Jul 09

8th Grade Year Plan

After planning possible 6th grade activities, I put them into the 3D GameLab (3DGL) interface ready for kids to Beta test in the fall. So far I have 73 quests in several different chains with room for some student choice. The benefit of having no grades is that kids can really pick and choose what …

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Jul 08

Machinima #3dgamelab

What is machinima? It’s defined as, “the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation.” (Wikipedia) In other words you use some kind of screen capture to make a video of you playing a game. You use that video to share …

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Jul 08

Game Addiction #3dgamelab

I have experienced video game addiction. When I first played World of Warcraft (WoW) I was addicted. I was addicted to leveling up and to gaining the next best skill, attribute or ability. With other games if there cheats I would use them. I had to level up, get to the top level and win. …

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Jul 07

Badges, Do We Need Them? #3dgamelab

Not sure, jury’s still out on that one for me. In my brief, 22 year career, I’ve tried incentives such as grades, stickers, beans in a jar, lotto tickets, class money, awards all the way to abolishing all of those, even the grades. The change to no rewards and punishments worked, but not as well …

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Jul 07

Whole Class vs Individual vs Small Group #3dgamelab

In both my reading of ROLE Reversal and learning how to use the 3D GameLab interface to gamify my classes the concept of student autonomy and choice is very important to create a student-centered experience. Kids need multiple pathways for learning and for demonstrating their learning. That needs to be balanced by the need for …

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Jul 06

Rewards and Gaming #3dgamelab

The idea of badges and achievements in gaming is a problem for teachers who have abolished extrinsic motivators in their classrooms. In 3DGL there is a Badges section, an Achievements section and an Awards section. I’m really conflicted by the awards section because it’s more like rewards than badges and achievements in my eyes. I …

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Jul 06

Elements that Make Games Motivating #3dgamelab

My Glog:

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Jul 05

Make Lessons Attractive #3dgamelab

Make my lessons attractive? I guess that’s something we as teachers are trying, or should be trying, to do for our students. If anything I’ve learned that not all kids are intrinsically motivated to learn the Science I’m teaching. Or they don’t like school and have been trained to become passive in school. Either way, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/05/make-lessons-attractive/

Jul 03

My 6th grade Plan

I’ve been planning for the fall already and I’ve been using a spreadsheet from 3DGL to help organize the activities into quests with XP and achievements. Now I need to get those “quests” into the 3DGL interface for students to start playing (learning)! It’s really helpful to “see” the whole year at a glance. I’ve …

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