Session Information
| Title | Classroom PAL: Points, Avatars and Levels (part 2) |
| Presenter(s) | Kate Fanelli |
| Time | Friday, October 17, 2:30p-3:30p |
| Location | Lake Huron |
| Format | Workshop |
| Description | Not all students achieve success in the traditional school system. When students fail to achieve in those settings, educators need to try something new. Gamification can rekindle interest in school, learning new skills, and earning credit toward graduation. Gamification is NOT games. Gamification is the use of game elements in a non-game setting, such as the use of points, avatars and levels, to improve engagement or motivation in education. However, as with games, there seems to be no limit to the ways gamification can happen. This session will demonstrate what gamification is, what we can learn from games about motivation and engagement, the benefits of gamification, and how to begin gamifying in a classroom setting - all through gamification itself. Educators, school administrators, game designers, and anyone interested in effective educational alternatives for underachieving and underserved students are welcome to attend this gamified gamification workshop. Any ideas and gamified structures created during the session, as well as two specific gamification structures used successfully by the presenter to teach Algebra to students in high school with special needs, will be made available to the entire group to get participants started on their own gamification projects. Participants will define gamification, identify game elements in well-known games, apply those elements to the teaching of an academic unit of study, and be prepared to justify their gamification choices to skeptics. |