Hacking The Education System
I was one of those people who thought hacking was as easy as they do it in the movies. I’ve always wanted to give it a shot while I was in my studying years. After 4 Years into college, I realised it ain’t easy like the movies, issa lie.
So, don’t bring your a** asking if I can hack into your Instagram. I’m just gonna tell you what every haccer would tell you to do. . . go to the FORGET PASSWORD option.
I’m pretty sure you have guessed it by now this article isn’t about HACKING THE ACTUAL EDUCATION COMPUTER SYSTEM WE HAVE IN OUR COUNTRY OR ANYWHERE ELSE. I’m not that smart yet. It’s about how we can hack the schooling system and how we can make education fun. So, beer with me. (pun intended 😉 )
I’m a robust believer that learning should be fun. But lately, across all levels of schooling I have gone through, it’s quite far from it. If your experience was any different than mine, even just a bit, please tell me what school you went to so I can go back to school and do everything all over again. Somewhere along the way, we lost how to make it fun. Instead, it kinda became a chore or some kind of punishment for many of us.
There is still a hope that fun can be restored in the learning equation, it’s never too late, and that is through gamification. In my 3 years of experience working with kids and children app (BeBlocky), I have learnt that gamification is the only way to make learning fun again. Let’s at least do it for the new generation
The best thing about gamification is you don’t have to come up with an entirely new curriculum for it. You just have to apply some game mechanisms with the sole objective of enhancing a student’s experience. Who doesn’t like games after all? Whether it’s Candy Crush, Fortnite, Minecraft, Call of Duty, 2K or Gebeta as a parent, a teacher or just bystander, you probably have noticed that kids love video games! With the wide range of ways to play, more kids, both boys and girls, than ever before are joining today’s gaming culture. By transforming learning systems and making it more like the games they love, student engagement can soar to new heights. It would change a lot of things, trust me!
Game elements are applied to entertain while at the same time educating and improving productivity. These elements include personalizing profiles and using avatars to make it more relevant to them; creating bite-sized learning to build interest and to help with retention; and creating some type of incentive for encouragement like accumulating points, rewarding in-app currencies, and earning badges.
Ultimately, gamification is most successful when the technological foundation is well-built, when it’s used to achieve well-understood goals, and if the experience is led by a motivated, equipped educator.
Matthew Glotzbach is the CEO of Quizlet
I’m keeping it real with you, doing it successfully requires a delicate balance of science and art. It’s tough to create something that is both entertaining and academic. However, once you figure out the way, the effort is worth a while.
I don’t think there has ever been a one-size-fits-all approach to education; but one thing I’m sure of is the main advantage of gamification is that it can increase engagement and spark unmatched motivation.
The more everyone realizes that platforms like BeBlocky and the gamification elements make learning fun, the more our education structure can become useful for developing well-educated generations that enjoy learning and who are geared to continual learning for the remainder of their lives.
Let’s Make Education Fun Again #MEFA.
I’m Nathan Damtew and I approve of this message. #MEFA2020
