Gamification, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality

Gamification  is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. It is used to improve user engagement, organizational productivity, flow, learning, crowdsourcing, employee recruitment and evaluation, ease of use and usefulness of systems, physical exercise, traffic violations, and voter apathy, among others (Wiki, 2017) Basically it makes learning fun and the students don't realize they have learned so much!!

Augmented Reality is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. Basically a view of reality is modified by a computer (Wiki, 2017). Think Pokemon Go!

Virtual Reality replaces the real world with a simulated one.  A person using virtual reality equipment is typically able to "look around" the artificial world, move about in it and interact with features or items that are depicted on a screen or in googles. (Wiki, 2017) This is where all the interest is right now. It will be in our classrooms and home soon, think Samsung G7 and PlayStation VR.

Image Retrieved October 24, 2016 from http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/gear-vr/



I bring this up because I feel alot of educators will not know the difference between the 3, like me and before we know it our students will be craving this new technology so we must keep up with it and embrace it!!

Author unknown,(n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2016 from the Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification

Author unknown,(n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2016 from the Wiki:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality

Author unknown,(n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2016 from the Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality

Socrative - Student Engagement

Socrative is a great tool to use some gamification in your student engagement and to include introverts in your classroom.  You can pay for the full application or use the free version . This app allows you to make quizzes using  a variety of question options. It also allows you to control the pace as a teacher or let it be student controlled. You can make a game of it and everyone can see how they do in a race but the contestants are nameless so no one knows who answers incorrectly. Feedback can also be attached to each question. I am using it for the first time in my positioning class this week as a review and a change of pace from the regular classroom activities. Wish  me luck!

Making the classroom a personality inclusive envrionment - 5 tips

"Extroverts and introverts depend on us to do great things!" I love this quote from the webpage commonsense. https://www.commonsense.org/education/blog/5-classroom-strategies-that-help-introverts-and-extroverts-do-their-best-work (Higgin, Tanner Feb.16,2016)

The article refers to Susan Cain's Ted talk and mentions 5 classroom strategies that help both types of personalities achieve their best work.

1. Make choice central - I have been trying to achieve this by letting students chose their topics for presentations/major products. I am going to check out 3D game lab as well which will go into the topic of Gamification in the classroom.

2. Redefine participation - this is something I have to do in my classes' that have a participation mark. A very valid point that this usually favors the extrovert. I had never looked at it like this before but seems quite clear now.

3. Play with space - In our program we are starting to use more of the space that is provided instead of just being in the classroom. I teach in the summer so am starting to be more comfortable with going outside on a nice day as this is a good break.

4. Embrace backchanneling - As a program all our courses have a discussion forum on the learning module desire 2 learn. I could try to use this more in the future.

5. Create flow between social and reflective activities - I need to do a better job of doing this but I find in the lab setting I take 2 students and we do verbal discussions while another 2 have an individual task where they are writing.
All and all great tips and things to remember to make the classroom a personality -inclusive environment. 

ENFJ - What is this and what does it have to do with teaching?

ENFJ – what does this mean and how does this affect my teaching style and my engagement activities?

E – xtravert

iN – tuitive

F – eeling

J-udging

Here is a brief summary of the characteristics of someone with this personality.

ENFJs are the benevolent 'pedagogues' of humanity. They have tremendous charisma by which many are drawn into their nurturant tutelage and/or grand schemes. Many ENFJs have tremendous power to manipulate others with their phenomenal interpersonal skills and unique salesmanship. But it's usually not meant as manipulation -- ENFJs generally believe in their dreams, and see themselves as helpers and enablers, which they usually are.

ENFJs are global learners. They see the big picture. The ENFJs focus is expansive. Some can juggle an amazing number of responsibilities or projects simultaneously. Many ENFJs have tremendous entrepreneurial ability.

ENFJs are, by definition, Js, with whom we associate organization and decisiveness. But they don't resemble the SJs or even the NTJs in organization of the environment nor occasional recalcitrance. ENFJs are organized in the arena of interpersonal affairs. Their offices may or may not be cluttered, but their conclusions (reached through feelings) about people and motives are drawn much more quickly and are more resilient than those of their NFP counterparts.

ENFJs know and appreciate people. Like most NFs, (and Feelers in general), they are apt to neglect themselves and their own needs for the needs of others. They have thinner psychological boundaries than most, and are at risk for being hurt or even abused by less sensitive people. ENFJs often take on more of the burdens of others than they can bear. (Butt, J, n.d.)

If you are reading this blog I recommend you trying the Jung Typology test at http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp. This is a free personality test and is based on Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’ personality type theory. Many people have heard of the Myers Briggs Type indicator Test and this is a short 64 questioned test that can give you an idea of your personality type.

I was inspired to find out more about my personality type after watching the Ted talk: “The Power of Introverts” by Susan Cain (2012). It evoked a lot of questions on what I was doing in the classroom. Was I looking for the same response from students that I would have if I was the student doing this activity? And if I was, was I only looking for similar traits to myself as an indicator of student engagement?

If a student was vocal and energetic I consider this engagement but what about the introvert that requires time to ponder and come up with creative responses and potentially deeper connections to the material than someone who is just “blurting responses” out. Just because a student is not verbally engaging does not mean that they are not engaged. I have to remind myself of this as I need feedback as an instructor and sometimes verbal feedback is all I am looking for.  

I have learned the importance of knowing your audience and what assessment and engagement activities to include so all students can succeed. A variety might be best so as not to exclude anyone and to also allow an extrovert to have a chance to be an introvert and vice versa as we are normally not just an extrovert or introvert. Our personality tends to change with each situation.

 

References:

Butt, Joe (n.d.)  ENFJ – Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging  [article] Retrieved from http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/enfj

“Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts.” Ted Talk, uploaded by Ted Talks, February 2012, https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts?language=en.

 

 

Making a change in the classroom - student centered approach

Yesterday I took my first real step towards trying to change my teaching approach more to a student centered approach versus a teacher centered approach. I changed my lesson plan minutes before lecture and figured I had to take a risk and see what the reward might be.
Instead of talking and showing my power point slides and having the students follow along I tasked each student with a specific goal - 4 students would learn the ankle projections together, 4 the foot, 4 the tibia/fibula, and 4 the toe projections. The 4 students would then go back to their lab groups and teach one of their lab partners their projection. The person receiving the information would then be in charge during the lab to teach the projections to the other 2 members of their lab set. This way if they were having difficulty they could lean on the classmate that originally taught them or the instructor.
The class went to work right away and I went from group to group and listened in. When I felt it was appropriate I would pose a question to the group and then this would evoke more conversation.
All and all this ended up being a great activity. For the last half of lecture I reviewed the projections with a classroom discussion. I found the students were more engaged as they had seen the material and worked with it. I find most of the students don't pre-read, so the conversation and discussions we had were a better quality and we were able to cover more material and in more detail.
I feel this worked because the first month of classes we have worked on building a positive community so the students were willing to put themselves out there and try something new.
One of the things I witnessed as an instructor when the student came back to the group and had to teach their fellow students everyone used a different technique to get their points across.
After the activity, I posed the question "what did you do to teach your projections to your fellow student?" to the class.  The responses were excellent and I felt this was almost more important than the material because the students learned what other peers are doing to remember the projections. Some students asked questions to the other student, some students just relayed the information, some students used diagrams, some used the skeletons, some their lab books and some their own body parts.  The point was they used a variety of resources and were all successful!
I finished the activity with a "WHIP around" strategy.    WHIP around strategy
 Each student came up with valuable information that I feel were the key components that would have been covered in the lecture and the "gold of the lesson" is they discovered it themselves!  I will definitely be trying this again!

In the Flow tips

"In the flow" follow up:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/eight_tips_for_fostering_flow_in_the_classroom
Check out this quick check list. A great reminder to do a quick reflection after a lesson to see if none, some or all these tips where used to foster flow in the classroom. .

"In the flow"

I have just completed my 2nd reflective writing piece for PIDP 3250 and find myself looking at the material from an instructor and a student perspective. The piece that specifically caught my attention is on page 27 - "learning must be sufficiently difficult to pose a challenge but not so difficult as to destroy the willingness to try." (Barkley, 2010, p.27). This is referred to as "in the flow". Right now I do not feel in the flow with my PIDP course and I'm trying to figure out why? Is the task too difficult? Are the time constraints not working for me? Are the instructions clear? Am I not motivated? Do I need face to face interaction? These are all questions that I will have to spend more time pondering and hopefully this will help me out in the future as I take on more courses.
I find it all very interesting as I feel this as a student and am now relating it to the course I am teaching. Our my students "in the flow" and how do I tell?  Last week I did a pre/post quiz to see what the students knew before the material was presented and what they knew after the lecture. The comparisons showed great improvement of new knowledge. I feel this helped me realize that the material given was in the correct zone and the students were able to pick up on the key concepts. At the end of the week a quiz was given on the same concepts and a number of students answered questions incorrectly that they got correct 2 days before. Does this mean they are not in the "flow" now? or was it the way that they were tested? Are they more nervous when they take tests and this is why the results changed? I still have many questions!
I guess in general this is what the PIDP courses are supposed to do, make you think!!! Maybe I am "in the flow!"

Barkley, E.F., (2010). Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass.