For this week’s reflection, we had Tina O’Reeffe talk to us through zoom about gamification and game-based learning. She works at Esquimalt High School where she teaches tech to many students. She showed us the various google classrooms that students can choose from and how she allows them to figure out which one they would like or based off skill level. She pointed out how she no longer does lectures in her class, rather she’s the guide on the side for the students. She further talked about the different applications students can use for technology to make it more accessible. She shared with us different resources we could use from typing activities to doing unplugged coding in the classroom. It was super neat to see all the options she gives her students and how over the years she had changed her teaching style. 

One resource she talked a lot about was Hour of Code. We even got to explore this website ourselves and look through the various coding activities. One awesome thing about this website is that the activities range from different subjects and multiple different grades. I tried out two different games and they were Poem Art and Barbie You Can Be Anything. I will insert a short screen cast below showing the website and the various activities students can choose, including the description of each activity I tried out! 

Additionally, Indigenizing learning for online education is a bit tricky as traditional Indigenous ways of learning does not exactly coincide with one another. Reading through the article “The Five R’s for Indigenizing Online Learning: A Case Study of the First Nations Schools’ Principals Course” touches on using the 5 R’s: respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibility, and relationships. Further highlighting how we can incorporate these R’s into online education, this way we are able to incorporate Indigenous ways of learning.  

Feature Image: Photo by Victor Carvalho on Unsplash