5 gaming dynamics that truly engage students “How do we get kids to walk out of our classrooms and continue to think about what they’ve done in class?” he asked. Games give students an “endless list of things they have to complete–but the difference [compared to homework] is that they’re making the list,” Kiang said. The top five most addictive games, Kiang said, are: 5. There’s a great amount of power in the open-endedness of Minecraft as a learning environment, Kiang said. “When you know who your kids are, it makes a huge difference in how you see them–you can’t expect kids to fit in one mold,” he said. Kiang described the five gaming dynamics that engage students and make it easier for educators to integrate gaming into their instruction: 1. 2. When students save their progress in a game just before trying to solve a big challenge, they know their progress won’t be lost, and they’re more apt to explore. “In my class, I don’t necessarily want to create ‘A’ students–I want to create kids who are confident risk-takers,” he said. 3.
Ben Bertoli's ClassRealm Is Gamifying the Classroom | GeekDad My GeekDad colleague James Floyd Kelly and I teamed up to do our investigative report on Ben Bertoli, who teaches sixth grade math, science and language arts in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ben’s launching ClassRealm, his project to gamify education through a customizable classroom management system built on role playing themes. Here is Bertoli’s official Kickstarter description: In simplest terms ClassRealm is a customizable web-based tool that can be used by teachers, students and parents to track student achievements, provide students with entertaining and educational adventures, as well as improve their overall academic performance. The site has been up for 2.5 to 3 months but will be launching publicly soon. Teachers can use ClassRealm to set up specific goals and achievements for individual students or entire classes, as well as to track student data and progress. These are some of the key features of ClassRealm: ClassRealm’s Bertoli has told GeekDad: “I know what gets kids excited.
Octalysis: Complete Gamification Framework (This is the Gamification Framework that I am most known for. Within a year, it was translated into 9 different languages and became classic teaching literature in the gamification space in the US, Europe, Australia and South America.) Octalysis: Complete Gamification Framework Gamification is design that places the most emphasis on human motivation in the process. Most processes design around function and efficiency – they try to get the job done as quickly as possible. Even though many Gamification techniques were in use long before video games were around, games were one of the earliest examples of a holistic approach to implementing Human-Based Design – so now we call it Gamification. In the past few years, I have been digging deep into the formulation of a complete framework to analyze and build strategies around the various systems of Gamification. In the end, I came up with a system that I feel is instructive, useful, and elegant. The 8 Core Drives of Gamification 8) Loss & Avoidance
5 changements majeurs dans l’éducation d’ici 2020 Mine de rien, 2020 c’est dans moins de cinq ans, et déjà Fast Company a demandé aux dix entreprises les plus innovantes du secteur éducatif quelles seraient les grandes tendances du secteur d’ici 2020. Voici ce qu’il en est ressorti (Cliquer pour lire l’article original) : Les étudiants interagiront à distance Joe Williams, directeur exécutif du Democrats for Education Reform (États-Unis) s’étonne que les salles de classe aujourd’hui ressemblent exactement à ce qu’elles étaient il y a 30 ans. Il prédit une évolution vers l’individualisation de l’instruction. La directrice exécutive de la EdCamp Foundation, Hadley Ferguson, partage son point de vue : « Les élèves iront au-delà des murs de leur salle de classe pour entrer en contact avec d’autres élèves, d’autres professeurs et auteurs de renom, avec des scientifiques et des experts pour améliorer leur apprentissage. » La réussite de l’enseignement reposera toujours sur des enseignants qualifiés Les diplômes seront perçus différemment
The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies Listen to this article as a podcast episode: Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:22 — 53.1MB) Subscribe: iTunes | Android | When I worked with student teachers on developing effective lesson plans, one thing I always asked them to revise was the phrase “We will discuss.” We will discuss the video. We will discuss the story. We will discuss our results. Every time I saw it in a lesson plan, I would add a note: “What format will you use? The problem wasn’t them; in most of the classrooms where they’d sat as students, that’s exactly what a class discussion looked like. So here they are: 15 formats for structuring a class discussion to make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging. I’ve separated the strategies into three groups. Enjoy! Gallery Walk > a.k.a. Basic Structure: Stations or posters are set up around the classroom, on the walls or on tables. Philosophical Chairs > a.k.a. Pinwheel Discussion > Socratic Seminar > a.k.a. a.k.a.
Model United Nations Workshop Basic Facts The Department of Public Information is planning a Workshop in New York in mid-November 2015. More details will be posted soon. This workshop is being organized in conjunction with the 2015 World Federation of UN Associations International Model UN (WIMUN) that will take place in New York from 10-14 November. WIMUN is completely based on the UN4MUN approach. Eligibility This workshop is designed for students and MUN advisors who organize MUN simulations or have participated in a MUN conference. Faculty advisors who have a role in training or supervising students who organize or participate in MUN conferences are also eligible. Registration The call for applications will be announced in March 2015. Workshop Content The aim of the workshops is to examine how Model UN simulations can more accurately capture the negotiation process as it commonly occurs at the UN.
What We Can All Learn from a Montessori Classroom As we scramble for ways to improve our schools, to meet every student’s needs, to push back against a test-score driven educational culture, many of us wonder what the right path might look like. Is it possible that path has been under our noses for more than 100 years? Until five years ago, I had no idea what Montessori was. For some parents, it wasn’t that simple. Several years ago, a tiny educational revolution started in Bowling Green, Kentucky. First, they held several meetings to see if enough families would be interested in the school. The only problem was, no one in town was certified to teach with the Montessori method at the elementary level. I visited the school a few weeks ago to learn more about how the Montessori philosophy is applied at the elementary level. What I didn’t expect was the attitude of the students: They were focused. And I thought, what they have here, couldn’t we have some of this in a more traditional school? I think we could. Are you a kindred spirit?
UN4MUN Workshop Recap: 4 Big Differences Between Model UN and the Real UN | Best Delegate Is Model United Nations supposed to be a simulation of the real United Nations? To someone outside of the MUN community, the answer may seem like an obvious yes — this is, after all, the “model” UN. But to those who are part of the MUN community, you know that the answer is not so obvious — this is actually one of the biggest questions facing the activity. MUN may have strictly been a simulation of the UN when it first started over sixty years ago (longer, if you count the Model League of Nations). But MUN conferences today feature simulations of non-UN-related organizations. The overwhelming majority of MUN conferences and committees, however, are still simulations of UN bodies and related organizations. Questions about the differences between Model UN and the real UN have existed for a long time. And these are the questions 100+ MUNers from around the world came together to discuss last month at the United Nations. Enter the UN4MUN Workshop Big Difference #1: Leadership Structure
9 Tips for Engaging Your English Class with Pop Culture This guest post has been contributed by Jay Meadows. I’ve been teaching English for many years, across multiple grade levels, from middle school to high school to college. I’ve read (and have written) heaps of education books and research articles. And yet the premise for this post is so simple, I’m willing to bet that any one of our students can pin it down without a moment’s hesitation. What is the most essential ingredient to a rockstar lesson? It’s student engagement. We sometimes dress it up with the bells and bows of PBL, or strip it down to its bare components: authenticity, motivation, relatability. And for what? To better engage our students. In recent years, I’ve had the greatest success in achieving these things—and in evoking that sensation of having time-traveled—when I’ve gone out of my way to make deliberate connections between my students’ most popular interests and the “stuff” of my class. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
La classification en ligne du Serious Game Four Tools to Merge the Digital and Physical in Your Maker Classroom It’s a new world: the digital and tangible are merging, and educators need to help students navigate the changing terrain. The solution? Let them be Makers. I’ve been involved in digital learning and education technology for more than 30 years, and the burgeoning attempt to merge the digital and physical worlds has been one of the most interesting aspects of the evolution of EdTech to date. It’s no longer enough—if it ever was—for teachers to lecture to a row of desks; today’s teacher must be more of a coach. See, Understand, Make There are several evolving spaces in which we are seeing the blending of the digital and physical successfully fostering critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. Perhaps most obviously, 3D printing is enabling students to imagine, design, problem-solve and create in the digital domain, and the outcome of their work is a product they can hold in their hands. 2. 3. 4. Today’s Makers Solve Tomorrow's Problems We can tackle these obstacles.