As a middle school teacher in this unprecedented time, I am constantly searching for resources that would be both interactive and engaging for my students. As I am writing this, I recognized that there are a lot of resources out there and can be overwhelming. It was not so long ago that I thought planning out awesome lessons was a drag and while it is satisfying when I see that my students enjoyed the lessons, it is nevertheless cumbersome. Back to today’s climate where I am not only planning my lesson but must make sure that they are interactive, engaging and they are learning from the materials. I find the different resources thrown at me to be a bit too much and at times wondered when it all is going to stop. The great news is that now we are in November and I feel confident to say that there are three go-to resources that I would highly recommend, which are: Nearpod, Quizzizz, and Gimkit. The resource that I am going to talk about in this blog is Gimkit. Gimkit is fun, interactive, engaging and most importantly it allows the teachers to access where the students are with the lessons that were just taught.
Interactive and Engaging
Many teachers are experiencing anxiety as they are trying to plan interactive and engaging as they are navigating through hybrid or virtual learning. Some may ask, “why the anxiety?” and much of it comes from a place that we teachers all want to do right by our students despite these circumstances. Some may believe that learning is learning, and it is nothing we can control, there is still a sense of responsibility on teachers' part to make sure that students are still learning. Studies have shown that students learn better when their lessons are interactive and engaging.
Gamification
Recent studies have shown that gamification strategies are much more effective in interactive and engaging. Many of the recent educational models used to engage motivation is now using gamification to teach students. Gamification uses game design elements, such as leaderboards, badges, constant feedback, and points (Pirker, Gutl, & Riffnaller-Schiefer, 2019) to engage the students. What is amazing with this tool is that it pushes the students to compete with one another. This is where many of these new gaming instructional tools come in.
Quizzes and Gimkit are two that are very popular right now among teachers. They both allow teachers to input the questions and answers to which the system generates them in a game like fashion when the students signed into the game. Both games allow the students to see the leaderboard and how each of their classmates is doing. While Quizzizz is free for use and you can pay for an upgraded version if you want to save a massive number of quizzes in your library, Gimkit requires payment regardless.
What sets Gimkit from the other online resources is that it creates more of a game that allows for the students to win “money” to buy towards additional chances or skip the question. This type of game understands how students will respond and how it would motivate them. One of the major challenges is the balance of presenting abstract concepts and interactive assignments. Also, attracting students with different learning styles is a challenging task. Having an adaptive teaching model helps in changing teaching speed and style accordingly, but also requires a customizable model for the course content (Pirker, Gutl, & Riffnaller-Schiefer, 2019).
Conclusion
One would argue why would you want to pay for this program and the answer is quite simple – to further motivate the students and something different to use to engage them. As we are staying in this virtual learning mode, it is important to find different ways to engage our students. While it is not necessary to utilize every resource and program out there, it is important to know what is available that can be implemented easily.
References
Pirker, J., Gutl, C., & Riffnaller-Schiefer, M. (2019, March 17). Motivational Active Learning – Engaging University Students in Computer Science Education. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from researchgate.net/profile/Johanna_Pirker/publication/261674921_Motivational_Active_Learning_-_Engaging_University_Students_in_Computer_Science_Education/links/5a37f4f9458515919e71e0e6/Motivational-Active-Learning-Engaging-University-Students-in-Computer-Science-Education.pdf
Curiosity:
Curiosity is helpful in the learning process. Educational games such as GimKit develops child’s curiosity and is based on facts. Technology is constantly being introduced to technology. Gimkit can be used to reinforce learning. There is an option for students to create quizzes and collaborate. Collaborations is an opportunity for students to learn from one another and allows students to think about what they wanted to learn as well as what they did learn. Questions can be a starting place for students to get engaged in learning. In using Gimkit students are able to do just that. Giving students money for correct answers encourages them along the way (Engel, 2013). With the options to use rewards for assistance, the…
Game show with Learning Strategies Blog
Gimkit is a fun interactive gameshow that makes learning exciting and engaging. One of its features is that it allows students to collab with each other and create questions that the teacher can either approve or disapprove.
In the book Trend and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (4th ed.) by Robert A. Reiser and John V. Dempsey, they explain the different strategies for motivation in volition found in chapter 9. Listed below are the three concepts that I will discuss pertaining to this blog.
Aroused Curiosity: Teachers use a variety of teaching tools to engage and keep the students attention. In the video one of the pros of Gimkit is teachers have the…
The great outcome
Nothing has done more to limit when “learners anticipate and experience satisfying outcomes to a learning task” (Reiser and Dempsey, 2018, pg. 83) than this pandemic. Also, I don’t think people are taking into account the idea that teachers feel the pains of failure when our students fail many times. I work at a Title 1 school so I know all about students struct with an issue so much bigger than school, yet school is the answer they can not see. Sometimes life is bigger than pedagogy. I have to wonder if there are any books written about teaching in war times. This whole situation is way more like a silent war where no shots are fire…
Case Study Blog Response: Integrated Motivation
In Chapter 9: Motivation, Volition, and Performance of the textbook Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018), authors Keller and Deimann look closely at the concept of motivation as it relates to learner engagement. By creating a user centered experience, the instructional designer can set the user up for success by employing the five main concepts of motivation: curiosity, perceived meaningfulness, potential success, satisfying outcomes, and finally, use of volition tactics.
Keywords: motivation, volition, instructional design, user experience, learner engagement
Response to Game Show with Learning
GimKit is an educational, game show style computer program that allows users to practice skills in a fun, interactive platform. It uses severa…
GAME SHOW WITH LEARNING
In the book, Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (4th ed.), by Robert A. Reiser and John V. Dempsey, John M. Keller and Markus Deimann (2018), discuss different strategies for motivation and volition in chapter 9. Discussed in the chapter are different methods of motivational and volitional strategies to engage the learner and empower the instructional designer. Capturing a learner’s attention initially is easy. keeping their attention is a tricky and challenging aspect. Here are three methods that can assist in that journey.
1. Arousing Curiosity
“Curiosity is aroused by uncertainty or a desire to close a perceived gap in one’s knowledge due to such things as unanswered questions or unresolved conflicts” (Reiser, Dempsey.…