INFOgraphic | Gamification

Tweet

What is Gamification?	Gamification enhances the student learning experience by incorporating gaming elements into instructional materials.
How is gamification different than game-based learning?	In gamification, you apply gaming mechanisms that encourage and stimulate students to learn. On the other hand, in game-based learning, students learn from playing games. Gamification essentially is about encouraging a behavior from your students while game-based learning is about presenting content in a game format.
Where is gamification used?	Gamification is used in any area that uses e-learning and training to teach. So, gamification can be used on any audience that is learning a concept. Common examples can be found in education, healthcare, IT training, sports, law, and government.
When should you use gamification?	It depends on the audience and the subject matter. Use gamification techniques to motivate, challenge and engage students. Also use gamification techniques to help students track their progress and to reward them for progress AND completion.
How can you easily use gamification?	Letter grades, points and kudos are the easiest form of gamification. Incorporating gamification involves creating any reward system that encourages students to do an action.

  

References

Davis, V. (2014). Gamification in Education. Edutopia. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamification-in-education-vicki-davis. Retrieved 20 October 2014. 

Gamification vs. Game-Based eLearning: Can You Tell the Difference? ELearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/gamification-vs-game-based-elearning-can-you-tell-the-difference. Retrieved 20 October 2015.

Isaacs, S. (2015). The Difference Between Gamification and Game-Based Learning. ASCD in Service. http://inservice.ascd.org/the-difference-between-gamification-and-game-based-learning/. Retrieved 20 October 2014

The Difference Between Gamification and Game-Based Learning. TeachThought. http://teachthought.com/learning/difference-gamification-game-based-learning/ Retrieved 20 October 2014.

INFOgraphic | Learning about learning theories

Tweet

So, what is the big deal about learning theories?

If you are a teacher, course writer, instructional designer, technology coordinator, why should you care about learning theories? The answer is that theory is what grounds your work.  It is the why behind what we do. Having knowledge of learning theories is equivalent to putting more tools in your toolbox. So, be proactive and learn as much as you can about the various learning theories listed below.

INFOgraphic | What are instructional technology people talking about?

Tweet

Being a technology and information consultant as well as a teacher affords me the opportunity to work alongside of many in the world of instructional technology. Instructional Technology (I.T.) people talk about learning, design and technology. So, what topics are they talking about?

NEWS | New Section | INFOgraphic

Tweet

Keeping you update with education research around the Web!

I have some great news. I'm starting a new section entitled INFOgraphics! This will give me a chance to share some really quick tidbits of information with you. Specifically, I will include news about the world of online education, instructional design, instructional technology and educational media. I'll also share these INFOgraphics on my social media accounts from Google+ and Pinterest so that you can view all of them at the same time.

Looking forward to sharing more with you!

Instructional Design for Teachers | Conducting an Analysis of Your Students as Learners (Part 2 of 2)

Tweet

My previous article, Instructional Design for Teachers | Analyzing Your Student as Learner discussed analyzing your student as a learner. This article looks at the meaning of analyzing your students and what you, as a teacher, get from doing this.  We will discuss the challenges of analyzing your students and easy methods to use for this process.

Instructional Design for Teachers | Analyzing Your Student as Learner (Part 1 of 2)

Tweet

As teachers we create a great deal of learning material for our students. For courses, we find ourselves creating midterms, final exams, learning activities, homework assignments, final projects, handouts, lectures, screencasts, slide presentations, learning modules, websites, practice sheets, etc. We may create these things from scratch or by selecting from a myriad of resources such as a textbook, test bank, PowerPoint slides, websites, or digital libraries.

Simple C.R.A.P. Test for Your Online Courses (POSTER)

Tweet

When creating online content and developing online course materials for your students, you should make sure that they follow good design principles.

The C.R.A.P. is a checklist that can help you gauge the visual impact that your material has on its audience. The acronym C.R.A.P. stands for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity for short. These are important design elements that should be considered when creating online content on your school's LMS, on your website or company's intranet. For details on each element and how it relates to your online content, read my previous article HERE.
So, when you are doing content development, make sure that all of your online course content passes the C.R.A.P. test. 

Click to download the poster.

3 Tools for Creating Online Course Activities

Tweet

Image: WikiMedia Commons

Oftentimes, teachers who develop courses online,
find it difficult to gauge WHAT and HOW MANY activities
they should include in their courses.

Many college-level teachers have no formal training in education or background in teaching. For instance, many adjunct teachers come from professional careers after many years and then start teaching online. It is assumed that they would automatically know how to design a course, develop course activities and deliver them in an engaging way to students. So, many teachers are left to figure out how to do this all on their own.