Gamifying Technology Literacy in a 1:1 School
Sep 01, 2016 Filed in: Technology Integration
Badging Initiative - supporting technology literacy in the 1:1 classroom
A Buzz Worthy Strategy to Help Motivate Students
Although it is not a new idea - educators internationally are developing badging systems to recognize, identify, and motivate learners. It is one of the strategies embedded in the Gamification of Curriculum.
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 peer students and educators in one's physical vicinity.
Celebrate achievement, erect a monument!
Encourage peer support (students can see which peer to go to for help).
Help teachers identify student leaders, mentors.
A Buzz Worthy Strategy to Help Motivate Students
Although it is not a new idea - educators internationally are developing badging systems to recognize, identify, and motivate learners. It is one of the strategies embedded in the Gamification of Curriculum.
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 peer students and educators in one's physical vicinity.
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:
Demonstrates WPM Achievement at 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 words per minute or above, using proper finger placement. Even though voice dictation is accessible on all mobile and desktop devices, touch typing is still our best secure, private computer input option in a noisy school or business setting.
Touch typing is a much more secure way of entering passwords. And more efficient than trying to use one or two out 10 digits to do all the work. But– very few students take a keyboarding class any more.
So when a student finishes their work early at a 1:1 school, 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
Keyboarding:
Demonstrates WPM Achievement at 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 words per minute or above, using proper finger placement. Even though voice dictation is accessible on all mobile and desktop devices, touch typing is still our best secure, private computer input option in a noisy school or business setting.
Touch typing is a much more secure way of entering passwords. And more efficient than trying to use one or two out 10 digits to do all the work. But– very few students take a keyboarding class any more.
So when a student finishes their work early at a 1:1 school, 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. One of the opportunities that having access to a computer on weekends and after school that we want to encourage is ethical hacking and computational thought.
This badge is designed for those students go beyond the Hour of Code activity and take the initiative to learn more. Code.org has a number of age appropriate online courses for students to participate in, including
iBook:
Publisher badge for publishing a basic iBook of minimum features. If this takes off, we could also offer a Best Seller badge for an iBook that gets 10 or more downloads in the iBook Bookstore An extra badge might even be developed for students that have authored books with advanced widgets and creative features.GarageBand:
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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