Last spring, I had this 'wacky' idea of turning a classroom into a multiplayer simulation game where students worked together as a group towards a major goal (in this case, a financial planning iBook which some of you saw briefly in chapel last week) while gaining 'experience points.' The idea was that they would have certain 'required quests' that covered core concepts and could earn additional experience points by doing other quests on topics that caught their interest. I had hoped that the students would be able to practice their research skills and become more self directed learners as they explored the world of economics and finance. (I later learned that it wasn't such a wacky idea and that there is a body of research out about the gamification of the classroom.)
At any rate, initially, I had planned on using Google Drive as a way to share documents with the students and receive their work. Within the first month, though, the students and I were getting frustrated. It was hard for us to keep documents organized and accessible, and the whole sharing scheme seemed pretty clunky. Just when I was resigning myself to a semester long struggle, in came Showbie.
Showbie is an app (and somewhat more limited web tool) that has been specially designed to handle student submissions and streamline the path towards a paperless classroom. Someone mentioned the app to me, and since it had a free (as well as an upgraded pro) version, I decided to check it out. If what I described isn't enough detail for you, or you have questions, definitely contact me.
They've kept the interface neat, clean, and easy to use. Once you have your account, you add classes and students (by sharing the class code with them). Then, you add assignments to your classes. Students and teachers can then share documents with each other, have written and verbal dialogues about the assignment. It works smoothly with all kinds of files and different apps. What's more, they keep upgrading the app with new and useful features. (I'm still waiting for the one that would allow us to form student groups and allow students to share files with their group or the whole class...) I've already written about how it streamlines workflow.
What I didn't realize when I started to use it as an organizational tool was that it would transform my Finance class into a hybrid course with parts of it taking place face to face and parts of it taking place online. I was able to use class time for presentations, group meetings, simulations, peer critiques, and other activities requiring face time and have them doing research, reading, and writing on their own. Student evaluations confirmed that Showbie was much easier than Google Drive for anything not requiring real time collaboration and that most students really appreciated the time management flexibility that the system provided.
As I learned how different kinds of files and formats can be handled by Showbie, I felt the freedom to try new things and experiment in ways that I had hoped for but could not achieve with Google Drive. I truly did turn into a real time 'dungeon master,' able to control the environment for the students. I still need to explore how the app can change my classroom, but I sense that this one is a game changer. By truly freeing us from a lot of paper, it is also freeing us from some of the classic restrictions of how and when students can learn as well as how we develop class activities. Next semester (Oh, my, that is in just a few days!), I plan on using Showbie to help me more closely integrate the experience points part of the course with the money management simulation as well as help keep the topics of the in class activities closely connected with the ever changing list of currently available quests.
Showbie is free to try the basic app, and the Pro version can be acquired by 'Iolani teachers. Students use the app for free.
No comments:
Post a Comment