Re-Spawning in the Classroom

Presented by Joseph Elson and Sarah Horan of Comet Bay College

‘Re-spawning in the Classroom’ takes a deep look at utilizing Gamification principles in the classroom to encourage engagement, develop critical thinking skills and build resiliency.

We will explore how the fundamentals of game design, such as levelling, quests, boss-fights, cooperative play and Skinner boxes, can be transferred into the classroom setting.

Using classroom footage will see how student interactions change within the class and determine ways to encourage inclusive, positive learning environments.

We will look at the practical application of Gamified online programs such as Classcraft. Finally we will model example activities across several learning areas for evaluation and discussion.

Intended Audience: All those concerned with the Australian Curriculum – ICT General Capabilities, Middle School, Secondary, Upper Secondary

About the Presenters:

Joseph Elson is Associate Dean for Humanities at Comet Bay College. He studied History and Secondary Teaching at Murdoch University and has worked in both country and urban schools in Western Australia.

Joe has lead several projects including the creation, installation and development of the CBC Learning Area websites, the extracurricular pastoral care CBC Strategic Gaming Club, the CBC Gamification program, developing Australian Curriculum units for the school and Chairing several groups in the Comet Bay Professional Learning Community.

His teaching experiences have largely focused on teaching disengaged students from military and FIFO families who populate the local area; devising new strategies to engage students who are easily distracted or use digital media for recreation and spend most of their time out of school hours engaging in video games and other digital media.

Joe is currently coaching staff in the principles of Gamification and developing Gamified learning programs tied to the Australian Curriculum for English and Humanities.

Sarah Horan is currently a Maths teacher at Comet Bay College.

In her time at Canning Vale College she learnt the effectiveness of integrating aspects of ICT into her teaching; using the Mathletics program to bring a group of low achieving year 10’s up to passing grades and beyond.

Sarah is the Gamification program’s representative of the Maths Department and mentors and coaches fellow staff members in the principles of Gamification and ICT use in the classroom. She is also an Instructional Advocate who is responsible for coaching staff school-wide in effective instructional practice.