Gamification – applying the mechanics of gaming to non-game activities to change people’s behaviour
As one of the most talked about trends of the year, gamification has made it onto the 2011 Gartner Hype Circle for the first time. At the next convergence conversation we’ll seek to discover whether the concept is a serious application with the power to change people’s behaviour, or just pure hyperbole?
My mother teaches a class of 9-year-olds in the US. Recently, she dug out 10 small slates and some chalk and brought them into her classroom. She fired questions at the students and asked them to scribble their answers on the slates in teams. The kids found this to be a huge novelty and were actively engaged in the lesson for over an hour. Fantastic – slates and chalk are now so old, they are retro cool!
I think this is a great illustration of how stimulating students’ creativity and engaging them in the learning process has got to be the new paradigm. You don’t need the latest and greatest technology to do this. However, ICT can be a huge asset to opening up possibilities and expanding what you can do in or out of the classroom. But don’t take my word for it. (more…)
Given the significant shift in education policy since last year’s election, this year’s BETT conference was of particular interest as it was one of the first opportunities for industry and the education community to come together and reflect on the impact of these changes.
Despite leaving university just over three years ago, the show illustrated to me just how much has changed in terms of the technology that is now available to enhance learning. The changes since I was at school are even more dramatic as then we were only just starting to use the internet for research and using an overhead projector was about as advanced as it really got.
I spoke with a number of teachers about how they are using technology in their school and also their reaction to latest government policy. Some teachers expressed concern about the impact of closing Becta and were not convinced that the coalition is fully appreciative of the positive contribution that technology can play in education. In contrast, other teachers made clear that they were excited at the recent policy shift and argued that teachers will relish the absence of an overly prescriptive steer from the centre. It was interesting to hear from one teacher in particular who said that the debate around technology and education is too often shaped by what teachers want and not enough attention is paid to what students expect and what they value.
The Department for Education have managed to escape substantial budget cuts, and their business plan reflects this with an emphasis more on new and improved services as opposed to driving efficiencies. This could partly reflect a point made in their vision statement on the need for the UK to keep up with international competition: “In the most recent Performance in International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, we fell from 4th to 14th in science, from 7th to 17th in literacy, and from 8th to 24th in mathematics.”
Savings were mainly to be achieved through the elimination of quangos and the discontinuation of the Building Schools for the Future programme, ie actions that have already been taken. (more…)