I have to admit that before this class, I had not given much thought to what gaming or gamification were and how they could be utilized in the classroom. I had a difficult time telling them apart as well. Now I know that gaming is when students play games in order to learn about specific content matter, while on the other hand, gamification is when students are in a game simulation themselves. For example, Class Dojo, where students can get points for doing well in class.
Gaming and gamification are excellent ways in which students can learn in a fun and engaging manner. Students will be learning while enjoying playing the games and they can stay more focused on the task at hand if they are acquiring points or badges along the way. Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to explore games and gamification with my students at the moment, as a result of sitting in as Assistant Principal at our school sight. These last few weeks have proven to be challenging for me in terms of trying new things with my students and being more hands-on with new tools. I know that some of the students I serviced in small groups are using various tools with their homeroom teachers. For example: Class Dojo, I-station, Reading Eggs, Brain Pop JR, Prodigy, and Star Fall, among many others. I hear they love to play these games and are much more engaged during this time in their classrooms.
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EdPuzzle: As I was able to navigate through edpuzzle.com I realized how much I liked it. I had never used it before and being able to search for videos caught my attention. It meant that I would not have to compose videos myself, nor did I have to learn how to link them from a different website. I feel like saving time and effort in one area can free up more time to research the actual website, more in depth. I felt like this website was fairly easy to navigate and use videos. I was excited to see that it allowed me to create a class and invite students to join. When I selected a video to add and “show to my class”, it was actually allowing me to add data such as a due date for students to view the video and it allowed me to collect data as to the percentage complete. Since I have been assisting as the Vice Principal at our sight for the past few weeks, I have not been able to try this with my students, but I am excited to use it to teach my students in the near future again. Since I am in more of an administrator capacity and my capstone project will also have more of an administrative perspective, I think I will also be able to use this as a resource to add.
WeVideo: This is another tool I had not utilized before, and I chose it because I had heard about it from colleagues and classmates. I felt like this tool was not as user friendly. I felt confused as to how to actually make a video. When I clicked on the option of a quick step-by-step tutorial, it loaded some videos, but they were just sample videos. I expected to come across a “how-to video”. I felt quite discouraged when I saw a downloadable manual. I immediately thought, “Oh this will take me significant learning time!” I was hoping that it would be as easy to navigate as Edpuzzle.com. I could have also been discouraged by the fact that I did not spend as much time researching and digging deeper into this particular tool. If I could figure out how to create a video I could definitely use it in my classroom because I liked some of the finished samples I was able to see. Adobe Spark: Adobe Spark is a tool I was quite interested in learning more about. I chose it because I knew that it is a tool that we will be asked to use to complete our book review presentation with our partners in EDUC 791 (at least I remember her mentioning it). I thought it would be quite useful to know how to work with it, ahead of time. It reminded me of power point or google slides, but definitely a newer more updated version of it! I like that it has icons you can click on directly on the page for adding a background, videos, pictures or text. I feel like it was something easy to navigate (maybe because it was similar to something I knew how to use already). I think this will come in handy in my classroom as well as with presentations (a Board Presentation which I am currently working on). I am excited to use it more and be able to compose presentations that can be linked to my capstone as well. |
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April 2018
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