Gamifying Technology Literacy in a 1:1 School
Sep 01, 2016 Filed in: Technology Integration
Proposal:
A STEAM Badging Program at Stone Magnet Middle School.
We would like to amend our Laptop Policy regarding the customization of the laptop covers for students to permit school-provided badges to be displayed on the top cover. This would be a means of gamifying our curriculum. It would be analogous to Scout Merit Badges, Fighter Pilot Kills, notches on the belt or feathers in the headband.
We would like to limit this initiative particularly to Digital Literacy accomplishments and statuses, although digital skills being used in exemplary curriculum products is certainly encouraged. Most of these challenges will be accomplished on student’s own time after they have completed their classwork, before or after school. We are inviting comment on as well as suggestions for a limited number of badges for this initiative.
We must stress that only officially approved badges are permitted to be adhered to the cover of the laptops. We want to insure not only is there space, removability, and appropriateness, but we want to also increase the value and control the scarcity of these recognitions.
Purpose:
Make learning, achievement, skill attainment visible. Unlike digital badges, these are more visible for those in one's physical presence.
Celebrate achievement, erect a monument!
Encourage peer support (students can see which peer to go to for help).
Help teachers identify student leaders, mentors.
Examples:
Keyboarding:
) Touch typing is still our best computer input option in a school or business setting. Touch typing is a much more secure way of entering passwords. But– very few students take a keyboarding class any more. So when a student finishes their work early, one of the acceptable pastimes on the computer is to practice their keyboarding skills. Keyboarding games are numerous on the internet and we have identified a few that we recommend on our student start page. We can have our business instructor vet these students or have a classroom teacher nominate a student after they take a covered keyboard test at http://typing-speed-test.aoeu.eu/?lang=en
Online Course Completion: At the time this proposal was written we had a campus wide account for unlimited use of lynda.com application training. We now have Atomic Learning. We should be offering a badge for each course completed after they produce a product demonstrating the skills covered in that course.
Video Producers: Students that have made exceptional video projects should get a badge for their accomplishments!
Producer (predetermined set of skills)
Creative Master (producer skills & unique use of multimedia tools, lighting, sound, angles, etc.)
Aspiring Code Geeks: code.org:
Completion of code.org course. Something developed beyond the Hour of Code activity.
iBook:
Publisher badge for publishing a basic iBook of minimum features. If this takes off, we could also offer a Best Seller badge for iBook with advanced widgets and creative features.iBook:
For our future rock stars, we should recognize achievement with as many as three badges, one for budding digital musicians, composers, and lyricists. Composer- an original composition using loops, midi, and recorded samples suitable for broadcast on SNN as a music bed, segment intro, etc.
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