EDET679 Gamification Week 8 Blog

 Essential Question: Which aspects of story and game mechanics will be useful in your class and how might you use them?

            To gamify my class, I would like my students working in groups and support each other in the group. In order to an atmosphere that has built in groups, guilds can be introduced which gives social game players the chance to connect with others and share the game experience. Also having guilds will provide an easy way to have a bit of competition of which conqueror game players will enjoy and thrive. Guilds are also intriguing to me because it gives students who are non-gamers the chance to buy into the game and an easily understandable way to begin thinking with a game mindset. Matera does indicate that the cons of having guilds might include making “authentic reasons for the guild to work together” and as a teacher of mathematics this can be difficult for me (2015).

            Another game mechanic that interests me to use in my classroom is items because there are so many ways to be creative and encourage specific students. It is actually really easy to introduce a new item to the gamified class and it requires little planning ahead of time. Using these items, students can feel unique, have powers, and thrive to have powers that others do. Adding items into the class gives explorer gamer types the chance to be constantly searching for what is possible for them to get and how it will affect the game.

            The last game mechanic that I 100 percent want to have in my gamified class is special challenges. I am not sure what the challenge would look like but it would give my math students and the whole school something special to look forward to that is academic and math related. I hate to admit it but math class can be boring and having “a sense of curiosity and anticipation” would be good for my students and even me!

            The part that I still need to think about and play around a bit more is the scene and characters (of the guild). I couldn’t come up with my own story or theme so I will have to borrow from a book or movie. I am thinking about making the characters to be important figures or groups in mathematic history. This will give students the chance to learn a bit more of history that I have a hard time teaching in math class. Overall, my goal of gamifying my classroom is to support my students and myself especially in the moments and situations that I am weak in.

Matera, M. (2015). Explore like a pirate. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.