Great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing! I particularly like your "secret word" strategy and may try that out in my class (particularly since I don't have to learn any new technologies to do so). :) If you had to give ONE suggestion or strategy for people just starting out, what would it be? Is there an easy, yet effective, go-to technique that you recommend?
I think you know I am all for this! I especially like the idea of teaching our future teachers how to do this in their own classes. As always, you inspire me!
Hi, Jillian, and thank you for the interesting presentation on gaming included in the classroom. I think there are probably a number of reasons this concept is a good one and is successful in the classroom. Some universities include it as a part of the built-in curriculum with the exercises (I am thinking about grammar exercises right now) even auto-graded. This frees the instructor up for other important aspects of the class, even including the more hands-on type of gaming you exemplified. I know my students who have auto-graded gaming exercises LOVE them and, from my observations, catch on more readily to grammar rules, whether they are new to them or just a refresher. It shows in their writing. What do you think about the gaming in the classroom with the auto-graded aspect?
I have to say that I was initially pleased with your entire presentation when I saw it in person. Somehow you provided amazing and detailed information on using gaming in the classroom in a 6 + minute presentation. I hope to add this to my repertoire someday soon. It does seem a bit daunting at first, but the student outcomes you shared make this effort well worth my time. Where should a first timer like myself start?
I really enjoyed your presentation! I recently was hired by a community college to teach both online and in-person (along with continuing with GCU online), so I'm axious to try some of these in both modalities. Thank you for sharing!
Great presentation! I would love to add something with gaming as well! However, I would to start with something simple like the "secret word". Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks!
Thank you! This is definitely something I enjoy exploring and trying out. My students seem to as well! I definitely think the secret word is a great way to start, like you said, does not involve a new technology, just some added information that serves a different purpose. Also gets your students to do something very important, actually read their feedback! Always best to start with a need or problem and then see what creative gaming solution there could be to help.
Yes! I do think there is a place for auto-graded components as the immediate results are something that are appreciated by students. Especially for assignments that make sense to be auto-graded! Gives us more time to interact with students and spend time on assignments that cannot be auto-graded, like you mentioned. Recently, I came across a new app/LMS developed by the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) that supports gameful courses. It is called GradeCraft https://umich.gradecraft.com/ Students earn points based on assignments they select, have more choice in demonstrating their learning, and students can see their progress at any time. Very clever and I could see this being extremely inciting for students, especially those digital natives that thrive in these gaming situations.
Thank you! When recording this presentation again, without that 6 minute limit, I realized how much more I had to share and was initially worried lengthy recording would scare people off! However, I wanted to explain some of these concepts in more depth since I know much of this is very new to most.
I would definitely start with what you want to accomplish both. What are your students lacking? What areas of the classroom do they seem to overlook? What is a common question or concern that takes a lot of time for you to address each week? Once that is decided, then think about what you could "gamify" to increase involvement, strengthen their understanding, or just plain point them in the right direction! I would be happy to brainstorm with you to figure out what would best help your students in your specific content. You know where I live (cube-wise)!
Thanks for your response! I have taught as an adjunct for University of Phoenix for 11 years, and they have a big auto-graded game component in their curriculum. The students enjoy it (there are different games for different classes at different levels), so they learn more. They enjoy, too, that they can retake the exercise/game as many times as they like. They often discuss in my classes how these components help them and how fun they are. Yes, I agree that there are many students who like them, perhaps more than others, but all seem to enjoy them in my classes. Many of the games are grammar/refresher related, and all are auto-graded.
Great! My suggestion to is create some comments and a good list of words that you can easily copy and paste each week into documents. Also, it helps to save that file as a template instead of a plain .doc so you do not have to recreate each week. You can just open your master copy and work from that each week. I also surveyed my colleagues to brainstorm words that they felt our COE students most needed to know or were struggling with in their courses so that helped me develop a list. I also let my students know that I asked them so they knew these words would help them in the future.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you need anything else or other resources. I attached my secret word comment list to this comment if you want to take a look, use, or adjust to best fit your needs.
The secret word seems like such a fun and effective strategy. Encouraging students to read feedback and explore the classroom is so important. Do you think this strategy would be useful for all students? Are there particular situations in which using this approach would be especially useful to enhance learning opportunities? Thanks for sharing!
I think this strategy could be extremely beneficial to use with week 1 feedback in all courses. You never know what the student's knowledge is of finding feedback upon entering your class or the ways their previous instructors provided feedback. Also, some students say they read the feedback, but they often are just referring to the gradebook comments. Secret word provides true evidence that they actually found their feedback document uploaded by the instructor, opened it, and read the comments inside.
14 Replies
Great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing! I particularly like your "secret word" strategy and may try that out in my class (particularly since I don't have to learn any new technologies to do so). :) If you had to give ONE suggestion or strategy for people just starting out, what would it be? Is there an easy, yet effective, go-to technique that you recommend?
I think you know I am all for this! I especially like the idea of teaching our future teachers how to do this in their own classes. As always, you inspire me!
Hi, Jillian, and thank you for the interesting presentation on gaming included in the classroom. I think there are probably a number of reasons this concept is a good one and is successful in the classroom. Some universities include it as a part of the built-in curriculum with the exercises (I am thinking about grammar exercises right now) even auto-graded. This frees the instructor up for other important aspects of the class, even including the more hands-on type of gaming you exemplified. I know my students who have auto-graded gaming exercises LOVE them and, from my observations, catch on more readily to grammar rules, whether they are new to them or just a refresher. It shows in their writing. What do you think about the gaming in the classroom with the auto-graded aspect?
Jillian,
I have to say that I was initially pleased with your entire presentation when I saw it in person. Somehow you provided amazing and detailed information on using gaming in the classroom in a 6 + minute presentation. I hope to add this to my repertoire someday soon. It does seem a bit daunting at first, but the student outcomes you shared make this effort well worth my time. Where should a first timer like myself start?
Tom
I really enjoyed your presentation! I recently was hired by a community college to teach both online and in-person (along with continuing with GCU online), so I'm axious to try some of these in both modalities. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Jillian,
Great presentation! I would love to add something with gaming as well! However, I would to start with something simple like the "secret word". Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks!
-John
Jean,
Thank you! This is definitely something I enjoy exploring and trying out. My students seem to as well! I definitely think the secret word is a great way to start, like you said, does not involve a new technology, just some added information that serves a different purpose. Also gets your students to do something very important, actually read their feedback! Always best to start with a need or problem and then see what creative gaming solution there could be to help.
Jillian
Priscilla,
Yes! I do think there is a place for auto-graded components as the immediate results are something that are appreciated by students. Especially for assignments that make sense to be auto-graded! Gives us more time to interact with students and spend time on assignments that cannot be auto-graded, like you mentioned. Recently, I came across a new app/LMS developed by the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) that supports gameful courses. It is called GradeCraft https://umich.gradecraft.com/ Students earn points based on assignments they select, have more choice in demonstrating their learning, and students can see their progress at any time. Very clever and I could see this being extremely inciting for students, especially those digital natives that thrive in these gaming situations.
Jillian
Thomas,
Thank you! When recording this presentation again, without that 6 minute limit, I realized how much more I had to share and was initially worried lengthy recording would scare people off! However, I wanted to explain some of these concepts in more depth since I know much of this is very new to most.
I would definitely start with what you want to accomplish both. What are your students lacking? What areas of the classroom do they seem to overlook? What is a common question or concern that takes a lot of time for you to address each week? Once that is decided, then think about what you could "gamify" to increase involvement, strengthen their understanding, or just plain point them in the right direction! I would be happy to brainstorm with you to figure out what would best help your students in your specific content. You know where I live (cube-wise)!
Jillian
Jillian,
Thanks for your response! I have taught as an adjunct for University of Phoenix for 11 years, and they have a big auto-graded game component in their curriculum. The students enjoy it (there are different games for different classes at different levels), so they learn more. They enjoy, too, that they can retake the exercise/game as many times as they like. They often discuss in my classes how these components help them and how fun they are. Yes, I agree that there are many students who like them, perhaps more than others, but all seem to enjoy them in my classes. Many of the games are grammar/refresher related, and all are auto-graded.
Priscilla
John,
Great! My suggestion to is create some comments and a good list of words that you can easily copy and paste each week into documents. Also, it helps to save that file as a template instead of a plain .doc so you do not have to recreate each week. You can just open your master copy and work from that each week. I also surveyed my colleagues to brainstorm words that they felt our COE students most needed to know or were struggling with in their courses so that helped me develop a list. I also let my students know that I asked them so they knew these words would help them in the future.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you need anything else or other resources. I attached my secret word comment list to this comment if you want to take a look, use, or adjust to best fit your needs.
Jillian
Attachments
Jillian,
Thanks so much for the word doc and explanation! This is awesome! Have a great night!
-John
The secret word seems like such a fun and effective strategy. Encouraging students to read feedback and explore the classroom is so important. Do you think this strategy would be useful for all students? Are there particular situations in which using this approach would be especially useful to enhance learning opportunities? Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the feedback, Scott!
I think this strategy could be extremely beneficial to use with week 1 feedback in all courses. You never know what the student's knowledge is of finding feedback upon entering your class or the ways their previous instructors provided feedback. Also, some students say they read the feedback, but they often are just referring to the gradebook comments. Secret word provides true evidence that they actually found their feedback document uploaded by the instructor, opened it, and read the comments inside.
Jillian