Gamifying a course, phase 10: Student voices

Mid-semester and assessment time...

What do students think of this gamified course?

Just because I spent hours in planning, creating content, and designing does not mean it is a worthwhile learning experience for the students. In some instances I can even make a few mid-course corrections.

I needed input...and input now while students are immersed in the gamified content, not after the course is over (although I have a post assessment already designed, but more on that later).

What is working?  What isn't?  What do THEY think about this experience?

I created a google form to find out.

Here it is:



Fortunately, this is a small class which allows me to move quickly in responding to issues and making adjustments.  Unfortunately, this is a small class which means I do not have the luxury of a lot of feedback and voices...but I did learn quite a bit from this mid-point assessment.

Badges are good.

Students seem to like the badges.  One student responded,

I have to admit, when the little 'earned' thing pops up, I have a moment of happy! While I am not a "gamer" (I may be the ONLY person alive who has never played a computer game!), it adds a bit of fun to the completion of a module! I can't say that earning these badges motivates me, but it does serve to give me a feeling of confidence that I have completed all of the assignments in a given module. That sense of closure is reassuring, as I maneuver through the course!

 I like happy.  I can deal with that in a fully online class.

Another student offered the following:

I think that badges are really important in courses using gamification. For me, badges help me measure my progress and success in the course. They also keep me motivated to progress toward completion of a task or activity.

Badges may not motivate everyone. One student reported badges are "(k)ind of fun but not really a motivator for me. I am 100% intrinsically motivated!"

This group of students likes choices.

Overall, students enjoyed the opportunity to select an assignment that appealed to them. Most of them prefer 3 or 4 choices while one student opted for more choices.

During some "stops,"  students had, as one option, the opportunity to create their own task.  At this point no one had chosen that option so I asked for input as to whether or not to leave that in as an option. Their responses were interesting:

I haven't chosen this option just because I didn't feel I had the time to decide and then get the OK to go ahead. 

I love the opportunity to have four choices; the fact that I have not chosen to create one is only because the other choices were appealing and gave me a parameter to start from. I like the idea that if I have something that fits the overall goal but is not a stated choice that I could say to you, "Hey! How about THIS for my project?"

While I have not "created-my-own" activity, I think it could be structured as the only task in that category. Within the task of "Create-Your-Own", there could be some suggestions that students can pick from. While it is essentially the same as what is there now, instead of having 4 grade book blanks there could only be one... but still have a choice. 

Great food for thought!

Students appreciated having a pre-assessment determine their reading assignments.

 I am already considering one tweak based on these responses: 

I like the idea. I would just like to see my pre assessment again at this point for reference but it vanished. 

I enjoyed doing the pre-assessment (there were questions in there that had me completely flummoxed...such as the tribal college). Additionally, it gave me a sense of accomplishment when I would see that my experiences or knowledge "allowed" me to skip over readings. I generally looked at them, but there was an emotional "whew" at times that I appreciated!

I really like the pre-assessment. I felt like you were able to gauge some of what I already knew and I was able to focus on others where I could improve or learn more about. 

Students have mixed views regarding possible changes to organizing modules.

I toyed with the idea of making modules worth a specific set number of points and requiring everyone to do the reading and forum, then choose a combination of tasks to equal, say, 300 points. Those 300 points could be earned through one task or several in combination. I really liked this idea but could not figure out a way to do this in Canvas without it being cumbersome, but I thought I would ask the students for their thoughts...with some interesting results:

One student responded with a resounding, "That would just confuse me!"

Other responses were as follows:

Because you build these modules in such a way that they are clear and I am always able to understand what is required, I would say that creating a module that allows us to earn points in multiple ways would work...but only because you build them well. I like choices, and I feel that you give us a variety of options already!  

I like the idea of modules being worth a specific set of points and the student have options and choices to get to those points. That way a student can skip certain assignments that they feel comfortable with and work on assignments they feel they could learn more about a specific topic within a module. I think if this were an option, there would need to be lots of different opportunities within the modules so that they could complete assignments that will benefit them in their careers and where they need improvement.

 Hmmmmm... for right now, I will leave these modules pretty much as they are designed...at least I will table the idea of points per module coming from a variety of tasks...

The use VOKIs evoked (LOL) mixed responses.

Students either liked the VOKI and were considering using them in their own training... or they found them confusing at first.

When I asked for more open-ended input regarding the use of VOKI in general, the responses were more informative:

I don't mind them but I am not a huge learn by video person in general so they just seem like extra to me.  

I can't honestly say that they add or detract; I think that the concept of the tour guides through the campus was clever, but I can't imagine the work that went into creating all of these.

I like the different characters going through the different aspects of the community college. This is because in a community college, there are a lot of different faculty and staff members that we would meet as we start a job and it is more like what would happen when going to a new place to work. 

Interestingly enough, I provided transcripts for the VOKI that delivered content, thinking that some students may prefer to just read rather than listen and watch a VOKI. The transcripts seemed to not matter...perhaps I need to ask specifically as to whether or not they reviewed the transcripts and their preference. I create transcripts to create the VOKIs, so providing one is not any more time consuming as it is merely a link.

Again... much for me to ponder  . . . I need more information and to do more research regarding the use of VOKI...and gather more student input.

Students have great suggestions.

 I love suggestions!  I asked students  

What changes should I consider?  What should stay the same? Are there other topics that should be included? Omitted?

 And they responded as follows:

The only thing that I would like to have done at the beginning was to give a brief "bio" in the first post...although I feel I'm coming to know [the other students] a little better with each discussion module, I think it would be great if we were asked to give a short synopsis of ourselves so that we have a better understanding of who we are.

I think this is a great course and it is designed really well. The only thing that seems disconnected from the overall gamified course is the paper. Even though I know it is connected, I feel like it is almost a separate aspect of the course. Otherwise, I love the course and really feel like I have gained a lot out of it so far. 

I feel like two forums and an assignment are a lot of work for a week! 

I had already redesigned the course to address the last comment before they completed the assessment. I had one stop with two forums and an assignment, decided that was too much, and quickly reworked upcoming modules to avoid that pitfall.

 As to the bio.... I returned to their first forum which was part of attending their Staff Social where they were to meet one another (which seemed like years ago):

I like this task because it forces student to reflect and begin to integrate technology.  What I could d is make this a video post s they can see each other, they can identify their music and do that portion while presenting a brief bio... I need to think through this more and decide how married I am to the music post, but this is certainly worth considering. I love new ideas!

As to the Experiences Paper - I am unsure about that assignment as well. Earlier tasks allowed them to perform the various interviews to complete other tasks as we, reinforcing the idea of planning ahead and "working smart," but no one selected those tasks.Usually this course has a balance of community college staff and faculty, and they tend to be very "siloed" to the point of not really knowing the college from another group's viewpoint. This time I only had faculty members.  This paper is not due for another month so I will re-assess after they have completed that work and submitted it.... but a removal or tweaking of the assignment is certainly a possibility for Mountain View Community College, version 2.1.


Great feedback which I will definitely consider!

On to...Game Over. . . .