hampshire, not only would it be great to have an Escapist to speak to, but I'd be overjoyed to have you in one of my classes.

My family actually lives in South Hampton and I'm applying for work over there cause I'll take work where ever I can get it.

Hampton's about 45 minutes from here. o:

 

[Jarcin]

You have my axe! Seriously though kudos and I hope you can help make school all the better for those children!

 

[Onoto]

I hope you contact the Extra Credits people. I'm sure they'd love to hear this and may have something to add!

 

[BabySinclair]

Good job with the application, I can't think of a singe sub in high school that we payed attention to unless we had a project we needed to work on. Then it was talk quietly and work, except for one small Indian woman, we were heartless bastards.

 

[Chiefwakka]

i gotta say, first off, congrats man! this is impressive that you tried it, good to see that somebody who can actually enforce this, is enforcing it!

however, i'm quite pleased that it managed to work. i have 3 main criticisms however

1) i would guess that the age is a big factor. as kids as younger, this system would probably work even better. but i think as the children get older (particularly with college education) this may be less effective.

Yes, this will not work for the yougins in the 5th grade or lower, but I think I can get this to work for the 6th-8th graders of the middle school level since a lot of them get hooked on the internet pretty quickly. My 8-year old sister already updates my mom's facebook page from her IPAD.

2) this system worked on the principles of bribery. the children were getting a reward for doing what they were meant to do in the first place. if you a permanent teacher for the class, all day achievements/all week achievements would be a much cheaper way of doing this.

Yes, as a sub I can offer immediate rewards since I probably won't see that class again, but in a running classroom over the course of a year these achievements would have to carry along over long periods of weeks/months. And yes, I'll have to tone down the rewards a little bit and see if just riding the system itself will do the trick.

3) my biggest concern is that these kids may have been interested because it was something new. the novelty of the idea may wear off eventually.

Indeed. I'm going back to this said class on Thursday and I will be changing the pace a little bit and will record my findings to address this very concern.

 

[Chiefwakka]

giant snip

This was quite inspiring to read. Im not a teacher or anything close to that, just had a general feel good vibe throughout the post. 9th graders are a rough crowed to deal with too, very odd time in ones life. I wish you luck.

one thing though. there might be some legality issues with recording minors for a documentary without parents consent. I have no idea what laws are like for that sort of thing. just a constructive thought.

Oh you have NOOOO idea my friend. Yes, before I can even start recording I have to set up a meeting with my district office and present what I'm going to do. I know, at the very least, I'll have to blot out faces and withhold real names. I know this because the school I go to, an online one, uses real classroom footage and I see these two factors readily.

 

[Excludos]

I go to a college atm and I can honestly say I wish something like this was implemented at my school..maybe then I'd actually learn something.

 

[Chiefwakka]

I hope you contact the Extra Credits people. I'm sure they'd love to hear this and may have something to add!

I did toss them an email regarding gamification and my interest in it last Thursday, but after a busy weekend and a stomach bug (UGH, that was a bad Monday) I didn't have time to update them again. I wonder if they read this forum?

 

[Chiefwakka]

Wow, that was actually pretty cool. BUUUUUUUUT it might not work for everyone. This may not work,especially on little kids who, no matter how much they would want something, wouldn't really care. In the end, if it were a little kid, he/she may throw a fit about not being rewarded.

I know for a fact it won't work for everyone, the question is, how can this method be refined to work for as many students as possible?

If it doesn't work, what are the contextual factors? Is the student on an a IEP for resource (SPED)? Does the student have a hatred for gaming? Is it the process or the student? Figuring these things out will be apart of my long standing objectives.

 

[darkapothem2000]

Kudos for taking the initiative to try something like this Chiefwakka -- your experiment definitely shows the potential for gamification, and makes a great story besides

While I do like what you did, I'd say try it without the bonus of candy as a fair amount of the time (my feeble memory not withstanding) achievements don't reward you with a bonus.

3) my biggest concern is that these kids may have been interested because it was something new. the novelty of the idea may wear off eventually.

These two posts caught my eye and it made me wonder whether something more like the "Gamerscore" system with xbox achievements (not sure what the parallel for PS3 is, sorry) could be used in place of a tangible reward like candy. Maybe with a more quantifiable achievement system, the achievement idea could be (a) used to give a long-term incentive for students and (b) extended past classroom behavior into things like assignment completion or academic performance...?

In any case, I can't wait to hear what people have to say on the topic, and I'm definitely looking forward to the results of your experiments! Best of luck!

 

[barbzilla]

I can completely agree with your methods here, I work for a certain console manufacturer and they use achievements in the training classes. This seems to be used to great effect even with adults (granted about 90% of us are core gamers). I do see some merit in the idea, but I am interested to see how the variables work out. Keep us informed of how it is going from time to time, or message me if you would.

 

[tlozoot]

A great read, I'm glad to see that this actually worked out for you, and with such good results. A documentary sounds like a fantastic idea.