MindLab Reflective entry 1:

 My name is Adriana, and I am a teacher of year 3 & 4 students at a South Auckland school. I am currently in my fourth year of teaching.

Identify a research topic that is relevant to your area of practice and relates to Digital and Collaborative Learning.

Previously, I had inquired into how to effectively create autonomy within my classroom, but I decided to align my practice with gamification, and hoping that through gamification, autonomy would be addressed and applied to the classroom context.

“Control leads to compliance, however, autonomy leads to engagement” Daniel H. Pink (as cited by Hebert, 2018).

Since then, I have started a new year with new students. I have also attended the Mind Lab in house sessions, and the one session that really made me consider and think about my practice was the gamification class. It sparked my interest, specifically because I realised that throughout completing the challenges and tasks I was engaged and having fun with learning. I realised that gamification would be a useful tool to help my students engage, be creative and have fun with their learning (Smith, 2009). Through gamification, students are also able to partake in knowledge-building activities in contexts which are authentic to them and their future (Bolstrad, Gilbert, McDowall, Bull, Boyd & Hipkins, 2012).

Hebert (2018) urges teachers to explore gamification in their classrooms as games are exceptional for providing students with opportunities to be creative.

I had previously been thinking about how to make my lessons more fun, engaging and authentic (ITL Research, 2012).

It really had me questioning how I could use gamification to benefit my students, whom –I knew from my own interactions, had a strong interest in games. Hebert (2018) states “The education system is a system in engagement crisis” and it was through this notion, that I wanted to make sure my students were not bored with their learning, that they would actually have fun and enjoy school because of the engaging, authentic and immersive experiences.

I was interested in the topic because I wanted to see how it could bring a completely different dynamic into the classroom. I wanted to provide students with learning that was not dull, but engaging, fun and motivating (Hebert, 2018).

Hebert (2018) states “It's where my education experience goes down the proverbial toilet, and it does this because it's when play and fun and discovery-based learning is eliminated in favour of worksheets and straight rows and silence and order and regime. Last time I checked, very few workplaces are like that.”

Gamification would provide students with goals that could be visually achievable and accessible, something that they could choose to share with their parents if they chose to, and would keep them accountable for how they managed themselves in the classroom – behaviourally and academically (Flatla et al, 2011). I realise that I am already using some aspects of gamification within my practice now, through the use of Classdojo (where students collate points based on their behaviour in the class in order to ‘level up’ and evolve their Pokemon characters).

I could also see gamification as being a useful tool to educate my colleagues about, as it was something I was not aware of until attending the course. I could see this specifically being a good tool for the beginning teachers to use at the start of their career.

I would try and incorporate gamification through the use of Minecraft, Gimkit, Prodigy, Kahoot, Google classrooms, Classdojo, Classcraft, create apps and follow blogs of Gamificator educators (such as Scott Hebert) to inspire and shape my practice to add gamification in my classroom. This would be something that I could not implement all at once, but that I would have to research and adjust to suit the needs of me and my students. 

My goal to officially get gamification working within my classroom is to focus on a new aspect of gamification every three weeks to add to the class timetable. This is so that I can become familiar myself, yet not causing too much pressure in terms of time constraints. 
I want to be able to incorporate gamification in all subjects, and it will take me some time to effectively and creatively consider how best to conduct this.

I also want to expand my Classdojo system – Instead of choosing Pokemon that students ‘hatch’ into, my students would collect 20 initial points, then from a bucket, students would select a random card. (These cards will need to be created by me, these will include the HP, Attack moves and numbers directing the attack hit points etc). During the school day, students can battle their peers (through quizzes), level up (through behaviour, learning goals, understanding concepts etc), evolve (when they get to the pokemons evolution level) and capture more Pokemon. 

In the classroom we could have table groups be ‘pokemon gyms’ in the gyms students can create movies, games, interact in kahoot groups etc.

Through this, I also want to add Minecraft to our classroom. I want students to explore and create with the freedom to do so.

I would need to research and figure out the kinds of games that appeal to my students and create meaningful action into determining which games work best for their needs and interests.

References:
Bolstrad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowell, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching – a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

Flatla, D., Gutwin, C., Nacke, L., Bateman, S., Mandryk, R. (2011) Collaboration Games: Making Collaboration Takes Enjoyable by Adding Motivating Game Elements UIST 2011, Santa Barbara, California.

Hebert, S. (2018). The Power of Gamification in Education | Scott Hebert | TEDxUAlberta [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOssYTimQwM

ITL Research. (2012). 21CLD Learning Activity Retrieved from http://eductaion.microsoft.com/GetTrained/ITL-Research

Smith, M.K (2009). Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of practice. The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/