Gamification and Education: the Core Principles

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This is re-posted from Iridescent’s blog and was written by Kevin Miklasz, Director of Digital Curriculum at Iridescent.

 

I always like to say the gaming industry has done in 30 years what the educational industry hasn’t been able to do in 300, namely make self-sustaining learning.  The reason games are fun is that games are learning tools, and people inherently like learning (or more specifically we have an intrinsic motivation towards competence).  I like to think of the gaming industry as a hotbed of educational innovation– games only sell if they are good at letting people learn, so the game industry has gotten extraordinarily good at creating learning.
 
Thus we come to gamification, a term spawned from the idea that if only we could put these game elements into other situations, we could make those situations so much more fun and engaging.  But as described above, if games are learning tools, “gamifying” an experience simply means improving the learning that occurs in an experience. In this light, education seems to paint itself a ready target for gamification efforts.  But, what exactly does it mean to gamify education?

Radio Rookies DIY: Educator’s Guide to Teaching Interviewing Skills

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Cross-posted from WNYC Radio Rookies blog:

Rookies DIY: How to do vox pop

The first in a series of videos we’re creating in partnership with the Hive NYC Learning Network, teaches people to produce their own stories using digital media. This animated short, along with the accompanying resources, will help educators teach interviewing skills to students of all ages.

One of the first skills Radio Rookies learn in our workshops is how to conduct interviews with people on the street, aka: “Vox Pop”, short for vox populi, a Latin phrase meaning “voice of the people.”

Approaching total strangers can be very scary, but in this do-it-yourself (DIY) video Radio Rookies graduates give tips and interviewing techniques that will help you be successful at getting people to answer your questions.

Educators can use this video to teach a interviewing skills — you don’t even need recording equipment!

The most important thing to emphasize is that an interview is really a CONVERSATION between two people. 

Here are some suggested activities based on what tools and technology you have access to:

Paper and Pencils:

+ Have students brainstorm a list of questions they’d want to ask each other
+ Role play mock interviews for the class and have students popcorn out praise and suggestions

  • Give your students these tips and tricks for getting a good interview:
  • Be open to possibilities, but prepare questions before you begin.
  • Stay in control of the situation.
  • Introduce yourself and get the interviewee’s name, age (and contact info, if you can).
  • Don’t be afraid to ask someone to repeat something.
  • Ask open-ended questions.  Avoid Yes-or-No questions — they lead to boring answers.
  • Ask for explanations/ follow-up questions.
  • Don’t talk over your interviewee.  Let them finish completely before you jump in with the next question.Don’t be afraid of silence.
  • Try to ask a question several different ways if you’re not getting a good answer.
  • At the end of an interview always ask: “Is there anything I haven’t asked you that you’d like to say?” “Do you have any questions for me?”

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Simulating Inequality – P4K Gamers at Hungercraft 2.0

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This is re-posted from the Global Kids’ Online Leadership Program blog, written by Sara Vogel.

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What happens when resources are unequally distributed? Do citizens learn to cooperate and trade? Or is violence inevitable?

Those were some of the questions pondered by Global Kids’ Playing For Keeps youth leaders at Hungercraft 2.0, an event at the Main Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library on Saturday, March 30. Using a special world created by Minecraft Edu inspired by the popular books The Hunger Games, they faced off against the teens in Brooklyn Public Library’s T4 program (Today’s Teens, Tomorrow’s Techies).

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Click here for more photos.

In those books, the central Capital region of the nation Panem is flush with opulent wealth and exercises control over the Districts, the outlying, poorer areas. The game Hungercraft imagines Panem 75 years before the first novel took place, when a failed rebellion left the nation devastated. GK’s P4K leaders assumed the role of Capital inhabitants — equipped with stronger building materials and the ability to make food. The T4s became the citizens of District 12, a desolate region with not much to brag about beyond its coal mine.

Both teams began by rebuilding their territories and mining for resources. When Joel Levin, from Minecraft Edu, the creator of the world, turned on the avatars’ health and hunger meters, the struggle to survive began.

Game play was full of surprises. The T4s in District 12 figured out how to make food without the Capital’s resources. The P4Ks in the Capital figured out how to make coal to cook their food without trading. And both teams had stockpiled so many weapons that it seemed like a battle was the only alternative — many students wound up in “limbo,” the place where players take a penalty time out when they die in the game.

During the debrief, participants drew connections between gameplay and current and historical global events. They talked about the fear that had developed once the two sides were labeled as enemies, the lack of communication within and between teams, and the itchy trigger-fingers that resulted from their growing arsenals.

All agreed that video games, when designed well, have the potential to teach us about complex human interactions.

We are grateful for the support provided by the Hive NYC Learning Network to run this program for a second consecutive year. Thanks to Joel Levin and Pat Hough of Minecraft Edu, Jennifer Thompson and Jackson Gomes of BPL. Special thanks to photographer Owen Long of Minecraft Edu for taking the incredible photos of the youth in action.