Hi Spielbound audience! I recently interviewed an accomplished colleague in education about how he perceives the use of games for learning opportunities. The interview has been split into two parts, each with a theme. In this first part, Andrew will describe two broad categories in which games can be used to enhance classroom experiences. He will also recommend some resources that teachers can investigate for options and inspiration.
Andrew Easton –
Personalized Learning Coordinator for Westside Community Schools (photo by Bill Sitzman, permission granted to use this
photo by A. Easton)
Interview Part One:
Michael Fryda:
Andrew, thank you so much for joining me in sharing some of the ways that you've been involved with games-based
learning and gamification in your classroom. Could you describe your current role as an educator at Westside Community
Schools?
Andrew Easton:
Yeah. I currently serve Westside Community Schools as a personalized learning collaborator, which is certainly a
mouthful. I don't really know if I have an elevator pitch together to give you my job description in 30 seconds, but I
will say that you can call me a brainstormer, someone who really meets with teachers before school, after school,
during their plan periods as individuals or with teams. And we try to envision how to start to personalize. I find
myself wearing a lot of different hats and leveraging technology pretty consistently across all of those as the
resources that we have today really go a long way towards helping educators achieve those goals, fostering agency in
our learners through personalized practices.
Michael Fryda:
Can you describe for the Spielbound audience what games-based learning is and what you see to be the big advantages of
this particular hat that we could put on?
Andrew Easton:
Yeah. I would sort of say this breaks down into two conversations. Gamification, which is where you're going to take a
typical game show and just lay it over what you're doing, and fill it with the content that you're doing in class for
that game. So if you've ever played Jeopardy in your class, that's an example of gamification, where we're just gonna
take my questions and put it in this system. Games-based learning is different in the sense that it will ask you to
learn by playing the game, that the game itself is part of the learning process.
Are there crossovers? Absolutely. Sometimes it's very difficult to define the line between those two. But the aspects of any given game that fit into that one bucket or the other really is where you start to parcel out, "Well, yeah, this is maybe more of a game-based learning experience that has gamification elements." You could have a conversation like that. But games-based learning is something I've definitely advocated for, because it's engaging in a way that helps really enrich the learning experience.
Michael Fryda:
You’ve taken inspiration from a lot of places as well. You've become involved in a national conversation about
games-based learning. Who are some examples of educators who post regularly on social media about games-based learning
that our readers should go check out?
Andrew Easton:
My first exposure to gamification or games in education on that national scale came at ISTE during 2016, which is the
International Society for Technology in Education. It's a national conference that takes place once a year, and it is
probably the biggest, or certainly one of the biggest conferences. And I was really fortunate to be there and speak
with Steven Isaacs. Steven Isaacs, that year, was the Teacher of the Year for ISTE.
And in some dialogue with him, he heard my vision I guess for game-based learning in an English classroom, and suggested that I reach out to, or at least read the blog of Paul Darvasi. And Paul is an English teacher in Ontario in an all-boys school. He teaches senior English, and he has a lot of ... Well, first of all, he's brilliant when it comes to doing game-based learning experiences. And he does have a lot of autonomy in his particular system to be able to implement these.
He's gone on to do his doctoral work in games in education. It's interesting. His doctoral study dealt with getting students to sign up to play Grand Theft Auto as a part of their school experience, to then take away the themes and social norms and the negative impacts that they could have. And it was interesting to see what he had put together with that.
So he's someone that I would say probably once a year, once or twice a year, I still reach out to. And we'll speak for an hour and just bounce ideas off of one another. But he certainly was instrumental in getting me started towards just the things to think about, and to keep from some of the early pitfalls that he had gone through because of the iterations that he'd had with his game. So I got a chance to build mine, knowing what to at least consider.
From there, I would also recommend checking out "Explore Like a Pirate," which is a book written by Michael Matera. And that is on gamification. So Paul Darvasi's work is much more the game-based learning, and Michael's is that gamification piece. Michael Matera is also brilliant as it pertains to finding ways to gamify just about any and every aspect of a course. And to mix that up, to let it be something that the students create. There's just choices that he will call quests, and there are ways they accrue everything from points to badges to power-ups. It's pretty intricate, and the students have a lot of fun being able to do that.
He has a podcast called "Well PlayED," Play E-D. And that's something I listen to on a weekly basis, and so I would certainly promote getting a chance to learn from him there.
And finally, you and I co-taught, co-led, a Professional Learning Community group on games and education last year, and we were able to have my good friend Tisha Richmond Skype in and talk with our educators about gamification as well. (@tishrich on Twitter)
Tisha and Michael [Matera] have been really good friends for some time, and she has implemented a mixed gamification/game-based learning experience for her students in her culinary class. And so, everything from a food truck race across the country where they have different food challenges, similar to what you might see on a TV show, to just some community-based things where they bring in judges from outside. Very much like what you would see on your standard cooking show-off on television. Those four educators, I think, really are people that have moved the needle for me.
Michael Fryda:
Andrew, thank you so much for taking the time to talk about your passions for game-based learning, and I'm excited to
share this with the readers.
Andrew Easton:
Great. Hope it helps 'em out.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series in which Andrew gives a detailed description of the steps he took to help dystopian literature come alive for his students!