My attention lately has turned to game design and notions of gamification.  Part of it stems from the discussion of Reality is Broken that I facilitated earlier this year and part from my own growing devotion to time management strategy games. It has led me to incorporate game language into my ed tech course for pre-service teachers.  They are moving into the gamification phase right now as they determine which areas they wish to pursue in more depth and they’ll level up, achieve mastery, and then choose one area in which they will get to the Boss level.  One of the engaging pieces of games is the notion of the challenge.  If a game is too easy, we tend to be less interested. It has to be just hard enough that we have a sense we can beat it but know that we may fail before we succeed by applying the lessons we have learned in our earlier attempts.

I read two different pieces today that seem to be using the challenge approach to encourage positive change in two very different groups of people.

Education Week profiles Haut Gap Middle School, a school that has used the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Suports (PBIS) approach to discipline. It has something of a game style approach as it seeks to reward positive behavior:

For example, once every quarter, Haut Gap students who have collected the right number of PRIDE coupons earn a special privilege. They also can cash in their coupons for prizes. They earn coupons for asking thoughtful questions in class, being prepared for a lesson, and asking for permission the right way. Coupons or not, when students behave the right way, they are told.

“You have your reading book out,” English teacher Brandon Bobart told his students during a recent class. “I can tell you’re committed to your learning.”

Earlier this month, 6th grader Saniyah King happily reported she had earned 10 PRIDE coupons. If she has 20 by month’s end, she’ll get to take part in a schoolwide dress-up day, when students swap school uniforms for business attire.

I can hear some of you sputtering: why should kids be rewarded for good behavior?  It should simply be what is expected of you as a citizen. But we see rewards in the real world: earning points for good driving, getting at least a small interest rate for saving money, and in San Antonio and Chicago  a wellness challenge that will reward municipal employees for getting healthier with cash prizes and penalize those who don’t by increasing their health benefit payment.

The second article was a reminder from Shelly Terrell about the 30 Goals Challenge for 2012. She has been focusing on one or two goals a week but I may at least get started on the list in anticipation of getting into the 2013 challenge at the beginning. Having specific goals for learning and growth can help guide us as students. When they are set as personal challenges, we may find them even more compelling.  And like a good game, Terrell builds in reflection: why did you learn by completing this challenge.

Of course, I’m already involved in a 30 day challenge of blogging every day.  It’s been a good journey: I find myself thinking about the blog entry throughout the day and then sitting down in the evening to pull it together. But sometimes, like yesterday, I will see a headline that just calls for comment. I’ve allowed myself a fairly wide net of subjects from poverty to technology to Neil Young with a blog entry about Bruce Springsteen is in the works.

I’m doing some reflecting on whether or not I can keep this up after the 30 days ends next week. I would like to very much as I’ve found the practice of writing to be very useful both in terms of codifying my ideas and beliefs but also in terms of making me keep up a bit more as I look for blog fodder. I’m considering ideas for how to streamline it a bit and will share them in a future entry.