It has been a long time coming in anticipation to be able to start a podcast for the Tomorrow Teacher. Our goal is to bring forth topics to highlight new innovations in educational culture and to start a new revolution of empowered educators ready to take on the future of this industry. In my brief experience as an international educator, I have had an opportunity to meet some of the best schools and educators around the world. One common thread is still that there are not enough educators that are ready for the future. It seems that we are now recognizing new discoveries, methods, and concepts and in theory, we are attempting to talk about it and expect results in those areas. The problem is the how? The what?...and you know what's next.
Our goal here at the Tomorrow Teacher is to be the bridge that connects the future to the present. In this first episode, we discuss engagement, and motivation through the lens of gamification. Gamification is definitely not a new concept but it has yet to take full steam ahead in the classroom. We discuss how this concept really cultivates a lot of necessary skills that we would love for either our students to learn or to pick up along their journey inside and outside the classroom. Unfortunately, the students are not particularly picking it up.
For example, we teach our children to eat a well-balanced meal to obtain the correct nutrients to survive. Now essentially this could happen if the eater is intent on eating right, but that is definitely not always the case. So then when there is a lack of nutrients we begin to give our children supplements such as vitamin C, D, etc. However, this is not always effective either because children would likely not enjoy swallowing pills. So then let's get some vitamin gummies. All of a sudden the kids are now reminding you that they need their "vitamins". Now kids are receiving their nutrients and also enjoying the treat as well to the point that they are asking for it. That is the function and idea of Gamification. It's the vitamin gummy.
In this podcast, we highlight "The 4 Stages of Play" which comes from an article from Plush & Nuggets described by Scot Osterweil from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Bernard Murray (@artofharkness) is an international educator who is an avid user who campaigns for gamification in education. We had a very candid conversation about engagement and how gamification can be a bridge to connect ultimate engagement in the classroom. I hope you enjoy it!
Please check out my Innovation Plan for more information on how I plan to implement this concept further.