Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Week Three: Reflections on "The Game Elements for Learning" Micro-MOOC 2013

This is the last week of the Game Elements for Learning micro-mooc designed and held on Canvas.net by the Micro-MOOC Masters (see below). This is the time for the feedback and reflection. We were given several opportunities and ways to reflect and share the learning experience in GE4L course.

My Reflections on the course learning outcomes:

It was an interesting and challenging experience. I enjoyed taking challenges and sharing my experience with the learners on the ways I used game elements and plan to gamify my courses. 
I studied the provided on the course site, explored on my own, and bookmarked tons of resources about game-based learning, gamification; I learned and had a chance to interact with the experienced gamers Gerol PetruzellaPete Rorabaugh and Jesse Stommel  with their Twitter vs Zombies (Hybrid Pedagogy), watched TED videos with Tom Chatfield and Jane McGonigal, I read the blogs of the game-based learning supporters. I learned another LMS platform, Canvas, and realized how I love designing my courses with Moodle. I can't wait to see the upgrade of our current Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.5 that supports gamification elements -- point system, badges, leaderboards, etc.
I truly enjoyed weekly twitterchats with the game design experts and our MOOC masters, and the course-mates who were sharing their insights and more resources. 
This course encouraged the learners to search for games, web tools, research tools and literature and promoted our collective intelligence on the topics of the course and engaged us in collaboration, creative sharing and new ideas' exchange.
I realized that I am a poor test taker. My entrance course quiz results were better than the final quiz results. I am not trained in taking multiple choice tests. That's why I do not use MC tests in my courses, I use them only for students' self-learning (I invite students to visit the course textbook  site and take the chapters' test). Teacher candidates complete the tests for their own check for understanding purposes and reflect on what they have learned  in the course designing the digital artifacts and adding them to their course blogs.
I had a better time creating the Game Elements for Learning QR treasure hunt on the course concepts and shared it on the Canvas forum. I also shared my ideas of how to use twitter capabilities in my future course in the fall. 
Here what I wrote:
"I am thinking of using TweenTribune (based on Twitter conceptfor my Methods of Social Studies classes. Future teachers will participate in reading the news and posting their comments on TweenTribune.  A reward system will be designed for posting a certain number of comments on the site and for the feedback on other posts; badges/certificates will be created for the masters of the TweenTribune news for the best posts, for the best feedback, for the comments on the children's posts or other TweenTribune achievements."
And immediately got a response from Michelle Pacansky-Brock



I am just so excited that you shared this site with me -- what a great, collaborative project. Student-generated news. I love it! I'm going to make this the homepage on my family's computer.
I can see how your game will incentivize participation on the site. Great idea to get future teachers involved, Ludmila.
Michelle
Thank you Michelle for the feedback and all masters for all your encouragement throughout the GE4L mooc.

 Kudos to the Mooc masters for designing and facilitating the course during these intense 4 weeks of July. It was a rewarding learning experience!


Academic Partnerships (AP) is a leading higher education service provider working exclusively with public universities in the United States and outstanding higher education institutions around the world to help them benefit from this global phenomenon. “The great enabler today in higher education is online learning which vastly expands access to our partner institutions,” says Randy Best, founder and chairman of Academic Partnerships. “We are helping public universities transition to a much more inclusive and sustainable model.”

The Academic Services and Learning Technologies team, led by Chief Academic Officer Dr. Charles Green, is focused on providing value through research, development, and innovation that benefits our partner faculty and students. We future-proof Academic Partnerships with new models for delivery, new technology tools, compelling mobile applications, and the design and development of learning communities that position AP as a global thought leader in higher education.
The Academic Partnerships’ (AP) Faculty eCommons is  a social learning “ecosystem” for faculty across the globe to learn, collaborate and share research about effective online teaching and learning. The eCommons offers research, guidance, professional development, and national quality standards to assist faculty in preparation and evaluation of their online courses and programs.
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Robin Bartoletti is the Director of Online Quality and Community at Academic Partnerships. Ms. Bartoletti manages and administers the Faculty eCommons and other related projects. Robin is experienced in K-12 and university-level distance education. Prior to working as an instructional designer, Ms. Bartoletti was a faculty member teaching Master's Level educational technology and information science at Northeastern State University and the University of North Texas. She was recently selected as a research fellow at TheTexas Social Media Research Institute (TSMRI). She has presented at national conferences on the topics of online education, quality in course design, social media and many others. Ms. Bartoletti has a master’s Degree in Information Science from the University of North Texas, Post Masters Certification in Digital Content Management and is a PhD candidate at Texas Woman’s University.
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Whitney Kilgore is the Vice President of Academic Services at Academic Partnerships.  Ms. Kilgore more than 10 years of experience in educational technology leadership in both Higher Education and K-12.  She has made numerous presentations around the country on topics such as: retention, mobile technology, engaging learners, and expanding your personal learning network.  She has co-facilitated numerous MOOCs (Engaging Technology and Online Pedagogy, Learning Open Educational Resources, and Instructional Design for Mobile Learning). She is a member of the Sloan Consortium, EDUCAUSE, and is a Quality Matters certified peer reviewer. Ms. Kilgore received a post-graduate certificate in Educational Technology Leadership from George Washington University, and holds a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A & M Corpus Christi. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Learning Technologies at the University of North Texas.

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Dr. Kaulbach has been in the education industry for twenty three years. Experiences in education include: Educational Consultant, University Director of Internships, University Instructional Specialist, University Director of Faculty Training, University Instructional Associate, and University Adjunct Professor. She has presented at numerous conferences and has served on university-wide committees including: University Accreditation Committee, University Curriculum Redesign Committee, University Rubric Development Committee, Representative for a university at the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR), and a Representative for a university at the Illinois State Teacher Certification Board (STCB). Dr. Kaulbach is interested in research that focuses on improving the student experience in adult learning environments. She is specifically interested in strength-based education that allows students opportunities to learn in their desired mode of instruction with an emphasis on their preferred learning style, while infusing technology into the online curriculum.
Heather Farmakis, Ph.D has extensive experience in professional development, distance learning and online instructional design. Dr. Farmakis is an adjunct professor at Lynn University where she currently teaches graduate courses in technology. For over 10 years, she has worked for the School District of Palm Beach County. Dr. Farmakis has conducted extensive research resulting in her dissertation titled "Investigating the Impact of E-Learner Cognitive Style on the Predictive Value of Student Success in Online Distance Education Courses". Dr. Farmakis currently serves on many dissertation committees assisting doctoral candidates in their topic. She has presented at national and state conferences on professional development and online learning.  She is the author of iLearn: Tips and Tricks for Online Learners.


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Michelle Pacansky-Brock is a noted college educator and online faculty development specialist.  Michelle has received two Sloan-C awards for her online teaching effectiveness and has spoken nationally at conferences and faculty development engagements. Currently, Michelle is Director of Academic Services at Academic Partnerships, online Associate Faculty at Mt. San Jacinto College, and is completing her EdD in Educational Leadership and Management on a full, merit-based scholarship at Capella University. She is also the author of Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies .
     
Thank you!

July is winding down. I have to design a new course and add it to Moodle. For the first time I will teach Psychology of Learning and definitely game-based learning will be one of the topics and I will add the game elements to the course. I will also have to upgrade the syllabus of the Teaching Methods of Social Studies course. I will be teaching two sections of it in the fall.  I plan to gamify them as well. I teach the courses for elementary school teachers and feel that this is a great time for developing kids' imagination, creativity and collaborative skills. I plan to play a lot in my classes. I am inspired and equipped!
Off to work on the courses design! 

1 comment:

Robin said...

Ludmilla, Thanks you so much for your reflection! We divided the course up so facilitators could always be available and and hopefully make the course very interactive. The key to this MOOC has been the participation of educators like you, who have made the course what it is. There is so much rich information and sharing occuring in the course I wish everyone were in it. Karma points to you, too for your blog posts!