Gamification

Coming into this topic, I thought there was not much more to it than having an alternate to the regular class setting. But there actually appears to be a lot of science involved in games. It comes down to the negative stereotypes we have for game playing and how it is considered a waste of time or for leisure.  After looking at the forum for this section though one gets a slightly different picture of the situation.

I believe that they mentioned that we engage in 3 billion hours of gaming every week and that this may not be a bad thing. One of the regrets of most dying people is that they did not enjoy themselves as much as they should have. Well gaming could have helped, but most people feel guilty about it. Yet, is pleasure and thinking a guilty pursuit?

To be sure, there are some people that are fixated on games and can spend an unhealthy amount of time pursuing anti-social gaming experiences. But even gaming can be social if it is on line.  It is more the content of the game that should be addressed rather than gaming per say.

Some other benefits of gaming that are not noticeable at first are how we deal with learning techniques. Many people avoid learning environments or work because they do not wish to fail. In many cases, the idea of success through failure is not a favourable idea in the work environment. Yet, there is no real problem with learning from mistakes in games. In fact it can be quiet enjoyable, which is not the case in real life. The idea of taking a test until you get the answer right appears to be more effective than just getting wrong answers. This comes from the idea that we learn more from taking tests than we do from studying for them. This in turn has health benefits due to lower stress and is a motivational tool for engagement.

Of course there is also the aspect of instant feedback in gaming that is not always available in education or working life. If you started a proposal for a new project, and found out that it was rubbish immediately, then you could start a new one right away, and continue until you got it right. Of course there are some other factors involved, but usually feedback from a report or project in education has a gap of time. And the moment of creativity and inspiration is lost with that gap. As well, multiple failures rarely make a negative impression in games, but they are disastrous in education and work. This is one of the reasons that people engage in games so much, because they know with enough game time there is a reward of achievement, which is not so in education or work with a failure in the way.

There were some very good game sites that were talked about in the forum, and I must admit, I did not know most of them. However, choosing the right game for your subject was a bit trickier. Yes, there are some for my area of teaching, but the development is better in some of the other subjects. There were specializations in VR and simulators, and even avatar worlds in which to play them. I preferred the low tech versions of the gamification, even though I teach IT. I did a digital project on a game in fact.

Of course there is a break from the traditional approach to learning with games. But is this such a bad idea? If people enjoy the game and it is a social, educational experience, removed from negative connotations of failure, then I think it might be a winner. The object is to find the game for the lesson.

Learning styles

To be honest, we have covered this topic in some of the other forums that were in the 3250 class, but it is worth noting that learning styles are used in order to help teach an individual. However, there are a few things to realize.

1. First there are usually more than one type of learning style per classroom
2. There is the learning styles of the students and the teaching style of the teacher to consider, not to mention all of the other input that is received in a student's education. In other other words, it is not just that teacher that teaches
3. Learning styles are not personality types, but they have bearing on them
4. Just as personality types change (Myers-Brigs) and may be different at two different testing times, so too learning styles may vary with time
5. Learning styles are more tendencies than absolutes, and usually people are combinations of styles to varying degrees

At it's basic level, we can break learning styles into three main types. Visual, auditory and kinaesthetic.

When we look at multiple intelligence, we realize that the brain has areas that are stronger and weaker than others. We have a learning preference based on these strengths and weaknesses.

Least we forget Kolb's Learning styles, and things start to get interesting.

all of these factors are involved when looking at how a student studies. Of course we have forgotten one more thing that was mentioned earlier. and that is personality. Are they introverted or extroverted, and so on. Jung has a lot to say about that, but his work was taken over by Myer-Brigs. But as just stated, there is a bit of debate about how accurate those tests are, because they do not supply consistent results over time.

Reflective practice:

These forums are getting pretty good, or at least I think they are giving me a bit more. My take on this topic is a bit of everything that was on the forum. As it states, this is a type of reflection. One student mentioned Kolb’s Cycle of experiential learning. We have talked about Kolb before, but yes, I can see his theory a bit better now.

Mind you this is an important step in most areas that we endeavour to peruse. Then it hit me. Hey, I have done this before.  I actually made learning materials on teaching courses in the UK about this. Okay to be fair, I was following the standards set out by the awarding bodies, but I actually wrote about this in two different courses that I help develop. The courses were part of the teachers in the lifelong learning sector; to be specific PTLLS and CTLLS. In it there is a whole section on reflective practice in order to improve personal performance, sort of a self-evaluation.

Here is a link to a resource that is using this technique. http://www.mheducation.co.uk/openup/chapters/9780335222407.pdf

In it they use Kolb’s Cycle, but they also use Gibbs model of reflection learning by doing. If anyone is interested I have the work on the PTTLS, which stands for Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector, but I don’t have the CTLLS anymore, due to copy write purposes.

learning how to learn

We start off with this TED Talk that was also in the Forum of PIDP 3250 Learning how to learn. I thought I would include this video, as it is a good example of the knowledge in this topic.

Generally speaking, everyone knows how to learn, because we have been doing it since we were born. We learn how to eat, speak walk and other basic functions that all humans do. However, some learn to speak faster than others, and some learn how to function better, because they have learned how to learn.

This topic touches on understanding the underlying ways in how we learn, and why some methods are better. It also points out that we don't all learn the same way, but have preferences.

We will start with the idea of the four levels of learning.

We start from a stage of not knowing something to that of mastery (or for some things we do). However, we have another pyramid about how we do this as well.

In this picture we look at the different ways in which we learn. Now this proposes that you  are a normal person. But let us say you have bad eye sight? Then your visual input will be less. This is just a general guide and everyone's pyramid is slightly different. However, it is still interesting to note that these things exist. How do you get your own pyramid? Well, that is where assessment comes in. And the better the assessment, or how well you know how you learn the better the outcome is.

Maybe you are more a mind map with connections?

The University of Stanford Linda-Darling Hammond, Kim Austin, Suzanne Orcutt, and Jim Rosso, says that there are  two sides learning —one psychological and one sociological.
The paper
It is a bit lengthy, but gives a good overview.

Positive learning environment

I am not sure if modern learning institutes are against the concept of a positive learning environment, but it appears that sometimes these are not always present. This partially to do with preconceived notions of what is needed for learning and because the person(s) designing the environment is not familiar with the ideas.

I am not suggesting that we are all subjected to the pressures of education such as Nicholas Nickleby when he tried to correct the teacher in the spelling of “winder”. However, coming from a system where few questions were asked, there was a lot of reading and sitting straight in your row of students, it is not altogether surprising. Few educators were concerned with learning styles or learning environments.  In this section of the course we looked at the idea and its importance for developing effective education.

Creating a positive learning environment is a student, motivational technique. It helps inspire adult learners to achieve more and better results. Of course there are several techniques in which to do this.

I like to use Carol Gerber Allred’s seven step method for this. Granted there are several methods, but as with most of the topics in this course, to quote all of the literature would be a bit much.  Anyway, Ms. Allred’s method is as follows:

1. Make Learning Relevant – this is because text books are made for a large audience, and it is hard to make them specific to a particular class. Working at the FNTC this was vital, least we lose the attention of the class at the beginning of the program. I am not sure if I can call it ‘indigenized’, but we always tried to incorporate the community into the lesson, so they knew that there was a use for the skills we were teaching them.

2. Create a Classroom Code of Conduct – yet another idea that takes time, but in the long run saves you from having to enforce rules that may not be agreed upon after the infraction. A good example is cell phone use. If you make it a rule not to text or surf the web during class, then most classes will self-regulate this. However, if it is not a rule and it later becomes disruptive to some of the members of the class, then you become the bad guy for enforcing strange draconian rules. I prefer the students to be the ‘bad cop’ in these cases.

3. Teach Positive Actions – this is basic courtesies, but believe it or not, this is not taught or encourage sometimes. Strange as it may sound, some people cannot see anything wrong with talking about sex in mixed company, whereas some others will be deeply offended. Here are some suggestions.

• ·         Do something positive to make yourself or other feel good
• ·         Encourage healthy choses (nutrition, exercise, sleep, etc.)
• ·         Encourage active intelligence (think, make decisions, solve problems)
• ·         Try self-management skills (schedule, learning styles, environment)
• ·         Learn to get along with others by promoting fairness, kindness and respect
• ·         To your own self be true (take responsibility and admit mistakes)
• ·         Learn to set and achieve goals

4. Instill Intrinsic Motivation – This one is a bit trickier, but it involves learning to engage in positive actions.

• ·         First, we have a thought;
• ·         second, we act consistently with the thought;
• ·         third, we experience a feeling about ourselves based on the action. That feeling leads to another thought, and the cycle starts again.

With repeated reinforcement by the teacher, this simple explanation helps students understand and improve their behavior in any situation.

5. Reinforce Positive Behaviors – just like Pavlov’s dog, rewarded good behavior can train the brain to seek out the good behavior. Although dog food may not be an incentive for getting your homework done, maybe praise or recognition might (anything to reward good behavior).

6. Engage Positive Role Models – this is a learned response idea. If all movie stars engaged in stellar life styles, then so would some of their fans. The same could be done with students. Seeing success in people that have done the program that the students are doing promotes an idea of possible similar success. There is an aspect of relevance as well in this.

7. Always Be Positive – this is hard at times, because some of us are hardwired to complain. However this does not mean that you cannot correct bad behavior in a positive way. The idea is to eliminate the need for the student to be defensive and thus assimilate the corrective suggestions.

Setting up a Positive Learning Environment

Learning styles

I must admit that I don't like this subject as much as most teachers do, because it tries to label students into a set style. Although there are tendencies (my own observation), I do not see all students falling nicely into categories or styles. In this area of study we are looking at the following ideas from several psychologists. In no particular order they are

Fleming's (VARK) modalities 

David A Kolb’s Experimental Learning Theory

Myer-Briggs

Etc. The problem comes in when you wish to look at more than one theory at a time. You will notice that I did not mention anything about multiple intelligence or some of the other theories in the forums. I don't think it is as important to label the student with one of these categories as it is to be aware that there are these tendencies in students and thus be able to offer them education based on their preferences in their tendencies. Just as we did a report on introverts being a factor in training, A kinaesthetic learner will find more value in a tactile or hands on approach to learning. This does not mean they will not be able to learn from reading a book or listening to an audio, but that they will have their best results from their preferred tendencies.

With respect to the person that bought up emotional intelligence in the class, I think this a factor in learning, but I do not think this is a learning style per say. Sure there are some that will not learn because of a deficiency in some aspects of their emotional intelligence, but that is not a life long tendency for the student, and they could just become more mature in the future.

SDL, SRL, or SGL - adult learners

I never thought too much about this, but it would appear that we are embarking on new ideas of study here.
Self directed, self regulated and self guided learning. are all basically taking steps to teach oneself.

I am taking this course specifically to further my chances in my profession, it is in fact the direction that I am looking to head.  I have been doing this job for a while, but as this course is through VCC, I have the option for direction but not as much with self regulation or guidance. I have to follow the assignments that are in the course outline. To this extent I do not have full self regulation. this makes some sense as it is an industry standard that is required for the credit. As well, I have some self guiding, but not necessarily all.

With respect to self direction learning also known as Autodidacticism, I have the choice to chose what I will study. After all it is how we first learn in the basics of the world, prior to having others teach us. It puts more emphasis on me the learner, but it is also more control. A good PDF on this is  Jeanne M VanBriesen, Professor Department of Civil and Environmental

Self regulated learning is similar, but now we are talking about the autonomy here. According to Winne and Hadwin (Winne, P.H. & Hadwin, A.F. The Weave of Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning.In Schunk, D.H., & Zimmerman, B.J. (2008), Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning: Theory, Research, and Application (pp. 297–314). New York, NY: Routledge) there are four stages in self regulation.)

1. task perception, (this is where you gather information about the learning and personalize it)
2. goal setting and planning, (as the phase suggest, we plan how we are going to go through the assignments or goals for the learning)
3. enacting, (This is the doing stage of what was set out in the previous step)
4. and adaptation (The last stage is for evaluating what has been done and maximize what is yet to be done)

With self guided learning, there is a little confusion about this being the same as self directed learning. But where I may guide where I may want to go, it is not consciously directed as in the first part. In fact on Wikipedia it does not even rate its own page. But again, I go back to Autodidacticism, which looked at in self directed learning. The actual definition of Autodidacticism is self learning in a subject where there is little or no formal education. However, we do have formal education in this area, and there could be substantial, so we will have to change our definition to self guided, because of the academic implications associated to it with formal education.

Getting some more things in the course

I would say that I am learning a bit more in the course, but I have to say, this forum is a bit slower than I thought. Is it boring, or just that people are not as committed as they were in the beginning of the course. I was receiving 30 - 40 emails about previous forums, but I am lucky to get five now. I will have to try something a bit more drastic. I notice that half of the input on my forum is from the instructor.

The newer version of the Jeopardy game
https://www.powtoon.com/show/e2iY7Efc4Rp/i-taught-with-jeopardy/
honest, it is better than the last one that I put out.