[Free Download Class 8 Hindi Full Marks Guide Pdf
Abdul Soumphonphakdy
Since I wish I had access to something like this when I started Gameifying my class, I thought I'd map out what I'm doing in my World Lit class for anyone who is interested in seeing how Gameification can work and the challenges I overcame incorporating it into Canvas. I have very little coding experience (I wish I had more), so all of this was made simply with the built in tools in Canvas combined with MS Paint, MS Word and Windows Photo Snipping Tool:
The basic class structure is broken up into "Main Quests" and "Side Quests" and an "Item Shop." Main quests are mandatory assignments. Side quests are assignments students do to earn "gold." The shop is a list of items they can buy with the gold.
One of the first things I discovered when I started implimenting this design was that I had to redesign my class Homepage for quick links for students to get to what they want. Modules pages or Assignment pages quickly become "messy" when you start adding a bunch of extra material in different categories. And it becomes hard for students to find exactly what they want quickly. To solve this problem, at first I used a simple "grid" layout option inside Canvas, then made up my own photos/icons to stick inside each grid and made the images into links to particular parts of Canvas to let students get to them quickly. You can find a step by step guide on how to make your home page look like this here.
The "Press start' messages blink like an arcade game. These are just simple gifts I found using Google Image search. By default Canvas already supports animated gifs, so all you need to do is upload them as "images." They automatically animate appropriately on the page. I try not to overdo the .gifs but understated, they can add a nice bit of flourish.
These are mandatory assignments that are pretty much the same as they would be in any other class (readings assignments and quizzes on the readings etc.). These are worth a percentage of their class grade. Clicking this takes them to the top of my modules page where all the assignments are listed in chronological order by week, just like a normal class. The trick here is that they are challenging enough that students want to do side quests to give them some advantages in the class. I no longer grade on a curve or give free drops, etc. I don't automatically allow make up work or give bonus points/bonus work. All that now comes as rewards for doing side quests. Students can do as many sidequests as they want to earn those kinds of advantages.
These are completely optional assignments that do not contribute to their overall grade. I made a category called "Hero Points" ("Reputation Points" in my Comp 1) in the Assignments tab in Canvas and set them to 0% of their grade. All side quests are in this category. Instead completing these assignments earn them "Hero Points" which they can then spend in my class on items. The amount of Hero points they earn from a given side quests depends on how difficult it is, but it can range anywhere from 200 to 1,000 points per quest. In general, most take between 5 to 20 minutes to complete and are worth a few hundred points. I try to keep most short and breezy worth a small amount of points with a few head scratchers/more challenging ones thrown in. Since these are taking the place of drops, curves, and normal bonuses I would offer, I try to make a lot of them fairly easy interactions to balance that fact out.
All side quests are located on the Modules page below all the Weeks/Main quest assignments in Canvas to prevent clutter/confusion. Clicking the icon on the home page link takes them directly to the first module featuring side quests. Every side quest is in it's own module of the same name for reasons I'll explain in more detail later, but it basically is to allow for more achievements and to prevent students from spamming random answers on quizzes they haven't prepared for.
My side quests aren't all just quizzes, however. Since the side quests sometimes require unconventional thinking and play by unconventional rules, I eventually realized that I needed a quick chart at the top of each for students to see what kind of quest it was and what it demanded of them. So I again used the built in table feature to make a generic template that I could copy and paste into every quest. The end result looks like this:
I have this pink box at the start of every side quests so students can see at a quick glance the type of quest and what they are up against. It improves participation quite a bit and it eliminates confusion given I'm not there with them to explain how every quest works. The types of side quests in my class are quite diverse. An example of a side quest might be that a student needs to research the history of folklore about trolls in order to find a way to convince trolls to leave a bridge blocking their way. Another might involve watching a Youtube video about the relationship between Star Wars and classical literary heroes and take a quiz on it. One might simply be coming to me during my office hours with a secret password for a 1 on 1 conversation that will open additional sidequests for them. Some of these side quests take the form of puzzles or riddles. Some of them involve research, reading or watching videos. Some might even have them scavenging the campus for clues to unlock the passcode for a quiz.
Needless to say, some side quests require them to really start thinking outside the box to solve them, so these info boxes help at least push them in the right direction. But regardless of type, the main goal of all of these side quests is to allow students to explore content related to the class and it's themes in a different way and to allow them more freedom to choose the types of quests they want to do. All the side quests relate to the class and it's themes in some way or another: a conversation with me, watching a video, writing a short story, solving a riddle, or just taking a basic knowledge quiz.
Most Side Quests in my my course unlock a "treasure box," which is simply a module with a simple quiz behind it that is a question with one answer. I often add a lot of flavor text to these, but a basic idea of one would be "Do you wish to claim your reward" with the only answer available being "Take 500 hero point reward and leave." These treasure box modules are restricted unless students get the required score on the attached sidequest. The advantage of this is students can't get the reward by randomly guessing. The side quest questions might only be worth 1 point each. But the treasure boxes are worth 200 or 500 points. So randomly guessing on quizzes means they really miss out on any kind of substantial reward. If they don't score 100%, on a quiz, for example, they won't unlock the module/treasure box. I link to the reward module directly inside each side quest, but these also appear below all the side quests in my Modules page. It also allows me to do more with achievements since I have more modules to play with. More modules equal more achievements and more competition, but more on that later.
Daily quests are simply short one question polls 7 days a week. The basic idea of these was "log in bonuses" such as mobile games or MMOs. I wanted to reward students just for checking into the class regularly. So there is a new one of these every 24 hours that automatically unlocks and the previous one locks. I make the questions about everything from class themes to how the class is currently going. These are simply "Graded Surveys." It gives me good data to draw from in lectures etc. too where I can refer back to polls. The points they get from these are not very many. Typically 10 or 20 points per poll where a normal sidequest is 200-1000 points. It's just a small micro reward to get them to "check in" more often and encourage them to engage with the class more..
This is what students spend their hero points/reputation points from sidequests/daily quests on. A description of all items and their costs are listed in Canvas for students to look at any time they wish. When students come to me to buy items, before or after class, I give them a literal item card with a description of what the item does. Here are some examples of some items students can buy in the Item store with the points they get from doing side quests.
Currently there over 20 items students can buy in my World LIT shop ranging from cheap items to give them small advantages to really expensive items that can give them or the entire class a big advantage. I also have items related to unlocking new quests, so students can "reinvest" by buying items that unlock passwords to new modules/quests.
When students come to me to buy an item I have another non-graded category called "DEBT." And it has a dummy assignment with 100,000 points to it. I simply add points to this category. Students can know how much money they have to spend at any given time by subtracting DEBT from their HERO POINTS/REPUTATION POINTS. So it's easy for both me and them to keep track of.
For achievements and leaderboards, I use a app called Badgr, which I highly recommend. Here's a good short video on the steps to start incorporating "Badgr" into Canvas. And here is a step by step guide to start issuing badges.
As students complete side quests they also earn achievement badges and compete with each other on leaderboards for who can complete the largest number of side quest. Badgr updates real time, so they can always see how they rank compared to others in the class. By default this scoreboard uses a auto-generated alias for each student, but students have the option to use their real name if they wish. I also give a small reward at the end of each week for the top 3 people on this achievement board (typically a frozen Snickers bar).
Once you have it set up (which sometimes can take a day or two to link up), you can then just add badges inside Canvas without ever using the external site again. You can also change any .jpg into the required .png format by opening it in MS Paint and saving it as a .png file. Make a module with a requirement. Go to the Badges Page, click the module and click "create badge" and upload the image you want and a description. It's a pretty quick process once you get used to it.
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