Educational philosophy

     Education is a very complex field.  As an educator for the past 13 years, holding different teaching positions, I have experienced the complexity.  Many factors contribute to how successful students and schools are; These range the gamut from the types of practices and engagement strategies used within schools to the educational climate outside of schools.  As such, I believe it is important to not only look within schools for answers to educational issues but also outside.  My educational philosophy consists of three parts: how the community and the individuals within shape and support education, how gamification can be used to support active engagement as a tool for student learning and technology's role as an important tool in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning.  

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How the community and the individuals within shape and support education

     For the first part of my philosophy, I believe that every individual in society makes an impact towards education.  Without the cooperation and input from everyone, education becomes weak and lacks support causing damage to society.  Education is a complex field where many different types of people influence how different aspects of the educational environment are shaped and manipulated.  Teachers and administrators usually hold the most important roles in many people's eyes.  These individuals are "on the ground" and intimately know the challenges that not only the individual school faces, but also the general climate of education as a whole.  They also determine what materials are used, what content is taught and the tools and strategies that teachers have access to.  People outside of the schools, the surrounding community, also have roles within education.  Yet some all too common problems that compromise these roles are a lack of involvement in education, the lack of information on basic educational policies and challenges that schools face and ideas that if one is not active in a school or have children active in school then they don't need to care about what is going on (Polikoff, 2014).  In fact, according to Polikoff (2014), three conclusions arise from polling numbers on education policy and advocacy within American public opinion polls: incoherent views on education, the lack of attention given to and involvement in educational policies and practices and the belief in information that is factually inaccurate.  These findings bode terribly for education because many educational policies and reforms are decided on the backs of community voters.  This general lack of apathy towards education unfortunately sends the message to those within that education isn't important or worth the time and resources to understand anything about it.  In fact, those that make up the surrounding community also influence achievement within schools.  This importance is highlighted by the National Education Association (2008), which states that "When schools, parents, families, and communities work together to support learning, students tend to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, stay in school longer, and enroll in higher level programs" (p. 1).  Ultimately everyone shares the benefit of education because an educated society leads to a successful society. 

     Without strong values for education in society, teachers and administrators’ jobs become that much harder as they try to convince others of its necessity and importance.  A big way to combat this apathy and general lack of understanding is by increasing engagement within schools and education by focusing on the immediate families and surrounding communities.  When people experience the difficulties schools, teachers, students and administrators face first hand they are more likely to be involved and informed when issues on education arise.  To do this, schools should focus on implementing engagement programs that target the communities and families that the school serves (Wood & Bauman, 2017).  According to a report on family, school and community engagement by Wood and Bauman (2017), find that the best types of programs to increase engagement are those that focus on  "engaging parents in their children’s learning through social networks, empowering parents with leadership roles in the school environment, providing parents with classes to help with their own education or their child’s education, and providing families with opportunities to engage with their children’s education at home and at school" (p. 6).  Furthermore, as suggested by the National Education Association (2008), schools can "provide better information on school and school district policies and procedures" (p. 3) and "develop an outreach strategy to inform families, businesses, and the community about school and family involvement opportunities, policies, and programs" (p. 3) in order to further reach those in the community.  As more individuals become active in schools, they become more informed about what actually happens in schools which can then extend to more involvement and awareness of educational reform and policies. 

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How gamification can support active engagement 

     Students have a great deal of information to learn within the short time they are in the general education system.  These skills, such as mental discipline and cognitive reasoning, are of utmost importance to succeeding in society.  The best way for teachers to reach students to teach them these skills is through engaging and meaningful lessons that have relevance to students' roles and future endeavors within society.  I believe students learn best when they are actively engaged with the content.  Active engagement aids in developing understanding and mastery of skills, concepts and information and as such, it’s an important piece in the puzzle of student achievement.  Getting students actively engaged is dependent on the utilization of feedback systems, social influences, such as competition and collaboration, personalization and relevance (Edwards, 2013).  Active engagement takes shape in many forms using a variety of materials, techniques and strategies.  Because of my coursework in educational technology, I feel that the best tool to use to enhance active engagement is through gamification. 

     Gamification is an important topic in educational technology that has a lot of positive implications on student engagement.  Gamification is “the use of game-play mechanics for non-game applications” (Muntean, 2011, p. 323).  Games are fun; they are epitome of engagement in a task.  As McGonigal (2011), states, good games are “an extremely powerful tool for inspiring participation and motivating hard work” (p. 26).  There is an inherent motivational quality to games that keeps players coming back for more.  Through harnessing the powerful motivational aspects of games, educational designers can create environments where students not only learn but have fun learning.  On top of the motivational aspects, the reason gamification has the potential to be so successful is because of the utilization of feedback systems, competition, collaboration and personalization of material for the learner which creates a space where active engagement is easily present.  Gamification does not mean a learning task suddenly and instantly becomes a game, rather it means using game elements that “combine intrinsic motivation with extrinsic one in order to raise motivation and engagement” (Muntean, 2007, p. 326).  These include elements like badges, leaderboards, experience points, levels, awards, missions, challenges and progress bars (Anderson & Rainie, 2012; Dichev & Dicheva, 2017; Looyestyn et al., 2017; Muntean 2011).

​     Though it is important to note that gamification is not without its shortcomings.  First, there is not enough research to fully support how effective gamification is.  In a study on empirical and theoretical research papers on gamification Dichev and Dicheva (2017), concluded that “a growing body of reported results is backed by inconclusive and insufficient evidence for making valid claims about the efficacy of gamification in education” (p. 25). Second, studies that do exist on gamification typically apply to higher education rather than K-12 education (Dichev & Dicheva, 2017, p. 6).  This limits the generalization of results for the K-12 sector.  Finally, motivation and engagement can decrease over time when the novelty of the gamified elements goes away (Looyestyn et al., 2017, p. 15).  Despite these challenges, with more research, gamification can be an important tool that teachers can add to their already extensive repertoire of strategies that can strengthen active engagement for students.

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Technology's role as an important tool in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning

     As illustrated by the benefits of gamification as a tool for enhancing active engagement, technology has a lot of potential to provide solutions for issues that education faces.  Overcrowding is one such issue where technology could be used as a solution.  Often, classes are overcrowded, which leads to teachers having difficulty reaching all students and providing individualized attention and assistance. This means that students will be left behind, especially those who were already struggling.  Blended and online learning are examples of how technology can be used as a solution.  Both blended and online learning utilize the internet to reach more students regardless of time and location restraints, allow work to be done asynchronously or synchronously and enable easy personalization of student learning.  Another issue technology could potentially fix is the difficulty in personalizing learning to individual students.  To reach those students who are struggling, often teachers utilize special intervention time to provide individual lessons on topics which students are struggling.  This functions as a way to get students caught up on information they are lacking.  This can be easy if a teacher has one or two individuals needing this kind of attention, but this isn’t the reality.  It is much harder because most students have deficits or gaps in their knowledge.  Technology can help teachers bridge these gaps and target their instruction to specific skills and content.  Specific computer and online programs help teachers reach students and can individualize learning of specific skills.  Technology also enables teachers to streamline assessment and data process that enable them to use their time more efficiently through the use of connected and networked classrooms (Irving, 2006).

     Technology is a great tool that can be used to enrich teaching and learning, though this does not mean that it is the only and best tool though.  As I mentioned there are many ways technology can be useful but because technology takes understanding and proficiency, it becomes only as useful as the one using it.  Technology isn't always easy to use either.  There is a real lack of understanding in how technology can be used, the types of technology that are available and how to seamlessly integrate it into current teaching practices and classrooms.  I believe this can be fixed though by incorporating strong research that supports teachers’ learning efforts and integrating effective teaching methods and strategies.  This allows educators to utilize the tools they are training on, increasing confidence in implementing these technologies in their classroom.  Ultimately there needs to be an understanding that embracing technology doesn’t mean that teachers must forsake all their teaching methodologies or philosophies.  Technology is meant to compliment existing practices, not overwrite them. 

 

References

Anderson, J. Q., & Rainie, L. (2012). Gamification: Experts expect 'game layers' to expand in the future, with positive and negative results. Pew Research 

        Center's Internet & American Life Project. 1-29.

Dichev, C., & Dicheva, D. (2017). Gamification education: What is known, what is believed and what remains uncertain: A critical review. International

        Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 14(9). 1-36.

Edwards. M. A. (April 16, 2013). The 6 key drivers of student engagement. T.H.E. Journal. Retrieved from 

        https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/04/16/the-6-key-drivers-of-student-engagement.aspx

Irving. K. E. (2006). The impact of educational technology on student achievement: Assessment of and for learning. Science Educator, 15(1). 13-20.

Looyestyn, J., Kernot, J., Boshoff, K., Ryan, J., Edney, S., & Maher, C. (2017). Does gamification increase engagement with online programs? A systematic

        review. PLoS ONE, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173403 

Muntean, C. I. (2011). Raising engagement in e-learning through gamification. The 6th International Conference on Virtual Learning ICVL. 323-329.

National Education Association. (2008). Parent, family, community involvement in education. Retrieved from 

        https://www.nea.org/assets/docs/PB11_ParentInvolvement08.pdf

Polikoff, M. (October 29, 2014). What do americans really think about education?. Retrieved from https://edexcellence.net/articles/what-do-americans-

        really-think-about-education

Wood, L., & Bauman, E. (2017). How family, school, and community engagement can improve student achievement and influence school 

        reform. Retrieved from https://www.nmefoundation.org/getattachment/67f7c030-df45-4076-a23f-0d7f0596983f/Final-Report-Family-

        Engagement-AIR.pdf?lang=en-US&ext=.pdf