grannynannycook

The first teacher education courses I took, way back when the rocks were soft, emphasized that games were for practicing skills: computational skills, reading skills, whatever.  Although  “how to make learning games” course offering in college did not exist,  as a teacher, I had a file cabinet drawer full of “folder games” to practice almost everything imaginable!

Today, in my sunset years of teaching, the question is:  what factors make a game effective for learning?  From readings in the text by Karl Kapp, The Gamification of Learning and Instruction : Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education , the use of games goes beyond skill practice.  Gamification is a tool for learning and behavior change of any kind.  Kapp says it is the interplay of the elements of games which make it possible to gamify content for effective learning.   These are the elements of games which are most valuable to effective learning: the story, the challenge, the sense of control, decision making, and sense of mastery.  Kapp continues to state that games engage learners through the use of: curiosity, challenge, avatars, distributed practice, and storytelling.  As the author states, gamifiying content is matching game elements with contents and incentives or rewards to create a relationship with the learner, which, I believe, is what effective learning is all about: relationships.

Give me a target, and I can hit it.  Syllabi are my learning targets, so, am a bit hamstrung in this open class without a course syllabus.  Although the class expectations appear weekly, in a sequential and timely manner, part of me thinks I’m aiming for a more challenging moving target.  Perhaps it is like having all the ingredients to bake cinnamon rolls, but having no recipe?

Having participated in a MOOC before, please read my first blog entry below, which begins to answer the inquiry into what makes an Open Class Engaging.

In the intro to Connected Courses, the unfamiliar term autodidact caught my ear.  Also, delving further into the literature, another unfamiliar word caught my eye, andragogy, which focuses on adult learning, more information about it on Wikipedia and here.  These two terms, a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education, i.e., a self taught person, and a study of adult learning, I feel contribute to making an Open Class engaging.

Making an Open Class engaging is more about creativity in design, collaboration and discussion, interactions, connections, flexibility, open ended problem solving, and multiple measures of success.  Other terms of engagement which pegged my brain were: high quality content, short videos, diversity of learners and cultures.