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+ | ===== Preface ===== | ||
- | This first volume is meant to be a quick and easy introduction to meaningful gamification. | ||
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- | It is a relatively short book, ~200 pages, and it includes a veritable treasure trove of strategies you can implement in any class. These strategies have been tested in multiple classes both big and small under a variety of conditions. And just in case you worry that these strategies are yet another bandwagon to jump on that won't actually work in your own classroom, you will see that they are grounded in solid educational theory that has withstood the test of time. | ||
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- | This book does NOT try and fill in all of the theoretical underpinnings of these ideas, but it DOES break new ground in giving you new ways to look at teaching that can dislodge some of the old traditions that have been holding us back. | ||
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- | Note that this outline is still a work in progress and things may be added (or deleted) as the book takes shape. | ||
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- | ===== Preface ===== | ||
- Who This Book is For | - Who This Book is For | ||
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- Conventions | - Conventions | ||
- | ==== Chapter 1. Mise-en-scène | + | ==== And So It Begins |
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+ | If I were to re-design a fairly traditional course to have it fit in with current thinking in how people learn and how we should be teaching, how would I do it? | ||
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+ | This seemingly simple question started me on a path that has resulted in some very fundamental shifts in thinking. | ||
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+ | This book tells that story. | ||
- | {{ : | + | ==== My Two Favorite Questions ==== |
- | Mise-en-scène is a term used in drama and film that refers to the setting of the scene. | + | |
- | We begin with a fictional diary entry made by a more-or-less typical student, and then examine this student’s very bad day to begin to unpack the kinds of challenges that students often have to face. | ||
- | * Why Are We Here? | + | A popular approach in teaching is what is being called “Teaching Out Loud”. The approach advocated by many of those who use the term is in many ways closer to “Teaching Boldly” (or “Teaching Loud”) than it is to Teaching out Loud. The idea is to advocate for the courage to try new things and to teach the ways students learn. While this is important, there is another approach that has received far less attention, but that is equally important, especially with adult learners. This approach is called |
- | * Why Do Students Do Poorly? | + | ==== Death to Deadlines ==== |
- | * Laziness | + | |
- | * Stress | + | |
- | * External vs Internal vs Local Stressors | + | |
- | * Confusion About Requirements | + | |
- | * Studied the Wrong Stuff | + | |
- | * Students Have Lives | + | |
- | * Students Are Human | + | |
- | * Group Work | + | |
- | * A Last Word on Our Challenge | + | |
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- | ==== Chapter 2. Class Perfection ==== | + | |
- | {{:: | + | |
- | After highlighting | + | |
- | * What's Perfect About It? | + | It seems that almost all of the work we assign in Higher Ed has more or less strict deadlines attached - often with severe penalties for late submission, especially in the sciences. How many of us have stopped to ask ourselves why we do this? There are practical reasons for set deadlines to be sure, but are they always necessary? Are we short-changing our students by attaching strict deadlines |
- | * Reigeluth' | + | While it can be argued that students need to learn to work within specific time frames, there are also times in life when no clear deadlines exist. We rarely seem to provide our students with opportunities to learn how to work when there are no deadlines. |
- | * A Last Word | + | What happens when there are no hard deadlines in a course except |
- | \\ | + | ==== On the Randomness of Grades ==== |
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- | ==== Chapter 3. What’s Stopping Us? ==== | + | |
- | {{ ::fear.png?nolink& | + | |
- | This chapter starts | + | |
- | * What Stops Students? | + | This essay will take a look at elements of our schedules, assignments, |
- | * What Stops Instructors? | + | ==== 5 Ways to Make Marking Easier ==== |
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- | ==== Chapter 4. Enter: Gamification ==== | + | A key aspect of my gamified course design is that there be fast turn-around of assessment. It is not uncommon in more traditional courses for instructors to take one to two weeks to return assignments that have been submitted, sometimes even longer. This just doesn’t work in a gamified design. A typical university course is just 13-16 weeks long. Fast turn-around of marking is crucial for facilitating student choice. When students get assessments back fast: |
- | {{:: | + | * They get the feedback they need to know what they should be focusing on in the course (while there’s still time to do something about it). |
- | Finally, we get to the heart of the matter. We start by introducing the term, what many (most?) people think about when they hear gamification, and then explaining what gamification ACTUALLY is/should be. We connect the dots between what is needed as we have outlined it in the previous chapter, | + | * They have opportunities to fix what they did (and learn from their mistakes) and re-submit their work. |
+ | * When they see their score increasing, even by small amounts, it encourages them to complete | ||
+ | * Being able to see their score increasing steadily provides tangible evidence of their progress | ||
+ | ==== Efficient Marking That Doesn' | ||
- | * What is Gamification, Really? | + | Given that a gamified design allows for students to submit many different items for assessment (some of which have multiple parts) as well as allowing for re-submission, AND given the importance of fast turn around in marking, it is crucial that there be an efficient way of marking that still provides students with meaningful feedback. |
- | * Good vs Bad Gamification | + | This chapter looks at these things separately. Although they are related, I think it’s important to consider efficiency and the quality of the feedback separately to make sure both are adequately addressed. Although many instructors will claim that they mark everything in detail, most don’t. As we become more experienced, |
- | * Why Gamification | + | ==== It All Adds Up ==== |
- | * Revisiting Reigeluth’s Paradigm | + | |
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- | ==== Chapter 5. Starting Small ==== | + | The typical allocation of grades in a course invariably involves breaking up the total marks possible into various portions: so much for assignments, |
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- | Most of us have neither the time, nor the support to go whole hog. This chapter explains how you can start small and still implement aspects | + | |
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+ | There is a way to maintain our standards of quality while still encouraging innovation and risk-taking. After all, learning is in large part about taking those risks and learning from our failures. Here we can learn from game design: in most games the cost of failure is that we must try again, but we are rarely, if ever told to give up. However, in most courses there comes a point when there is no longer anything a student can do to redeem him or herself. Her best option strategically is to give up (and withdraw). This is not necessary. Part of the lesson we can take away from gamification is that we can change the risk factor in course work by implementing cumulative, rather than punitive grading with an alternate approach. In a gamified design, students start the course with a score of ZERO. The chief difference between this and the traditional way of scoring is that everything they do adds to their score, and virtually nothing they do lowers it. This approach recognizes and rewards continuous progress rather than punishing students for their errors or for taking risks. If a student blows a test or an assignment, they simply earn fewer points. They can't ‘drop’ from an A to a C because they never had the A to begin with. If they try something that totally bombs, then they simply earn fewer points, but the only thing they actually lose is time. Regardless, they are guaranteed to always learn something.This essay will explain the rationale behind strictly cumulative grading, outline a strategy for implementing it, and reflect on the author’s experiences in the classes where this has been done. | ||
+ | ==== Bona Fide Criterion-Referenced Assessment ==== | ||
- | ==== Chapter 6. The Whole Hog ==== | + | Theory |
- | {{:: | + | |
- | This chapter describes how you can go about re-designing a whole class, so that it is gamified. | + | |
- | * Always Start at the End | + | I learn new things with each iteration of the course as I teach it. One of the things I’ve been giving a lot of thought to is the notion of criterion-referenced (CRA) or performance-based assessment (PBA). For me criterion-referenced assessment sounds a little broader in scope. Something that is performance based implies that students must actually do something whereas criterion-referenced includes more of those things we would normally categorize as higher-order thinking. |
- | * Gamification | + | |
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+ | Here’s the smack on the side of your head. | ||
+ | If we **// | ||
+ | ==== Questing ==== | ||
- | ==== Supplementary Materials ==== | + | It’s time to talk about the quests. Let me get this out of the way right at the start. It really isn’t necessary to call your learning tasks (or assignments) “quests” BUT when I did, I found that it actually allowed me to think more creatively about the work I asked my students to do than I had in a long time. I’ve always been pretty good at coming up with interesting assignments, |
- | === Quest List === | + | ==== Showtime! ==== |
- | This a list of assignments/ | + | |
- | - It breaks us out of our usual mindset and allows us to consider the work our students do in a new light. In the end it really doesn' | + | |
- | - It places the focus for assessment squarely in the arena of what students can DO as opposed to what they can memorize and repeat, and that's a good thing. | + | |
- | === Glossary | + | ==== End Notes ==== |
- | This glossary contains all of the words defined in the book, as well as others that expand on concepts and terms used in the book. It contains all the new and unusual terms used in the book. This volume is NOT written for academics ((although they could certainly benefit)), so it is written largely in plain language. Any terms that may be unfamiliar or used in a new context in this book will be found here. | ||
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- | === References === | ||
- | Even though this book is meant to be a practical resource for ANYONE, rather than a textbook or " | ||