It was an interesting start to this week’s class, as many of my classmates struggled to get on to the Zoom platform. For a tech class, I found it kind of amusing, but I was impressed how we all worked together to make it successful!

I appreciated hearing about the pros and cons of games in the classroom. Some people shared how games can be such a force for engagement (and this has been my experience, mostly). However, other classmates shared some downsides — parents might complain that it’s not “real work”, and some kids might get too bored with non-game work if there is too much emphasis on them. I think, like with most thing, it’s all about balance. Games can be amazing for engagement, but perhaps should not be the only tool. Like Joanna shared with our guest speaker, online games can be a great hobby, but should be balanced with other things like tennis. For me, the important thing is to avoid dogma one way or the other. Video games are not perfect, no, but they are also not evil.

I realized I was able to make a connection between our EdCamp last week, and this week’s class. One of the EdCamp topics was about unstructured play and we talked about it mostly in the context of playgrounds and the outdoors. However, this class showed me that we can do unstructured play in the classroom, with games! Maybe we could have game centres with different board games or curricular games, for example. I appreciated broadening my perspective in this way.

Finally, it was also interesting to hear about how gamification is more than just games — it can be rewards, leaderboards, or any kind of competition. It goes beyond just traditional games. As I move forward in my teacher education, I want to explore diverse ways to gamify the classroom. This week was a great launching pad for this exploration!

In honour of games week, I wanted to share some of my favourite educational games!

I would love to hear about games that my readers enjoy playing, both in and out of the classroom!

YIT,

Markus