It was my senior year in High School. I'm walking to my first period English class. As I round the last corner to the hallway, it hits me. I have totally forgotten to write my essay due today. There is no viable excuse that I can come up with for this blunder, and I am going to fail this class. My thoughts race as panic set in. I walk into the classrom dejected and sit down at my seat. I look up on the board and there it is, my saving grace. The due date of the assignment has been moved to the next day. Whew!, that was a close one. Anyone else ever have a similar situation? Well here is the great news, those kinds of days are over because the future of education is here. The future of education is Gamifying education.
Gamifying education is a fantastic alternative to the somewhat disheartening current teaching styles in education. Setting up and applying education as a game has many great and unique benifts. The switch of watching my grade rise with every completed assignment, instead of fall is very emotionally fulfilling as well as intelectually rewarding. It gives me a real sense of accomplishment and belief in myself to know that if I put in the effort my grades will reflect it, and I can make my grades rise as high as I want them to. It essentially puts all of the control into the students hands, my hands. We as students can also clearly see what assignments to do next in order to reach the next level and that makes it of fun as well. Though more confidence is gained with each passed level, we also find that when a certain level is not achieved, it is not discouraging. It simply involves trying the level again and finding an alternative way to pass it. This builds courage and determination to not be detered by any failure but to find a way around the problem to reach the intended goal. With this, critical thinking skills have to become more developed, there is simply no way for them not to be. Also having the option of rewards for doing more that the status quo of required work, is another great way for the building of and application of a critical thinking skills.
The greatest asset and benefit to this education style is the group communication. My grade benefiting for helping a classmate and vice versa is a great way to build team work and create an atmosphere of idea sharing. If I have a strong background in one area, but I am weak in others. I still have the opportunites to gain useful insights and help from my fellow classmates, and if needed, them from me. We all become a collective body of individuals with a common goal. This is powerful, as well as really unique in this "me generation" we currently live in. I think that I will love this class because frankly, I already do. And since I love it, I know that my mind will be more open to learning more, yet another positive benifit in the category of Gamifying education.
I to find this new way of learning encouraging. That you can retry thing watch your grade go up not fall and that there are more points available than needed to pass the class gives any one a chance to make an A. If your not doing good in one area make it up in another.
ReplyDeleteThat was an extremely well written blog. I think you are correct in saying that this is an excellent way to keep students interested and let us be in control of our own education. We are able to complete the assignments on our own time and have fun while doing it. For those of us who are technically impaired,(myself included)we can learn new ways to use our computer for entertainment purposes while becoming more familiar and confident with the computer in general. Great blog, enjoy the rest of the semester!
ReplyDeleteI agree that our critical thinking skills become more developed because it is teaching you to think and solve problems on your own. It encourages me to stay engaged and wanting to raise my XP (grade) whenever I want!
ReplyDeleteOn top of all of that, it makes the class way more fun. I don't know why, but this class for example(since it is the only one I've taken like this), has really made me think twice about the conventional style of learning. I do learn a lot better from a lecture, then I do from reading out of a book, and gamification takes it to the next level. Its visually stimulating, and I think as a student I get more out of it.
ReplyDeleteAlso your blog was really well written, I really liked the beginning,I think everyone has had that scenario happen in one way or another.