Today was my first day back from a three-day conference which means my first order of business this morning was figuring out what was actually done with the sub. I've found so far this year that despite having all my content online, some of my classes tend to grind to a halt if I'm not physically there. I left my first period course with a film (Macbeth) which needed finished today, and my other classes were to complete their Macbeth interview projects. The project isn't "officially" due until Monday, but I only gave them three days to get it done in school. Needless to say, only about a third finished it and the rest have elected for homework.
As I thought about it, the problem with my students is probably the same problem I've experienced at PETE&C and other EdTech conferences over the past few years. Rather than being able to discuss the 2.0 or 3.0 versions of Flipping and Gamification, I find myself continually relearning the same "intro" tools and techniques. I don't think this is because the presenters are lazy (in fact, I'm sure several presenters just learned about it the previous year and have returned to share their findings). Rather, I think the problem is...is anyone actually doing this? How many people are running fully flipped classes successfully? How many fully Gamified courses are currently running? How many BYOD or 1:1 programs are in place and humming along nicely? There are some, yes, but I'm starting to think the large-scale, big-change, conceptual ideas simply aren't getting enacted. I think the reason we don't have dozens of presentations on Flipped Learning 3.0 is because barely anyone has actually gotten past 1.0. I think no matter how many "intro to Gamification" sessions I do, it's going to be a long time (perhaps never) before I could do a "Gamification: Master Class" session for only full-time Gamified course teachers. Much like "using data", or "differentiation", or "cable in the classroom"...people simply aren't doing these things. Nothing can move forward (at least not well) until then.
What happens next will be interesting. Either teachers will finally start adopting these methods and we'll be able to improve the conversion in five years or so...or something new will come along and we'll start having plenty of intro sessions on that instead. Either way, it's a long long process. For as fast as technology moves, we can't plan around it fast enough. Come to think of it, most teachers in my building just finally starting making websites in the past three years (including me). With a ten year gap like that, flipping and gamification won't be mainstream until the mid 20's.
As I thought about it, the problem with my students is probably the same problem I've experienced at PETE&C and other EdTech conferences over the past few years. Rather than being able to discuss the 2.0 or 3.0 versions of Flipping and Gamification, I find myself continually relearning the same "intro" tools and techniques. I don't think this is because the presenters are lazy (in fact, I'm sure several presenters just learned about it the previous year and have returned to share their findings). Rather, I think the problem is...is anyone actually doing this? How many people are running fully flipped classes successfully? How many fully Gamified courses are currently running? How many BYOD or 1:1 programs are in place and humming along nicely? There are some, yes, but I'm starting to think the large-scale, big-change, conceptual ideas simply aren't getting enacted. I think the reason we don't have dozens of presentations on Flipped Learning 3.0 is because barely anyone has actually gotten past 1.0. I think no matter how many "intro to Gamification" sessions I do, it's going to be a long time (perhaps never) before I could do a "Gamification: Master Class" session for only full-time Gamified course teachers. Much like "using data", or "differentiation", or "cable in the classroom"...people simply aren't doing these things. Nothing can move forward (at least not well) until then.
What happens next will be interesting. Either teachers will finally start adopting these methods and we'll be able to improve the conversion in five years or so...or something new will come along and we'll start having plenty of intro sessions on that instead. Either way, it's a long long process. For as fast as technology moves, we can't plan around it fast enough. Come to think of it, most teachers in my building just finally starting making websites in the past three years (including me). With a ten year gap like that, flipping and gamification won't be mainstream until the mid 20's.
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