Week 16 - Final Blog Entry

Course Takeaways

The first takeaway is that I have some creativity in me! I personally struggle to feel confident in my design ability; whether it's in the literal artistic drawings, or just lesson design, but through the completion of the assignments within this course and my interactions with my classmates, I feel more confident that I have something unique to offer other educators and students!

Second, resources are out there. Through play testing and general reflection on the multiple of example games we played, I realized there is more free and engaging resources that are available to us educators then we could even imagine! I also learned that the best way to keep up to date on these resources is to collaborate with equally passionate educators.

Finally, gamification is attainable. It's a lot of hard work but it is worth it. The process of designing, testing, and implementing games is time-intensive but I personally think it's the best way to engage students, especially those more reluctant learners.

Proud Accomplishments

My proudest accomplishments within this course have been the prototypes I've created within it! Had I known how much material I was going to produce, test, and reflect on, I would have said, "there's no way I can do it!" but I did it and also came to the realization that I am capable of more then I ever thought. I also realized I am more motivated to create items in which I am personally excited and proud of then I thought as well! My prototypes are not perfect but they got me excited enough about my teaching and professional development that I want to personally finish them and use them in my classroom. I found myself spending more time on the design process of these games then I have ever found myself in other courses.

Paper Prototype: Type Rider - The Deck Builder

Digital Prototype - "Ultrascape"

What Next?

Personally, next I would like to start designing, testing, and implementing games within my classroom on a regular basis. I'd like to start small, maybe do one game I perfect enough to feel extremely good about. While piloting this first game, I want to get feedback from students and colleagues about the game, then modify it based on that feedback. From there, I'd love to start creating games for my classroom (and colleagues classrooms) on a frequent basis. In my ideal world, I'd love all instruction of mine to be able to incorporate some level of gamification. I think gamification is one of the most engaging strategies for reluctant learners and also think through this, I can also get their ideas, which can shape future game design. Another added bonus to this is that designing these games is also fun for me and is also rewarding to watch students legitimately enjoy something I designed!

Revisiting my initial thoughts on "Serious Games"

My philosophy on "Serious Games" has not changed. I still personally believe all games have educational value. It just takes the right person and the right motivation to figure out what purpose the game serves in the educational realm!