Games Based Learning MOOC

Please take a second and check this out. My attempt at an introduction to the gamification of my World Geography class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bum2zKn8l4&feature=plcp

I thought the explanation of what you were doing was well-done, made me want to go with you. Liked the visuals and the music. Made me want to join. My only comment would be it might be too long at over two minutes, all my students have "short attention span theater" minds, but they are adults, wanting to get on with their tasks, if you are K-12 this is great. I expect this will also just by accidental design, get more girls interested in world geography . Thanks for letting me see it.

I thought it was engaging. I am a grownup so the time was ok with me :-) I do tend to agree with Grasshopper's note about time however.

Have you sketched out how the quest will play out? Are you thinking of a brief handout might have in hand while watching? Will this be shown to the entire class on a projector or will it be online for them to view as individuals or small groups?

#6466237 christopher wrote:

Have you sketched out how the quest will play out? Are you thinking of a brief handout might have in hand while watching? Will this be shown to the entire class on a projector or will it be online for them to view as individuals or small groups?

Age is primarily 9th graders, so I think it will be okay on the time for them. I suspect they will be interested in how I created it as well, so that's another hook I intend to throw in. Most of these kids have never seen anything like this as far as school is concerned. As for the quest, I've actually sketched out the levels based on the required grade level expectations and what we will be covering. I definitely will have a handout as it will be the course syllabus. As for the initial showing, I intend to project it on the Smartboard but I will also post it online for them to view individually if they like.

GrannieTech

This is a very interesting concept. From a student's point of view, I would say that the time is probably okay, but I have a few suggestions:

1. The video could use some additional animation. The video consistes entirely of an idle animation with a voiceover. If possible, the character should be emphatic with gestures at certain points, to punctuate just how important this mission is to the survival of her species. This would also help to keep attention in general.

2. There are a couple of moments where the animation "snaps back" to what appears to be the beginning of a loop. This is distracting, and believe me when I say students will notice such things. If the animation is fleshed out more as I suggest in my first point, it should also take care of this one. :)

3. The background music is a bit too loud. The volume of the music should never compete with the volume of the speaker. There were a few moments where I had difficulty hearing what the speaker was saying. This takes some tweaking and experimentation (I've fought with this in the past), but it makes a very large difference and may even cut back on class time spent with questions.

4. This one is a bit of a nitpick, but if it's possible, I'd hide the floating name. It takes away from the immersion a bit. ;)

Hope this helps!

Thanks Hawkye. I agree totally with all of your points, because I noted every one of them myself. I was sort of in a rush so I only spent a couple of hours on it to get it up in the forum quickly in order to get feedback on the idea because our first day of class is next Monday. I definitely will tweak this to improve the quality and the experience, but it may have to wait until the next group.

Great review!
GrannieTech