Gamify College

Gamification is not a word I just invented. While it is a newer word (first coined in 2002), it is a real thing.

If you try to gamify something (ok...I may have made that one up), you apply gaming principles to something that is not a game in order to create a better experience, enhance participation, or make something more enjoyable for others.

You may be familiar with many of the facets of gamification. Achievement badges, leaderboards, challenges, and progress bars are all common examples. Many iPhone apps have these features to keep you playing. Every xBox game comes with a list of achievements to unlock, intended to encourage players to continue playing the game even after they have beaten it once or twice.

Turning chores into a game certainly makes them more entertaining. Why not teach classes in the same way? Please don't tell me that college courses currently place an emphasis on attendance and participation. As a system, the college lecture format is dated and often amazingly inefficient (especially considering the price many students pay to attend college).

So here is my idea. I am going to pretend that I am a Chemistry professor, teaching a class called "Introduction to Chemistry" for incoming freshman science majors. I have 400 students in my class. The class teaches basic chemistry, and most of my students will continue to take harder chemistry classes later in their academic careers, so I can assume they are at least reasonably motivated to do well in this course

I will format my class somewhat traditionally:
5 Tests x 100 pts each
5 Quizzes x 10pts each
5 Pop Quizzes x 10pts each
5 HW Assignments x 40pts each
1 Final @ 200pts.

=1000 points total. In my experience as a science major, this is a fairly common syllabus. Here's where I change it up. I will also distribute a "Game Card" to each student. I would probably create a point system called "moles" or something dorky like that. You could achieve up tp 100 mole points in the semester, perhaps. Some you can get automatically, others would require direct effort. At the end of the semester, your mole points are converted to extra credit points. For the math wizards, that's 10% extra credit available for free. A whole letter grade.

How do you get mole points? Stuff like this..

Attend Office Hours and Ask Questions- 5 Mole Points
Most students will never attend office hours and ask for help, but will instead futilely struggle, search the internet, and ask friends. I'm no expert, but I bet that getting individual help from a professor will improve classroom performance.

Achieve 90% or Greater on an Exam- 10 Mole Points
This rewards students who perform well. It offers a clear motivation to excel on exams. You could argue that students who receive this achievement don't need it, as they are already smarter than the average bear. I argue that a C student could conceivably study hard, get a 90%, and would deserve a 10pt bonus for his effort. Also, see next achievement.

Improve Your Test Score by 10% or More -10 Mole Points
This one is not for the smart kids. If you scored a 94% on my first exam, you got the previous achievement and don't really have hope for this one. For the C student above, who maybe got a 75% on the first exam, this doubles the incentive to buckle down and perform better on the next test.

Other incentives could include activities like writing a short report on a current research topic that you find interesting, exposing the student to some practical applications of their studies while forcing them to take some initiative and break new ground. Scheduling an appointment with a tutoring service (if the school supports one-mine does) during the week before a test will help their test score and increase retention. Other "achievements" would reward class attendance, for example, or perhaps encourage participation. I thought about including one that would reward students for finding an error that I would purposefully include on the slides each week, so that they are encouraged to ask questions and think critically about what I write instead of blindly memorizing it.

There is a valid argument against my little game I created: the teachers likely to implement this game would be good teachers already. They would teach dynamically, interact with students, and have their own ways to implement all of the same things I am attempting to do with my game.

I think that's fantastic. Maybe they use part of my games, maybe they use their own system. Whatever. I think that a system like this (or similar to it) would improve the classroom experience for teachers and students alike.

Facets of gamification are already working. The Khan Academy incorporates these ideas into their online lessons. At the end of the day, doing your chemistry homework will never be as fun as playing real games, pursuing hobbies, or spending time with friends. If these ideas will give people extra motivation, and if that extra motivation translates to academic success, then I think they are worth pursuing. It may not be incredibly fun, but there are much worse games to play.

O Man....IM CDA 2013

Just need to throw this out there....I just paid for my spot at Ironman Couer d'Alene in June 2013. I am so pumped, but also nervous, and I think I am going to go for another run right now. Just kidding.....but really.

I have considered starting this back up, but you know how that goes.

I'll be here soon!

Occupy Wall Street-A Student's (Different) Perspective

Have you heard about Occupy Wall Street? Many people have by now, and it's looking like it will be around for at least a little while longer.


Anyways, today a student stood up in my religion class and made an announcement that they would be occupying my city as well. He tried to get me to come to a meeting on Wednesday night and stressed how important it was for us to "make our voice heard".


I have never had a problem sharing my thoughts or making my voice be heard, but I decided to get straight to the source of these Occupy Wall Street people. That, of course, meant Facebook stalking them and looking at their main Web page. I have linked it here. This is their list of demands (not ideas, demands) that form the core of their movement.


As a college student, I was initially interested in this movement because quite a few of these people are my peers, college students or twenty somethings. After reading through these demands, I find it important to distance myself as far as possible from this lunacy. It's never a good thing to be ignorant, but the only thing worse is to be ignorant and not realize it.


So let's take a look at what these people are camping out for.


1- A new minimum wage ($20 bucks per hour). Why $20? If we are giving ourselves a raise, why stop at $20? Let's make it at least $100 per hour so we can all be richer?


2- Institute a single payer healthcare system. Obamacare is rolling closer and closer, and more and more people are seeming to have problems with it. I will save this for another post


3- Guaranteed minimum wage, regardless of employment. Awesome! I'm quitting my job and hoping to get that minimum wage raised up even higher. This money is obviously coming from....o wait....I'm not actually sure where it's coming from.

4- Free college education. Screw this! If everyone makes $20 per hour, why go to college?


5- Ending the fossil fuel economy while "bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand". I'm not exactly sure where to even start here. First of all, solar power is actually a long way from being effective (see Solyndra). Second, I see no fast track way of ending the ENTIRE FOSSIL FUEL ECONOMY. Let's see....that encompasses....uh...yeah just about everything.


6-One trillion dollars in infrastructure spending.


7- One trillion dollars in ecological restoration, as well as shutting down all of the nuclear power plants.


(Not even worth typing a reply to those above....o wait....oops.)


8- Racial and gender equal rights amendment. See 15th, 19th, 24th and also the 14th Amendments.


9-Open borders migration. I think they actually mean immigration, because we have some pretty free migration already here in the US. Actually, as good as the Border Patrol is, this may be the demand that we could most easily achieve....because we are almost there


10-Bringing American elections up to the "standard" of the rest of the world. I find it amazing that we peacefully transition elected officials every 2-6 years. Are we a perfect system? Nope. Are we the best in the world right now? You bet.

11-Immediate and total debt forgiveness. " "And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period." 


12- Outlawing all credit reporting agencies


13-Allowing workers easier voting access in Union formation or something. I basically had quit reading here.


Actually, there is a post script:


"These demands will create so many jobs it will be completely impossible to fill them without an open borders policy."


Yup...that is Occupy Wall Street. At the core, people who really have no idea what they want or what they are doing. Don't think they are the 99%.


Of course, that's news for any of us.


That meeting tomorrow night? I can't go...I'm busy working.


Adios

A Day in the Life and State of the Blog

I'm back again! Because there is so much catching up that needs to be done, I have decided to share a synopsis of today. This should help snapshot my life, and in the future I will do "catch-up" postings on important things like weddings and such. This morning I was up at about 5:30am to head to work. That time occurs before dawn cracks. In fact, I am at work before the sun is even peeking over the horizon. I work at a large regional hospital as an Endoscopic Technician. The job is very easy, pays decently well, and is helping give me that clinical experience to get me into medical school someday (more on that later). So there I was at work at 6:30am, wearing my scrubs.

                                 =

Yeah scrubs are basically our excuse to wear pajama like clothing to work every single day. So I worked from 6:30am until 11:30am. The deal with working here is that I get an extended lunch to race over to campus and take a class until 1pm. So at 11:30am, off I go to class. This is an advanced biomedical sciences class with a crazy professor (probably tenured) that makes no sense, so it usually taxes my patience slightly. Today we read and summarized a dense article about weak hydrophilic carbohydrate associations, which is basically the most exciting thing I have ever done in my whole life.

Oh wait...not.

 After class I raced back to work until 3pm. I had planned to trim the afro/bush/mess that is my hair this afternoon, but the line was crazy at the barber. I made the easy decision to go home instead. I went to change and noticed that my wife hadn't made the bed from this morning (she sleeps in a little after I leave for work), and it sucked me in for a nap. Watch out for beds, they tend to do that.

 NOTE: I RARELY TAKE NAPS. I debated even disclosing this piece of info because it barely ever happens. Today was weird.

 To summarize the rest of the night in a concise outline
-Go on date night with wife to celebrate 4 awesome months of marriage
-Run to Wal Mart to make purchase (hold that thought)
-Go to Chick-fil-a for milkshake
-Come home, leave again to Bible Study
-Lead Bible Study, stay too long afterwards
-Return home, write this blog.
 Boom! Finished!

The purchase I referenced earlier is one of those memory foam mattress cover things. It is currently inflating, or whatever those things do when you take them out of the package, on our bed. Our mattress has been less that cozy, and now we can afford to get an awesome soft comfy mattress cover. In fact, I hear it calling my name now. This blog will survive right here indefinitely. I like the new interface, and was pleasantly surprised by the thousands of hits I received while doing absolutely nothing over the last year. I love the messages and do read all of them, so feel free to send them my way.

 Have a great day!
 Adios

 PS The mountain picture at the top is because I really want to go skiing this winter and spent the whole day thinking about a trip that we were invited to join, but can't make up our minds because it's pricey. JICYWW (Just in case you were wondering)

A Year Long Sabbatical

As a friend pointed out to me today, it has been one full year to the day since the last day I posted on this blog. His timing was absolutely impeccable, as I have spent the last week thinking about coming back to a blog thing, whether it be this one, a new one, or perhaps both. Don't you think it's ironic that those who have the most to blog about usually have the least amount of time to actually blog? So it has been with me for the past year or so. Let's see, in the last 365 days I have

1) Completed a full year of college

2) Married the most beautiful woman in the world

3) Worked 4 different jobs

4) Grown and seen more than I thought possible in a year.

Needless to say, there are things I would love to share. I am currently pondering how I am going to do that. While this blog, as it is now, will always exist, I am seriously considering moving to another platform that I find more functional. The downside is accessibilty. If I am to write, I want people to read it :)

Blogger is easy to use and easy to access. I will continue here until I post my final blog destination.

For now, enjoy the updated look and feel of this blog.

Later

Semester 3- Change

I can't believe it has already been a full year since I started college. By and large (and I do mean large), I am basically the same person that showed up here last year as a freshman. Of course, many things have changed. Good changes and bad changes. Things I learned. Things I realized I didn't learn. Some deep thoughts, some not so deep thoughts.

For example, at this time last year I was cautiously optimistic about cafeteria food.

I had been disappointed several times, but had also found some things I enjoyed. I figured I would get tired of the food eventually, but that it was generally ok.

A year later, they still serve the same meals. Too much of a good thing is really a bad thing, right? Too much of a really bad thing is terrible.

That's why I am already sick of the dining halls (except for the ice cream)

What else has changed this semester?

1. I'm getting married in less than a year!!!!

2. I have scaled up my training in all three areas and feel as though I am nearing the best shape of my life.

3. I now have absurd amounts of homework.

4. I now live exactly 136 feet down the hall from where I used to.

I was going somewhere with this, but I need to study for anatomy. Here's what I have waiting for me (except it's on an actual dead person).

You would be amazed at the similarities in google search results for "lower limb cadaver" and "college cafeteria food".

Just kidding.

But really.

Success!

If you checked my blog at any point between last Monday and May, you may have realized that I haven't done any blogging at all. Period. Nothing. And I am sorry.

You see, I found this funny correlation. The more cool things I have going on in the "real world", the less inclined I am to actually get on here and blog about it.

Do not think that means that my life stinks because I am on here blogging tonight. In fact, quite the opposite. The fact here is that even my plodding, ponderous mind turns to composition of words and....uh....things every once in a while :)

That is why I am here blogging late on a Wednesday night, after a most excellent day filled with my fiance, Chick-Fil-A, and productive studying habits.

O yes. I believe that since I have not technically announced that on this blog (see last post in May), I should say it officially. I am engaged :) my fiance is absolutely the best, and we will be married next May ( and I will probably be due for another blog post about that time too).

Here is a picture of us on top of the mountain where I proposed.

I have more news to share. Because I am a science major, I like outlines.

1- I successfully completed the Branson Ironman 70.3 last Sunday. I expect a full race report with pictures to be up by Christmas break. Suffice it to say that it was the most grueling, enjoyable, exhilarating experience of my life. Seriously. Last 9 months of training=totally worth it.

PS-That is why that picture is way up at the top.

2-I have new classes this semester. They go like this.

History(Honors)

Writing for the Professions

Anatomy w/ Lab

Organic Chemistry w/ Lab

EMT-B Training.

Located above is as many books as would reasonably fit on my iPhone camera.

3- The above may explain a lower frequency of posts this semester. That, plus the fact that my brain is almost as lazy as I am and can't stand any creative more than once a month :)

Seriously, though. While I love blogging, I just can't stand the massive time commitment (I am going on 8 minutes since starting this post), I can't take the stress of the writing process (spell checking? Are you kidding me?), and I suffer from anxiety when I think that other people are able to read my thoughts on the internet.

4- Lastly, I am increasingly distracted every day. That's not to say that I can't focus on anything, just that I m-

So this is where I do some self promoting for my own blog and myself.

-I am planning (read that: helping my fiance plan) a wedding this year. I am actually planning a honeymoon to follow shortly after that wedding, and therefore want to solicit advice from all of you other web-savvy readers out there. First, please recover from shock at seeing my blog re-appear on your RSS feed, Google Reader, or whatever. Then, kindly let me know about good travel websites, travel deals, low airfares, etc.

-I need to read through my old posts and the comments you all have made. Sadly, I must approve each and every comment before it goes to the blog. This is why I had countless comments to pre-read, censor, approve, and label appropriate and such. Because I didn't want to actually do all of that work-related material, I deleted all of them. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

I have now disabled the "approval needed" function of my blog. Comment at your will.

I also added little buttons at the top. I am not sure what they do, but please push them, find out, and let me know.

Adios