My Gamification Passion! Avatars

I transitioned from classroom teacher to Instructional Technology Specialist for my district about three years ago. While I love my new-ish job, my heart will always be in the classroom, specifically with the stresses current teachers deal with. One of the biggest stresses for me, and what drew me to the concept of gamification, was student motivation.

Teachers are regularly held accountable for what their students do and do not do, as well as the grades that result from such choices. Gamification, or the concept of turning a teacher’s class into a game, has been show to increase work ethic tremendously. My online friend, Beth Box, has proven it with her civics class, and you can check out her “gamified” class here.
How can gamification help you? That’s what I’m going to spend some time talking about on this blog. With each entry in this extended series, I’ll share a trick for making your class more engaging. Ready to get started?Let’s start with the basics. If you’re going to restructure your whole class as a game, I’ve broken apart several of the components for you. This video starts with the concept of avatars.