My Project Proposal and Future Meetings

I recently submitted my project proposal and rationale for assessment and received the green light to continue. I thought I would take this time to post it here on my blog also. This is by no means the final form of the project however it is what I will be aiming for and only amending aspects as and when issues arise.

Student Name:

Darren Williams

Proposed Final Project Title:

The Gamification of a Curriculum: Can a slice of the national curriculum be successfully gamified?

Brief Outline of Work:

I plan to take a slice of the National Curriculum for Upper Key Stage 2 and gamifying its delivery to see if it can improve motivation, engagement and retention of knowledge in students. The slice I have chosen is on the subject of forces from the science section for year 5 students taken from the 2013 National Curriculum for England (DfEE, 2013).

I will be exploring the different kinds of gamification delivery methods available and using my findings to produce a package of materials, tools and a structure, which can be delivered to students over several one hour sessions and include scope for homework. The pack will be comprised of pre-existing worksheets and lesson plans which have been gamified along with any other digital content that may become part of the gamified structure.

This will all be contained within a gamified arc that will aim to engage students outside of lesson time making use of systems such as point/reward schemes (Kapp, 2012) and/or tangential learning (Portnow, 2008). 

I wish to be marked on my ability to gamify materials while staying conformed to the national curriculum. My ability to construct lesson and module plans, my ability to create easy to use tuition delivery tools and my ability to bring innovative methods to increase student engagement.

Rationale For The Project.

Growing up I suffered greatly with dyslexia and subsequently found it very hard to engage with most classroom content while studying at school. After years of “special needs” assistance and assessments I finally found out that this engagement issue came down to how the learning was facilitated. If I was doing something hands on or if there was some form of tangible incentive, then I would engage fully and retain the information better than if I was just being show slides or a whiteboard.

On top of this I am also very keen to break into the field of teaching and I have an interest in both primary and higher education. After researching into job posts based around these areas I have found that the most frequent requirement of which I do not have, yet can obtain through this project is the ability to design, implement and assess subject materials that conform to a curriculum.

Some examples of agencies and posts that require these are Just Teachers, Cambridge Science Centre, All Nottingham Secondary School, Morgan Hunt, Protocol National, Class People, teaching assistants, game design lecturers and key stage 2 science teachers for further information on these positions and what they look for in an candidate, you can see my analysis on my blog found at http://darrenwilliamsgamificationlearning.blogspot.co.uk/ . Taking all of this into account, I decided to look into the gamification of learning. After more research I found a lot of information on gamification of instruction from different businesses and eventually came across Karl Kapp and his gamification series on Lynda.com which I used to ask myself a question whether I could deliver a set of lessons within a gamified structure to help students in the same situation as I was in, engage with the course materials and retain information delivered to them.

Annotated Bibliography:

	TEXT	SUMMARY
	Karl M. Kapp, 2012. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. 1 Edition. Pfeiffer.	This book is a well of information on gamification and development. It will be one of my primary sources of information while working on this project. So far I have used the information from the readings to scope my project and create a time line.
	Karl M. Kapp, 2013. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Ideas into Practice. 1 Edition. Pfeiffer.	This is the second book by Karl Kapp and builds upon ideas from the first book. It is means as more of a practical reference guide.
	Brathwaite, B., Schreiber, I. and Media, C. R. (2009) Challenges for game designers. 1st edn. Boston, MA: Course Technology/Cengage Learning.	This is the game designer’s bible. I will be using this for game elements, mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics. There is a lot more in this useful sections that will emerge as the project progresses.
	Schell, J. (2008) The art of game design: A book of lenses. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann.	This is another staple on any game designer’s shelf. I will be using this reading to aid me with game elements and mechanics, themes, narratives, iterative cycle, player (student) experience and, if I produce a digital element, user interfaces.
	Planning the Primary National Curriculum: A Complete Guide for Trainees and Teachers 2015, , Ringgold Inc, Beaverton.	This book is a guide to planning out the lessons and the national curriculum. I will be using this book to help me become familiar with the way in which curriculums and lessons are formed to ensure I keep the project academic. It will also teach me some more of the skills I would require in a teaching post.
	Kapp, K. and Learning, G. of (2014) Gamification of learning. Available at: http://www.lynda.com/Higher-Education-tutorials/Gamification-Learning/173211-2.html (Accessed: 10 November 2015).	This is the gamification of learning modal from Karl Kapp found at Lynda.com. This is a series of video lectures on the gamification of learning and (due to my aforementioned dyslexia) will aid me in keeping focus and context when reading the books as well as giving other useful exercises in gamification.
	Wallace, I. and Kirkman, L. (2014) Pimp your lesson!: Prepare, innovate, motivate and perfect. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.	This text helps plan lesson structure and assessments.
	Driscoll, P., Lambirth, A. and Roden, J. (eds.) (2015) The primary curriculum: A creative approach. United Kingdom: SAGE Publications.	This book discusses good working practice across all teaching of the primary national curriculum in England. I helps me to understand more fully the national curriculum and how to work within its constraints.
	Ward, H., Hewlett, C., Foreman, J. and Roden, J. (2005) Teaching science in the primary classroom A practical guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Paul Chapman Educational Publishing.	This book provides advice on teaching science to primary school children as well as further advice on assessments etc.
	Harlen, W. (2005) Teaching, learning and assessing science 5 - 12. London: Sage Publications.	This book I will use to learn about how children learn science and the goals set out in science. It covers topics such as peer and self-assessment, core skills and it also covers motivation in science learning for children 5 - 12
	DfEE (2013) The National Curriculum HMSO.	This is the national curriculum from 2013 which I have taken my slice from. This also contains information on what knowledge the students already have and additional learning outcomes.
	Extra Credits (2012) Extra Credits - Tangential Learning - How Games Can Teach Us While We Play. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlQrTHrwyxQ (Accessed: 9 October 2015).	This video introduced me to some interesting points on gamification and educational games. It speaks mostly of tangential learning which is a component I am hoping to use in the overall gamified structure.
	Enders, B., Kapp, K. and The eLearning Guild Research (2013) ‘Gamification, Games, And Learning: What Managers and Practitioners Need to Know’, Hot Topics.	This reading contains research on gamification as well as game elements, design considerations and examples of learning solutions using game mechanics, elements and thinking.

PROJECT MILESTONES

2015-16		MILESTONE DELIVERABLES AND TASKS
9 - 13 Nov	Week 7	FINAL SUBMISSION OF PROJECT PROPOSAL FRIDAY 13TH DECEMBER 12:00 AM
16 - 20 Nov	Week 8	Analyze learning outcomes and aim to answer the three questions noted above in step 1
23 - 27 Nov	Week 9	Identify types of content and take the learning outcomes to link them to game elements and gamified mechanics
30 Nov - 4 Dec	Week 10	I aim to hold a meeting between myself, relevant lecturers and subject experts who are to be sourced prior to this week. Then to have all of the knowledge and relevant information distilled and written up into a Gamification Design Document
7 - 11 Dec	Week 11	Link the learning outcomes, in-game activities and assessment of learning to each other and start my first weeks sprint with paper prototyping of the gamified elements attained from previous weeks
14- 18 Dec	Week 12	Sprint week two, continued iteration of paper prototyping of gamified elements. Assessment of previous weeks findings and further readings into gamification
21 - 25 Dec	Xmas Break	Reading and analysis. No official sprint.
28 Dec - 1 Jan
4 - 8 Jan
11 - 15 Jan		Sprint week three. Re assess the project, check that scope is still attainable and start production of completed elements. (if able, I will pass out the product so far for testing and feedback in a live class.
18 - 22 Jan		Sprint week four. Continued iteration of product with recent readings and feedback in mind.
25 - 29 Jan	Week 13	Sprint week five. Consolidate elements, readings and findings ready for presentation week while further iterations continue.
1 - 5 Feb	Week 14	Seminar Presentation Week
8 - 12 Feb	Week 15	Sprint week six. Using feedback from presentations I will re-assess the materials and incorporate guidance. At this point I will be looking to create any digital elements I deem necessary.
15 - 19 Feb	Week 16	Sprint week seven. Further iterations, further assessment. Focus this week will be on ensuring all elements still tie together, work in tandem and conform to the curriculum.
22 - 26 Feb	Week 17	Sprint week eight. This week I will attempt further live classroom testing of the materials for further analyses. I will then assess further needs, further improvements and wright a final plan to incorporate  and implement them
29 Feb - 4 Mar	Week 18	Sprint week nine. Further iteration, The project will be approaching its final form by this point and is just being polished.
7 - 11 Mar	Week 19	Sprint week ten. As previous week.
14 - 18 Mar	Week 20	Final assessment week before elements are finalized and materials are brought together for the final time.
21 - 25 Mar	Easter Break	Further assessment if unable to the week prior. Focus on polishing up any digital elements that are required.
28 Mar - 1 Apr	Easter Break	Further polish to digital elements as required.
4 - 8 Apr		Final design phase. Sprint week eleven. Tweak any elements which remain unnecessary or are not achieving the required outcome from final feedback.
11 - 15 Apr	Week 21	Sprint week twelve. Continue to tweak elements. Use core design readings to maximize this final development step.
18 - 22 Apr	Week 22	Sprint week thirteen Package all materials together into the final, deliverable product.
25 Apr - 29 Apr	Week 23	Contingency week to allow for unforeseen setbacks in development
2 - 6 May	Week 24	Contingency week to allow for unforeseen setbacks in development
FRIDAY 13TH MAY 12:00 AM SUBMISSION OF FINAL PRODUCT AND BLOG

The above time line I will be sticking to as closely as possible, however Week 10 has been pushed back to next week and the week after. On the 11th of December I will be meeting with Dr Mohammed Ablel-Maguid, Head of Department for Science and Technology at University Campus Suffolk and then on the 14th December with Dr Erica Joslin, Head of Department for Children, Young People and Education at University Campus Suffolk. Once I have had these meetings I will post their comments and recommendations followed with my proposed actions. I also hope to source a school in which to apply my materials for feedback from real students.