“Mascle: Why Gamification?”
I really loved the idea of gamification, I believe the write has a great
idea behind the theory of gamification. It’s sounds like a very persuaded system.
I would use it because the students have a goal though out the entire year that
they have to meet, which makes it hard for them to just settle for a grade. “I have
found that once a grade is given that all learning stops. Students stop working
and move on mentally. Gamification is a much better match for my goals for my
students than a traditional classroom grading structure because we can use
badges to mark progress or achievements without stopping the forward momentum.” I highly agree with this, students tend to settle and
relax once grades are posted, they don’t seem to want to try as much, at least I
was one of those students who thought that way! If I had a goal to achieve I wanted
to do everything I could to meet those goal requirements. I think a lot of
students feel that way. Writing is super important, so if it gives students
more of a writing structure that would benefit the teacher as well as the
student. If you made a game out of the achieving goals, the students who get
the highest achievements earn a prize more students will fight to win and work
hard to gain badges. Gamification sounds like a system that could really get students
involved, winning prizes might not be the best idea, but even if you don’t win
prizes then it still pushes students to work harder in class, making learning
fun and enjoyable with something to look forward to in the end.
“Mascle:
Students Respect the Badge.” I never noticed the importance to blogging,
but turns out it is very important for many reasons. First, its important
because it gives students extra practice for writing skills. Second, it’s
important because it keeps students on track, and the teacher also knows that
the students are understanding what’s going on in class. I believe that writing
requires a lot, but even small blogs just getting the mind working and thinking
about writing would also be an okay idea! I remember in high school when we
worked on blogs we would blog then review a couple blogs in class together,
point out a couple important points over what we read and different ideas each
student had, which I feel to be a great idea! I would do that for my classroom!
I don’t believe that writing a lot every single day is what you need to do to
get the point of how important writing is. That’s my own opinion though. My understanding of this blog is to let the
students engage in blog posting, and comment when asked by the students if they
have a question comment that entitles you to reply. I also think if you go
about it that way to have the students comment to each other and interact with
one another through blog posting which is what this article is mainly talking
about. When we did the class blog post and people could see who said what when
she would put it on the screen for us to see, we tended to work harder because
we didn’t want to be judged by other classmates. We would think of ways to make
our blog sound smart and sophisticated. The best thing was when the teacher
talked about your blog out loud to the class making points from what you said. In
this article she talks about how she gives B’s to students who blog post regularly,
but to get an A you have to be judged. I don’t know how I feel about this
because some students try super hard and just still don’t have outstanding
work, so to have other students judging your work could be offensive towards
students who feel like they are working hard just can’t make the cut. I don’t see
that being fair. If you know your students, you know the ones who work hard and
try their hardest, you know the students who are lazy and don’t try at all, and
you know the ones who always do outstanding that you don’t have to worry about
them. I think it should be based off of how well you feel they did! You can
tell when a student bull craps something, you should go off of the person, and
how well you know them and their work. The badge is a great idea, and I support
the theory behind it 100% but I think the teacher and the students themselves
need to figure out a system that works for both of them, I think you will get
more out of a student that way.
My
Personal Opinion with These Topics: I love the idea of gamification
using the badges, along with having student use blogs, I just don’t agree with
everything entirely. If I were to use gamification and badges, I would like to
make the students set a goal, or I would set the goals for the students to achieve
by the end of the semester/year. I would even have my students blogging as a
part of my classroom, I find it really important. Being the student, I hated
blogging and never seen the point, but learning about it, and actually seeing
how important it is to writing! Every student is different, not every student
is able to achieve the same goal as others, with that being said you could try
different things with students and badges and it would be making teaching and
learning more effective for everyone. Reading and Writing is important to a student’s
learning ability, so finding different site and make things easier to understand
is also a great idea instead of doing the basic grading system. Adding
challenges to learning and goals is very important to students because it could
help with future life choices. Knowing you always have a goal and you must
always achieve that goal could take a student a long way.
I agree with you that students lose interest when the grade is already interested. That is never the purpose of any instruction. It is never about assigning the grade, but rather to evaluate students' knowledge and progress. I like the idea of using the badge system over the course of a year or semester. I think this adds a different dimension to the class that allows students to think differently about their work. But the key becomes making sure the badges represent something worthwhile, and not simply a replacement of the grading system. What I like about the badges is that is creates something different for students that they won't likely do in any of their other classes. My goal is going to be to create a different dynamic in my classroom than in others' classrooms. That is to say, students will hopefully approach my class in a positive manner because it breaks up the monotony of being in school, and challenges them to learn in an ever so slightly different way.
ReplyDeleteWhereas, I like the badge system, I won't implement it unless I can figure out a way to do it well. I will, however, be implementing blogs into my teaching routine if logistically possible. I think it is more personal for students than simply writing in a journal. They can make it their own. It's always in their possession, and I can read it whenever I choose. I think it also allows students to take an interest in each other. Part of life is about human interaction, and things are changing to where we aren't getting to know each other as much anymore. I want students to still get the opportunity to learn about each other, and when classroom time is at a premium, the blogs open things up a little bit. Of course, it still has to be done well in order for it to be effective. I think students don't like the idea of blogging because it becomes gimmicky and feels like busy work, but if it has a purpose, I think they are more likely to buy in. I'm up for the challenge.