Trace: • Sneak Peeks

Sneak Peeks

If you are looking for some teasers for the book, you've come to the right place!
Here is where I will post comments, explanations, and images for the book as it is developed.

Please note that all materials here are © 2021 Mink Hollow Media with All Rights Reserved

If you have any questions, or special requests, please feel free to ask.

watch this space for more

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When you stumble, they say just pick yourself up and .....

So, here we are, THREE years after my last post, and look what I've written … almost nothing (see something I DID do below). :-P

Oh well; it seems I am most motivated to do this when I am actually doing this….. as in, when I am teaching. I haven't been teaching since the pandemic began, and I haven't been writing (much) either.

But, I am trying again.

I decided to switch the order of the books around - the “collected” essays will be first.
It is closest to being done, and the least like a how-to.
The second is now the practical guide.
The third will be the “academic” volume, suitable for use as a textbook.

I will try and post regular updates an teasers, so please stay tuned….

One thing I did do is publish my table distinguishing gamification, from game-based learning, from serious games, …. This chart will go in (possibly all) of my books, but for now, if you want to cite it in something you are doing, you can do it this way:

Becker, K. (2021). What’s the difference between gamification, serious games, educational games,and game-based learning? Academia Letters, Article 209. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL209

The image is also on the landing page of this site.

2021/08/05 14:30 · becker · 0 Comments

Why did YOU become a teacher?

It turns out, that one of the main reasons MOST people become teachers is to make a positive difference in the world - to help people learn.

So, given that, what's the problem?

Why do things so often go awry? Why do we seem to have so much trouble with our students now? Why do so many of our colleagues complain so much about how their students are unprepared, or lazy, or untrustworthy?

What do YOU think the problem(s) is(are)?

2018/06/17 14:17 · becker · 0 Comments

Would You Buy This Book?

Death to Deadlines: Gamification and Other Subversive Thoughts on Formal Education

With any luck at all, this book will save you countless hours heading down rabbit holes.

a rabbit hole

While you might find something wonderful in those rabbit holes, this book will get you started on your path to understanding gamification and ways to avoid some of the pitfalls that might ensnare you.

 a rabbit hole - from the inside

We often talk about the value of inquiry-based teaching in Education, but how often do we, as educators, apply the same ideas to us and our own work? How often do we actually “walk the talk”?

I’ve been teaching for 40 years now. In that time, I both fell into and willingly headed down a great many rabbit holes.

I suppose that many people begin to take a longer view of their work once they’ve been doing it for as long as I have, and I’m no different. Some years back, in parallel with my going all in with my gamified approach, I began to ask some fairly fundamental “What If” questions. Such as, “What would happen if I DIDN’T have deadlines for the work in my classes?

Some of the answers I found surprised even me.

This book outlines some of the rabbits holes I've been down and what I discovered there.

2018/05/28 00:22 · 0 Comments

Two Books!

I've decided to split the book into two parts.

Book 1 working title - Gamification 101: An Inquiry Based Journey

~ 150-200 pages; likely retail price: under $30

This book is written as a kind of journal that describes the process I went through while setting up and running a fully gamified course.
It is meant to be both guide for people who want to get a course up and running quickly as well as for those who are still trying to decide if this is something they want to do so they can see what's involved.

Book 2 working title - Gamification: A Practical Guide for the Classroom
will take a more 'structured' approach and will include more in the way of supporting research and theory.

~ 350-400 pages; preferred retail price: under $50

See: Table of Contents
Thoughts?

2018/05/28 00:22

Table of Contents for Gamification 101

Here is the current Table of Contents for Gamification 101 (Book 1)

Gamification 101: An Inquiry Based Journey Part 1 - Background

  1. Prologue
  2. What s Gamification?
  3. A Description of the Course

Part 2 - The Journal

  1. Reflecting on Previous Versions
  2. Module Maps
  3. Scoring
    1. It All Adds Up
    2. On The Randomness of Grades
    3. Death to Deadlines
    4. 5 Ways to Make Marking Easier
    5. Breaking Molds
      1. Prior Work
      2. Double Dipping
      3. Collaborative Exams
  4. Questing
    1. About Those Quests
    2. The Iterative Quest
    3. Other Chain Quests
    4. New Quests
  5. Getting the Course Up and Running
    1. Submission and Grading System
    2. What Does a Gamified App Need to Be?
    3. Efficient Marking That Doesn't Short-change Students
  6. ShowTime
    1. The First Few Weeks
    2. Mid-Term Reality Check
    3. Reaching Out to My Students
    4. The Home Stretch

Part 3 - End Game

  1. Bona Fide Criterion-References Assessment
  2. Lessons Learned - Again

Part 4 - Supplementary Materials

  1. Endnotes
  2. Quest List
  3. Quest Log
  4. Master Grade Book
  5. Brief Primer on Google Sheets
    1. Sheets Basics
    2. Linking Sheets Together
    3. Doctopus
    4. Mail Merge
  6. Glossary
2018/05/28 00:22