I thought I would dump my yearlong Gamification data, side-by-side, and give my thoughts. This is the first side-by-side comparison I’ve done on my data, so let’s do it together!
First, I must apologize. Like an idiot, I accidentally deleted my third marking period data. I can say, though, it showed a general continuation of MP2. A few percentage points growth/decline in either direction. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think losing MP3 data matters too much, but I’m still pissed at myself. I also have to apologize for my Photoshop/WordPress skills. It’s hard to get all these questions side-by-side on WordPress. They don’t want to play nice together. Note: having the Hover Free extension will make reading this a lot easier. It’s one of those must have extensions!
So, that being said, let’s get after it!
I polled my students’ initial reaction to my class being a game on the fist day of school. Here’s what they said:
Here is the first set of questions I asked, spread over four (three) marking periods. Again, I screwed up and deleted MP3!
I added the “prefer xp grading system” question in the 2nd MP. I am happy with the results and it confirms the anecdotal evidence I received from students: the XP grading system and class item shop was their favorite part of class.
Next up:
Above, we see a slow decline in the first figure, but I’m happy that most of my students enjoy the leaderboard, as most rate their experience between 7-10. I stopped updating the leaderboard daily because it became too much work. That would explain the move toward checking the leaderboard “when it’s updated.” We see a steady increase in MP1-3 when it comes to the importance of position of leaderboards until the last marking period. Even at it’s worst, 70% of my kids caring about their position on a leaderboard is a big win for me and their grades which, acnecdotally, are seven points higher than my five year average!
Next:
Again, as is the trend, we see general growth until fourth marking period. I honestly believe that MP4 scores are lower because I literally took the data on the last day of school after their finals. I really believe my students were just burned out on school in general. Again, I’m happy with the adoption/onboarding principals in the above figures. My “Gladiators” held steady throughout the year in bragging about their leaderboard position. The extra motivation students got from the leaderboard is a huge plus as it cost nothing and didn’t take much extra effort. I would say I spend an hour a week on the leaderboard. An hour time investment for 70% adoption rate, that’s awesome! My homework submission rate was roughly 85% this year. I don’t know what it was last year, but it definitely was 85%. I think the unity provided by the Guild and Class leaderboard made a big difference.
Next:
Even at it’s worse, 70% of my kids were motivated by the leaderboard to continue to do better! Such a simple addition to class that made a big difference. We also see growth in the last question, Guild’s position on the leaderboard, until MP4.
Next:
Again, we see growth in some areas, but a general slide in others. The numbers still make me happy!
Finally:
Now, this is the stuff dreams are made of! I added questions as the year went on, so they don’t line up, but follow my obnoxious guide lines! Across the board, students are learning a lot. I added this question because I had people arguing that students don’t learn in a gamified classroom. Over 70% of my kids would rate my class a 9 or a 10! In MP2, I added a question about coming to school. Anecdotaly, I was noticing students coming in late “just for my class.” We have big-time attendance issues at my school, so am I’m happy to report students not only came to my class, but came 20% more often than to their other classes; they missed my class 20% less than their other classes! I love the next question, about learning in a gamified classroom. I won students over! We see a steady increase between MP2 through MP4, so those reluctant at first, eventually came around!
Overall, I am thrilled with how my gamified classroom went! I think it was an epic win! I made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot, which means next year will be even better!
I encourage you to draw your own conclusions and point out things I might have missed. I’m far from a data expert (I teach English!), so any feedback will be valuable. Also, please suggest better questions or better wording to make next year’s data more valuable.
Finally, I have update my gamesite! TwentyTwenty is no more! Forever and always, Saga City Learning will be the home of both my gamified classroom and my classroom Alternate Reality Game! Check it out!
Until next time,
GLHF!
cross-posted at Teched Up Teacher
Chris Aviles teaches English at Barnegat High School in New Jersey. He presents on education topics including gamification, technology integration, BYOD, blended learning, and the flipped classroom. Read more at Teched Up Teacher.
