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Tag Archives: engagement

Game on. Who’s with me?

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Brendan Jones Posted in Games for Learning, Inquiry, Learning, Popular culture, Technology .

Christmas saw Santa bring me Far Cry 4. I hadn’t played much in the way of these sorts of games in the past, and I’d just invested in a new gaming PC so I was keen to see what it looked like. Far Cry 4 is an open world action-adventure first-person shooter video game – you do kill lots of things and it is graphic, with adult themes. But the themes aren’t what captured my attention the more I got into it. What I repeatedly started thinking was – if only my classroom could be like a game.
I’ve had an amateurish crack at gamifying my teaching but it fizzled out due to lack of interest on the kid’s behalf, and my lack of knowledge. Partly because, in hindsight I was pretty ignorant about what game elements were and how they would work in a class. Badges aren’t the only thing from games that motivate people.

Since then I’ve been lucky enough to meet and mix with people that have given me some solid understandings of how games could work in teaching and learning. I’ve spoken and worked with people like Dean Groom, Bron Stuckey, Peggy Sheehy, Steve Isaacs and read about the work of Lucas Gillispie and Lee Sheldon. From them I learned that key game features like an engaging narrative, challenge (increasingly difficult levels of authentic quests and missions), player investment (physical, emotional and intellectual) in the experience, learning variability (game factors and skill development) , learning flow (losing track of time, being cocooned), goals and rules, instant feedback systems, the role of failure and resilience – these are what need to be considered in using game elements in teaching. (And incidentally- aren’t these all the things we want our lessons to have?)

Playing Far Cry gave me all these experiences. I was in the zone constantly.I might start at 7 in the evening, look at the clock and it was 1 am! I became intrigued by the narrative and found piecing the fragments of story to make a bigger picture to be very cool. I could choose where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do

Map

The notion that good acts are rewarded.

Karma

Continuous problem solving, where some tasks looked the same as the last time I did it, but needed a variation to successfully complete. The sense of satisfaction at beating a mission after constantly failing. The hunt for resources that I could then sell to move my existing abilities into areas I wanted them to go.

Search

The ability to craft something new to suit my needs. The chance to work with others on missions (co op play).  (And incidentally- aren’t these all the things we want our kids to experience in our lessons?)

So I’m playing with the idea of making one class this year an open world action adventure classroom. The aims, goals and win conditions will be relatively easy to work out – they’ll come from my syllabus. A scoring and reward system is needed – I have my eye on 3D GameLab for that. The most work intensive thing will be creating the task, missions and narrative that underpin the game/class. I would love to work with people that want to build something like this and use it themselves. Who’s with me?

 

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Tags: engagement, Far Cry, Gaming, Inquiry, learning .

Skills and Tactics – from paper to practice

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Brendan Jones Posted in Inquiry, Learning, Physical education, Technology .

I’m working on a Year 10 PASS theory unit on Improving Performance. One of the topics we cover is using skills and tactics as a way to improve individual and team performance.
In planning the learning for this, I wanted to made the learning real and visible, not just theoretical and abstract. I came up with something that could be done in one lesson, maybe two.
1. I started with a quick introduction – a Google Presentation about what we were doing in the lesson

2. Then I showed a stimulus video on strategy and tactics in a Netball setting

2. We had a quick discussion about the difference between a tactic and a strategy

3. I then got the class to form groups of 5 (maximum), and using mini whiteboards, they devised a tactic for basketball, rugby league or football

Rugby League Play

Football Play

Basketball Play

 

The students transferred these group ideas to individual sheets for their portfolio

4. We then went out to the courts and the students rehearsed the tactic (it was raining, which stopped us using the fields for the football groups)

5. I started to film the group performing their tactic for their portfolios. (I’ll include some in a follow up post)

OK – I missed completing the whole thing in one lesson (i.e. filming every group) by about 20 minutes, and the groups could have done with more rehearsal time to perfect the movements, but we got close to going from paper to practice in 5 steps in about an hour.

The take away for me was the enthusiasm the students showed in being given the license to create their own scenario and solution. The elegant way that some groups went about devising their solution was inspiring.
So much better than reading about someone else’s plays, or copying down notes.
Never underestimate the ability of students to ask good questions and find great solutions.

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Tags: engagement, games, Inquiry, Physical education, tactics .

GPS Dataloggers – the first real test

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Brendan Jones Posted in teacherstuff .

Just a quick update on the MainNav GPS dataloggers that I spoke about in a previous post.

I tested them today in a short  OzTag game. The kids wore them in the supplied wrist/ankle pouches. They seemed to allow free movement (well..none of the kids complained about feeling awkward). They were certainly engaged and interested in the experiment!

After the game, I  downloaded the data from each unit using the supplied software and saved the data to .kmz (for Google Earth) and .gpx files (for Garmin Connect)

In Google Earth, I opened each track data file individually (File>Open) and they overlapped each other. By right clicking on the track itself and selecting Properties, I could change the track colour.

If you have Google Earth v6 or better, this file should should take you to my school oval, with the tracks of the kids visible in 3 colours. The zoom in is impressive , too!

In Garmin Connect, this is what the .gpx file uploaded to look like The zoom in on the track stops before you see it up close, but the other data could be useful in analysis.

I see a lot of potential uses for this in PE. As @DrAshCasey and @jaytrevaskis  suggested earlier, tracking positional play in game situations is one use. If it were possible, I’d like to put one inside a ball to track and analyse its progress around a field too.

The next step will be to get the kids to understand the interface and become confident users of the devices. ( I wouldn’t say I was an expert yet, but I’m getting better).

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Tags: engagement, GPS, tracking .

My tilt at gaming theory engagement in PE

Posted on February 27, 2011 by Brendan Jones Posted in teacherstuff .

As most PE teachers would agree, you can never quite get all kids active in the one lesson. It might be that some kids don’t like the activity, its too hot, too cold etc etc. I guess its always been my quest to get everyone involved and engaged in the work that we do in class.

Recently I’ve initiated something in our school’s Year 10 HPE classes that I see as a 21st Century approach to this challenge.

I had read a question in a thread in the DET Yammer feed asking about a rewards system to record and display positive behaviour.

This got me thinking. I’d seen positive behaviour charts work to engage and motivate students. Why couldn’t it be ramped up, 21st Century style,to include gaming based rewards and get it to work in HPE lessons as well?

The birth and growth of the concept was done in a 21st Century way too. The foundations were laid in a collaborative Google Doc, where HPE teachers (worldwide as it happens) were invited to contribute to a list of possible achievement levels or badges that could be awarded in PE lessons. The link for that embryonic document is here.

To make it an achievement based strategy, the progression path had to be established. This I took to Twitter again, and then to my staff, the people who would be making it work. The discussion draft of the Achievement Levels and Badges looked like this.

The poster we made to advertise the scheme and put around the school looks like this

The teacher record sheets, where the achievements are marked off, look like this.

We will award small badges and certificates to mark the achievements and levels.

The measure of success with this scheme will be two fold, we hope. Apart from marks (which we have to collect), I’m looking for anectodal and hard evidence that kids are motivated to engage more generally with PE lessons. Whether that’s because of  the sense of achievement provided by the scheme, or otherwise, I endeavour to determine that by surveying the kids.

I’ll admit, staff are cautious in their expectations (read – dubious it will work). But I’m willing to bet it will get more than a few in. It’s early days yet, but if the interest already amongst the kids is anything to go by, exciting times could be ahead. I’ll keep you posted.

What do you think? Is there a place for gaming based strategies in PE?

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Tags: 21st Century, activity, engagement, Gaming, GBL, HPE .

GPS dataloggers in PE

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Brendan Jones Posted in teacherstuff .

Recently I bought some MainNav MG600 GPS dataloggers, initially to add some interest to my Yr 10 Physical Activity and Sport Studies (PASS) class.

They are pretty cheap and relatively easy to use (the interface is a bit clunky, but OK once you get used to it). I believe they have a lot of potential in the many aspects of the PE courses and other physical activity experiences we offer at school.
Today in class, as a test, I had one of the students wear the unit and then got him to move around on our school oval. I got one of his mates to watch him and draw his path on paper as well. I will reveal the analogue and digital versions of the tracking in our next theory lesson. The students were already curious as to how the datalogger would perform. I’m looking forward to an interesting discussion.

The software that comes with the unit acts as a download interface.

The interface also allows you to immediately see the downloaded data in Google Maps (with an internet connection)

You can zoom in as far as you want.

You can then save the GPS data in .gpx format (which works in Garmin Connect) or .kml which works in Google Earth (see below)

As you can see, he didn’t move much (doh!), but it tracked his path. Our next test will be to use all of the available units on players in a touch footy game and track their movements for analysis later.

From what I’ve seen so far, you can upload multiple tracks from multiple students to Google Earth.  Initially, the uploaded tracks would all be the same colour (by default). This issue is solved (I understand)  by manually changing the colour of the individual tracks once you upload them. All this will be trialled and tested over the next few weeks by the kids and I.

As I said, it started out as a way to make my PASS course more engaging, and allowing the kids to use use technology in a sport environment, in the way they see elite athletes using technology (Gator Tracker, for instance). The conversations won’t just be limited to what has already been recorded, but could be about how to improve movement around the field too. The GPS data analysis opportunities are exciting.
I now see many more possibilities as well – creating bushwalk tracks, cycling routes and maps for our school Cross Country course, for instance. The kids could borrow them and create physical activity maps of the local area. As we discover and create applications, I’ll share our experiences.

My thanks go to Jay Trevaskis (@jaytrevaskis) and @igitdog for the great conversation about using GPS in class after a bike ride at Ourimbah. The chat about your plans for the same sort of gear inspired me. Sorry if I stole any thunder!

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Tags: engagement, Google Earth, GPS .

Serendipitous critiquing in a PE lesson

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Brendan Jones Posted in teacherstuff .

NSW DET Drug Prevention Programs / ANYPT

 

A larger than normal group of kids not changed for practical lessons required a plan to keep them occupied on meaningful work. It ended up being a great discussion lesson, using technology to make it engaging, instant and stimulating.

Off to a room we went, me carrying a laptop and a copy of the Critics Choice resource, available to all NSW DET schools. The Critics Choice is a series of TV ads designed to stimulate thought on being a non smoker, or not being a smoker at all. Ads from around the world are critiqued by students on their effectiveness in making people think about the consequences of smoking. Up to 24th September 2010, the students could have submitted their critiques for a chance to win a competition.

In this lesson, I played the ads on the IWB at the front of the room. I used Excel to create a simple table to track the votes for each ad. While the DVD played, each student rated and voted with on how effective the ads were, as they saw them. A student team counted the votes, and collated them on the spreadsheet. They then created charts that graphically reflected the views of the students.

All the while, the students were critiquing and questioning what they saw, why the ads used the various techniques, the effectiveness of these techniques as well as beginning to formulate ideas on why people were affected by certain forms of images rather than others.

For the record, the Yr 10 students believed that ads highlighting  personal consequences (lung cancer, tracheotomy etc) had a stronger effect than ads trying to use reason. One comment was “if that stuff happens to you, that’s worse that what happens to someone else”.

All this in a make up lesson for non participants.

How can you blend traditional forms of audio-visual presentations with analysis resulting in deeper understanding for students? Feel free to leave a comment.

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Tags: critique, engagement .

BlogEd and mobile phones

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Brendan Jones Posted in teacherstuff .

Term 2 – Week 9.

Assessment for our junior school is over, reports are more or less put to bed, so what better time to give something new a run.

BlogEd (for those of you outside NSW) is the Department of Education & Training (DET) sponsored blog platform provided to all teachers and students. My motivation for tinkering was twofold – I wanted to explore an easy technology “buy in” for my classes that was a little less “daunting” than Moodle*, and secondly I had volunteered to present a Professional Learning session on BlogEd at our next Staff Development Day at the beginning of Term 3, so I needed some practise!

(* The reaction of my students to Moodle has been puzzling. Many complain that it is too difficult to use! I suspect that they are (sadly) not as motivated as I to move to digital classrooms; that the rush from having very little technology in the classroom to the veritable feast available now has overwhelmed them more than we anticipated)

The night before, I created a Class blog (which I sadly cannot share because it is classified Private inside the DET Portal), with a simple post welcoming the kids, outlining some expectations I had of them and another post providing some links to resources that explained what blogging was.

A third post called “Let’s Play!” described a simple task designed to push their skills with technology.

I already knew that all my students had Bluetooth enabled mobile phones with built in cameras (a sign of the times!). The task required the students to spend some time outside the room and take a picture of something that spoke of “health” to them. They also had to be prepared to explain the image’s significance in a post on our new blog.

This task meant they had to:

  1. Shoot the image
  2. Bluetooth the image to their DER laptop
  3. upload the image to their media file in BlogEd
  4. Post on the blog, inserting the image into their post

Immediately the dynamic of the class changed. I spent the rest of the lesson guiding the kids through the steps, helping when needed, moderating posts and feedback. The moderation was done on a screen out the front of the room so the kids could see the process, and this was powerful because they saw first hand that they were identifiable and accountable for their actions on the site.

Almost every kid in the class asked at the beginning of the lesson “what are we going to use this for”. By the end of the lesson, they were suggesting uses.

The best thing for me was that I now have a new tool, with boundless opportunities (mostly suggested by the kids) to engage my class.

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Tags: BlogEd, engagement, mobile phones .

It’s like algebra…

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Brendan Jones Posted in teacherstuff .

I’ve been meaning to reflect on the Staff Development Day (SDD) that took place on our first day back in Term 2, but the impending departure of the Jones collective overseas has left me with too few spare moments to sit down and write.

When the focus for the SDD was revealed at our executive meeting, I groaned inwardly. Quality Teaching and coding of example lessons were to be the main thrust of the day. I didn’t groan because I didn’t think it was important, for indeed I do. I believe that the quest for quality teaching is an admirable (indeed essential) cause for modern teachers, and an ongoing one.

My greatest fear was of  the impression that many teachers have of the QT framework. Whilst many, if not all, of the teachers I know are aware of what the QT Framework is all about, many worry about not KNOWING it. Like kids cramming for an exam, they make the mistake of trying to know ALL of it. I’ve never tried to know it all. I’ve cherry picked what I think are the kernels at the center of QT, tried a few things and watched what happened. I was worried that as soon as QT was mentioned, the pooh poohing would start.

I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, the day was quite good in one particular way, and that was when cross curricular groups were formed and we reflected on a lesson that we regarded as our “best lesson ever”. It was great to hear of what worked in lessons, as they were all good news stories. I shamelessly plugged a Laptop Wrap that I had designed, partly because it did engage a hard-to-engage class, but also because I wanted to introduce to the group, as a captive audience, the possibility that  tech was a viable engagement option.

One thing that became apparent was that Core subjects with external exams in the junior school (English, Maths, Science & HSIE) were caught between the rock that is external credentialing and the hard place of making examinable work engaging and significant. Many spoke of loving to have the time to ‘play and have fun’, but a definite timeline of teaching, assessment and exams didn’t allow them to stray too far off course for the exams. During my talk on the Laptop Wrap is spoke about how I could make it engaging because the work was posited in the real world, and had the kids create real world projects. To me, that significance leads to Deep Knowledge and Deep Understanding.

“But you don’t have external exams to prepare for” said the Maths guy. “Its’ like algebra…” he said. “Try to tell a kid they’ll use that in the real world, and they can’t see it, but its in the exam”.

This raised some issues for me:

  • Striking a balance between exam preparation and engagement leading to Deeper Knowledge or Understanding is crucial for both students and teachers.
  • How can teachers (and for that case, their employers) maximise the effectiveness of teaching 21st Century students, when they subscribe to 20th century ideals of format and structure
  • And how do you put algebra in the real world?

I still reckon that last one is the toughest!

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Tags: engagement, pedagogy, Quality teaching .

Gaming linked to learning authenticity

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Brendan Jones Posted in Uncategorized .

In the near future, my family and I will be going on a trip to Italy. During our conversations about what we would like to do and see there, my eldest son had a request about our visit to Florence. He began to rattle off names of landmarks and historical figures associated with Florence and the Renaissance and his desire to see these places or relics of these people. My wife and I were intrigued. “Was this stuff you’ve learned about at school” we enquired?

No he replied – he’d  found out about it when he was playing the game “Assassin’s Creed 2”.

He then walked us through the game (the first time we had really paid attention to it – prior to this we  regarded it as no more than just a time consuming obsession for him). Sure enough, the Renaissance version of Florence was laid out  in amazing detail – The Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, The Palazzo Vecchio and the statue of David in the Piazza della Signoria, outside the building known as the Uffizi gallery.

We then more or less planned a  walking tour for our holiday by walking through the game!

This led me to wondering – there must be plenty of games that have real life application to our classrooms. That’s not to say that we play them in class – Assassin’s Creed is very violent and would not be suitable in a school environment.

But surely, if there are games that add authenticity and engagement to the material we deliver, I think for some hard to engage learners they could be a great “buy in” for our lessons.

I’d be interested to hear of game recommendations from you, especially in PE.

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Tags: authentic, engagement, games, PE .

A shoebox full of crap..or the answer?

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Brendan Jones Posted in teacherstuff .

I’ve been madly saving bookmarks of sites that I think I could use for my kids at school, but all I think I’ve created is a shoebox full of crap (that everyone has somewhere).

I’ve recently asked myself  “What is going to work with my students when my lessons involve technology/Web 2.0+ tools in the near future?” Moodle has exploded at my school and IWBs are commonly used, but what instruments can I use that will engage and extend my students in a meaningful way so that their learning is enhanced without the whole exercise becoming a vacuous window dressing exercise?

Blogs and Wikis require commitment. I need more variety than creating presentations, or comics or animations. Video creating and editing needs some level of assumed knowledge, technology and expertise. Or perhaps a little of all I’ve just mentioned will provide the variety and stimulation for my students.

Right then…time to sift through the shoebox…

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Tags: engagement, instruments, meaningful, tools .
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