Games are fun. Most people would rather spend their time playing games than working, doing chores, recycling, exercising or helping out at a community centre. However, if there was a way of incorporating the fun elements of games into these mundane or unpleasant activities, it is believed that we would achieve much greater results in our activities, and perform them with more enthusiasm and enjoyment – a win-win situation.

Children tend to learn much more quickly than adults, and this can partly be attributed to the fact that they often learn through practical play and fun, stress-free games. When the mind is engaged, relaxed and focused on attaining a goal in an entertaining medium, learners become more motivated, pick up skills more easily and gain confidence by shedding inhibitions – all essential processes to learning.

“Gamification” is a new term that describes the process of adding game elements and processes to real-world work, education and social activism. These elements could be as simple as awarding high scores and badges for completed tasks, or as subtle and complex as designing an entire project like a multiplayer adventure game.

Either way, adding game elements should focus on three elements: adding an achievable goal, introducing challenges and obstacles to overcome, and encouraging teamwork or competition. These factors, present in virtually all games, are what make them so enjoyable: players get a sense of validation and achievement from completing tasks despite the obstacles along the way. The key is incentive: the players must be motivated by the feedback, rewards and stakes provided by the game or they will lose interest.

Gamification can be applied to an almost unlimited number of situations and environments. Some applications are purely commercial: game elements designed to get customers to engage with brands. Points-based loyalty cards or frequent flyer miles, for example, offer simplistic goals and rudimentary challenges and rewards. Group buying websites encourage social collaboration and proactive sharing challenges to achieve the goal of a discount. Even limited-time offers, like a two-hour flash sale, create a sense of urgency as customers strive to meet the requirements on time.

Gamification theory can also be used to raise work productivity and encourage people to strive towards the “greater good”. A game called “World Without Oil”, developed in 2007, encouraged participants to pretend that there was a petrol shortage in their region and to find simple, collaborative and innovative ways to circumvent this problem. Research later found that the participants not only developed good habits and came up with ingenious ideas, they also continued to practise their responsible behaviours long after the game concluded.

When it comes to education, games can play a valuable role too. Even though most students have the best of intentions, many find it hard to motivate themselves to engage fully with their learning – conflicting responsibilities, boredom and lack of self-confidence are the main culprits. Including a game mechanism overcomes this hurdle because the student gets instant feedback from the learning system – rewards, new challenges, new opportunities to help or collaborate, encouraging progress reports and constantly nearing goals. There is always something to do – a small step to get closer to achieving a goal or becoming the best in the class.

In the future, entire courses – or even degree programs – could be designed as giant cooperative games. For now, however, incorporating meaningful elements of gameplay into curricula is one good way to stimulate students’ interest and increase both motivation and engagement.

Visit www.GetSmarter.co.za for more information about online learning.

Among the myriad of definitions from different lexicons, the Oxford dictionary’s definition of  the word “study” is “taking pains to achieve“. When I saw this definition it  somehow sounded ridiculous to me.  It is only now recently that I found myself thinking back and actually delving deeper into this meaning.  Receiving the final Unisa exam  timetable in my post and email, was the best feeling I ever experienced.  It kind of surged an instant energy to my muscles and spirit which indicated to me, that I am so geared up to sitting for this last exam so I can obtain my degree.  Unisa’s course work is designed such that one is required to complete a number of compulsory assignments per module, which will eventually determine one’s exam admission. When that time comes where you are formally informed, you have been admitted,   you feel so elated,  like you have already passed the course.

Little did I know that, come “CRUNCH” time, I was going to experience a totally different feeling.  As I am expressing all these feelings on paper right now at this very moment, it is my study time.  One would think it is during my break time that I’m doing this but no … it is not.  Writing an article whilst I am supposed to be studying isn’t the only excuse I  try to escape into.  I can always have an ample time to start studying just before I take special leave from work, but I will always postpone it to the time that I’m actually on leave.  Still when that time comes, I will search for every possible excuse in the book which will keep me away from studying.  The first thing when I wake up would be: “Let me take a bath then study”. After the bath it will be: “Let me first check my mails, respond to those that need my urgent attention, and then study.” At that time, my cell is flooding with wall status from all my face book friends, and responding to them is the tranquilizer I desperately need to keep me away from this monster…studying.  The last blow, that I was actually laughing at, was when I decided I need to visit the home-affairs department to check on my passport which I  applied for way back in July. One would reckon, avoiding to study is the best force to drive one to do all things you hate doing, passionately.  In a nutshell, all I’m trying to tell  the readers here is that, studying is as much a monster to a student like sleep is to a toddler.

This discovery made me to become empathetic to learners in our classes.  I, for the first time wore their shoes and relived the torture they always have to go through whenever we as teachers, expect good grades from them, compounded by the pressure parents exert on them for their designed destinies.  Yes, we all know that if there is no pain, there won’t be any gain, but seriously… how do we work on easing this burden from their shoulders? I further had a monologue where I was asking myself what is it that can actually serve as  intrinsic motivation for our learners to face this monstrous endeavour with much enthusiasm and enjoyment.  If I, as an adult wait for the eleventh hour to labour in front of my books, knowing fully well that I can’t afford to throw the money I paid for the modules down the drain, let alone miss on opportunities to open further doors for myself, what about a poor child with immature thinking skills?  As much as I always pass these modules after unnecessarily pressurising myself to study, the question remains – how do I bypass this struggle of study avoidance? Is it a sign of lack of discipline or is it a natural feeling?  If it is natural, well … I believe just as much as medical practitioners came up with strategies to ease the pain of child birth, so; should we, as teachers embark on employing strategies that will ease the natural pain of studying.  What a challenge … more so, can it be attainable?

I found this letter to the editor this morning while reading through the Cape Times. I consider it a follow up to my previous article, You’re a teacher. Deal with it.

The following letter was written by RM Dugmore.

I write this as an ex-teacher and headmaster of 40 years’ experience, whose family has been involved with education for many years. A recent comment in one of the newspapers that the dropping of OBE was not a cure-all has prompted me to write in support.

While acknowledging the inequalities in education, one has at the same time to give credit to the role played by dedicated teachers. Apart from the hard work in the classroom, true teachers willingly participate in helping to organise sport and cultural activities.

It seems to me that many teachers today are in it for all the wrong reasons. I know certain schools where teachers are late for class, who take their time finishing takeaways over break. They fraternise with their pupils, use “stress” as an excuse for staying away and do little to prepare their charges for final examinations.

Yet these teachers draw the same salaries as their conscientious colleagues.

The argument that some schools get results because of the facilities their pupils enjoy is not true. What about the outstanding results achieved by some very poor schools? What do they have in common with more successful schools? Dedicated teachers!

The staff at these poorer schools generally have a competent, dedicated principal and a staff who turn up on time and help coach weaker pupils in the afternoon or even over weekends.

We now have pupils (why learners?) returning to school after a ridiculously long break to find teachers (why educators?) preparing to go on strike.

This at a time when we are told 1GOAL – education – and coinciding with the appeal on Madiba’s birthday to sacrifice their spare time!

I believe there are some 100 days to go before the exams come round. This is usually the reason why lazy teachers and lazy pupils choose to strike.

Anything to drum up an excuse for the poor exam results which will inevitably follow.

What do YOU think? Add your comments below.

It’s amazing how learners, parents, even teachers themselves, are still grappling with the answer to a big question that is frequently yet silently asked to the ordinary teacher: “Was teaching your chosen job, or your calling?”.

Well, it all depends on the definition one assigns to both “the job” and “a calling”. To me, a job is an execution of a task or rendering of a service for the purpose of acquiring payment. Whether one enjoys or feels passionate about it, it’s of secondary interest to all parties involved. A calling on the other hand, is a combination of executing a task and enjoying every moment of the whole process. Yes, the payment forms part of it, but one happens to have a strong sense of suitability for this particular job or career.

Though it may seem far fetched, especially in the present economy,  teaching, to some of us is indeed a calling. There is nothing more exhilarating than to witness an “AHA-moment” or experience the facial expressions of learners in your classroom as you are busy imparting knowledge or a skill to them. These learners come to your class dragging their feet, maybe because of the weariness brought on by climatic conditions, or weariness brought on by emotional tension they might be experiencing because of their domestic challenges. Even possibly weariness, derived from the previous lesson where they couldn’t make head or tail of what was being disseminated, let alone expected from them.

As they sit down and blankly stare at you, expecting the same mental torture, you skillfully, with love, engage them in the concept you have prepared for your lesson. You see them gradually but steadily liven up. It’s not because of your fancy skill, but because of passion, love, determination, understanding and caring that you exude throughout the lesson. The atmosphere is so light and encompassing that if it was possible, you would stop the bell from ringing and just continue with this lesson that has kept learners transfixed to their seat, focused on the delivery and captivated by the enlightening experience they are receiving.

If you’re a departmental official, what should you do if you encounter a teacher with such capabilities?

Do you encourage him or her to apply for a post at the office, or even a promotional post which will give more office-bound administrative duties that move him or her farther from teaching? Teaching that caused him or her to choose this field in the first place.

I’m at present two levels away from learners that give me a reason to get up every morning. Yes, teaching and developing other teachers is also part of teaching and training, but to me, it’s not as fulfilling as teaching learners. The rewards are so different.

I do not believe that which puts some of the best teachers on the map is their skill, per say, but rather the chemistry evoked by the reciprocity one receives from working with fresh, curious minds in a classroom. For one to feel that chemistry, it has a lot to do with the recipients. In my case, it’s definitely the learners, for they learn for the purpose of learning. I’m on top of my game in doing my office job, managing the curriculum, the debit system and even the institution itself, but my heart and soul isn’t in that at all. It’s within those four walls that a teacher, and I mean a teacher who loves his or her job,  feels alive.

It’s actually with a sad note that one discovers the fact that high ranking officials, with expertise to manipulate the system, become so myopic to the fact that a good teacher doesn’t necessarily make a good head of department, deputy principal, principal or even a school management developer. That, in order to access better remuneration, we have to leave the classroom and abandon our calling, is a total detriment to the society and future generations. On that very same note, you ask yourself about the present hype that is so controversial – is a new curriculum the sole source of the high failure rate of the modern matriculants? Is it not possible that the system, the way it has tailored the growth of a teacher, contributes a lot by disarming learners of the best teachers and mentors? Is it a fictitious dream or ideology for teachers to move up the remuneration ranks without actually leaving their calling?

Add your comments below.

A press release from the weekly newsletter of the leader of the Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille

To improve education, SADTU must match its words with its deeds.

Any discussion on education in South Africa inevitably begins with a litany of its failings.  These collectively constitute an “education crisis”.

Like most truths that are repeated often enough, this litany has turned into political cliché and lost the power to shock.

That is why the new angle, in a speech by Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga this week, got people listening again.

She denied there was a crisis in education as a whole:  “It is the education of an African child that is in crisis. The education of children in other communities still remains quite good.”

This statement has evoked much tweeting and blogging.   My own response is this:  If the education of the “African child” is in crisis, it is a crisis for everyone.   “African” children constitute the overwhelming majority of our young people who will shape our country’s future and our place in the world.

Although I would take issue with the Minister’s terminology (I believe white, coloured and Indian children are also African children), her statement is correct.

Any objective analysis of education statistics, demonstrates that if the “African Child” to whom she refers, is attending a school run by the former Department of Education and Training (otherwise known as ex-DET schools), they are falling way behind.    The “African child” who attends a former “model C” school achieves grades that are comparable with pupils in any other category.   And in a recent study of matric pupils studying higher grade mathematics, there was virtually no difference between the “African child” in former “model C” schools and other children in those schools.  But there was a 40% point difference between African children in former DET schools and those in former Model C schools.    This shows what we have always known.  There is nothing inherently lacking in the “African child”.  But there is a very distinct problem with former DET schools.

An analysis of matric results tells the same story.   In the Western Cape, the matric pass rate in former DET schools in 2009 was 49%. The overall average pass rate in the Province was 75%.  This stark divergence does not emerge slowly over 12 years of schooling.  It is already there from the start.  At the end of grade 3, most children in ex DET schools do not meet the most basic foundation-phase literacy and numeracy targets.  And the switch to mother tongue in the foundation phase has not improved matters.

In the Western Cape Education Department, we are currently undertaking in-depth research on the barriers to learning in these schools, including the role played by language.  There have been too many simplistic diagnoses and misdirected “solutions” that have made no difference to the capacity of schools to perform their basic functions:  teaching children how to read, write, calculate and to think.

There are many contributing factors.  We have to understand how these factors interact in a way that results in the consistent failure of these schools to improve their performance, despite the massive redistribution of resources to them over the past 15 years.  In fact the resources allocated to teachers in these schools has increased 30% during this period without any tangible improvements, and in some cases actual decline.  Increased resources have not translated into better outcomes.  We have to find out why.

There can be no doubt that an important factor is the quality of teaching.

There have been several major studies on this in the past which consistently demonstrate that in failing schools, teachers often do not have the subject content knowledge required of them.  One of the shocking statistics in the McKinsey Report concluded that only 33% of teachers teaching grades 4 – 7 in 1000 schools across four provinces were able to pass numeracy tests at the level that was expected of their pupils.

Increasing the number of weak teachers does nothing to improve the quality of education at these schools.  After all, the additional 30% in teacher allocation in these schools has made no difference.  Addressing the problem of quality will take a long time.  We have to recruit excellent students into the teaching profession, train them well, encourage them to stay in South Africa and teach in the public school system.  We have to find a way of making sure that every teacher appointed to a post is “fit for the purpose” of teaching the required subject.  And we have to find ways of terminating the services of those who are not, and who do not improve despite additional training and support.

It is also a fact that most teachers in our failing schools are members of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU).  At other schools teachers tend, by and large, to belong to other unions such as the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA) or the Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysers Unie (SAOU).

One of the most important recent developments in education was the announcement two weeks ago that these three unions had agreed to sign an Accord with the national Department of Basic Education committing themselves to improving the quality of public schooling.  This social contract, if it is translated into practice, could be a watershed in the long, uphill struggle to improve education.

We strongly support this social contract, and will do all we can to help meet the quid-pro-quo required from the state, by providing the required facilities, learning resources, and support.  We take the unions, and particularly SADTU, at their word when they say they are committed to improving the quality of public education.

That is why it came as such a shock to learn that, since this announcement, SADTU has made a move to establish itself as the only recognized union in the teaching sector.  In effect, SADTU is seeking to remove the access of the two other unions (SAOU and NAPTOSA) to the collective bargaining process.  This will effectively kill off SADTU’s competitors.

SADTU’s sleight of hand has come in a letter addressed to the Education Labour Relations Council, in which SADTU promotes the concept of “one union for one industry”.  It proposes to achieve this for the teaching profession by increasing the membership threshold for a union to gain access to the bargaining Council from the present 50,000 members to 100,000 members.  This would exclude every union except SADTU.  And SADTU knows that no teacher will want to belong to a union that cannot negotiate on their behalf.

It is difficult to understand that SADTU members can seriously commit themselves to improving the quality of education one day, and submit this proposal to the Education Labour Relations Council the next.  Given that it has done so, SADTU should not be too surprised if people begin to question the genuineness of its commitment to improving the quality of education.

After all, according to the independent Tokiso Review, 42% of all work days lost due to strike action across the economy between 1995-2009 were attributable to SADTU.  That is the most shocking statistic in the new South Africa because it demonstrates how much SADTU is prepared to sacrifice the future of what Minister Motshekga calls the “African child” in order to advance their own interests.  In this context it is hardly surprising that education for these children is facing such a grave crisis.

Surely SADTU can see what damage their proposal would do to the public education sector? SADTU must recognize that, as a consequence of their actions over the past 15 years, and the results of the children they teach, they have lost the public’s confidence when it comes to providing quality education.  Indeed, they have lost the confidence of their own members.  That is why SADTU members generally do whatever they can to send their own children to schools with the fewest possible number of SADTU teachers.

SADTU must take responsibility for turning this perception around.  We are prepared to help them.  But this will require taking joint responsibility for improving the quality of education in dysfunctional schools, not destroying those that work.   Instead of continuing its attack on quality education, and the teachers who provide it, let us take joint responsibility for extending the quality that exists into every school in the country.   We are ready to work together with SADTU.  We look forward to their reciprocation.

What do YOU think? Type your comments below.

Englishnet is a new website created by English teachers, for English teachers. It was created specifically to host resources for the teaching of the  South African English Language curriculum. This website offers a range of resources from lesson plans, to programmes of assessment, electronic marksheets, specific lessons on the prescribed literature, etc. It also has a forum on which English teachers can post questions and network in order to help other English teachers in any way possible.

This website recognizes that language teachers often need a great volume of different texts and teaching aids in order to get through the prescribed work, and therefore this website acts as a platform through which English teachers can help each other. Membership is free of charge, and by becoming a member you not only have access to all of the resources on the site, but you can also upload some of your own lesson plans and other tools to share with other teachers.

As a new English teacher, I have found this website to be extremely valuable and helpful. I could obtain all of the programmes of assessment, the electronic marksheets for 2010, and also other resources regarding the prescribed literature for the year. This website has made it so much easier for me to get started, and get all the necessary resources, for teaching English in South Africa. I can highly recommend it to any English teachers in South Africa! Visit the website at www.englishnet.co.za and become a member today!

Ek is ‘n gegradueerde Sielkunde student, wat aan die einde van 2009 besluit het om aansoek te doen vir onder andere ‘n paar onderwysposte, aanvanklik net om te kyk of ek vir enige onderhoude genooi sou word. Eers toe ek vir my eerste onderhoud genooi is, het ek dit regtig ernstig begin oorweeg, en toe ek ‘n pos aangebied is by ‘n skool, het ek besluit dit sal vir my ‘n goeie uitdaging wees om die pos te aanvaar.

Ek wil nie voorgee dat ek ooit myself gesien het as onderwyser nie, en daarom was dit nogal ‘n aanpassing om weer gewoond te raak aan die roetine van skoolgaan. Soos enige jong onderwyser, was ek aanvanklik skepties en selfs ‘n bietjie skrikkerig, veral aangesien ek juis bewus is, vanuit my Sielkundige agtergrond, van die probleme wat hedendaagse tieners moet hanteer en die kinders wat ek sou onderrig uit sogenaamde “minder-bevoorregte” areas kom.

Ek sal eerlik wees en sê dat daar meer as een keer beelde van mes-gevegte, vuis-gevegte en bek-gevegte in my geestesoog verby geflits het, in die weke voordat skool begin het. Met my “veglustige” gedagtes het ek toe my nuwe hoërskool betree, nie werklik seker van wat op my wag nie.

Ek sal wil kan sê dat al my vrese van my nuwe hoërskool verniet was, maar soos wat dit dikwels in die realiteit werk, was dit nie die geval nie. Tog, het ek gevind dat tieners nie heeltemal so anders is as wat ek hulle onthou nie. Ja, daar was al ‘n paar vuis-gevegte en meer as ‘n paar beledigings en konfrontasies tussen kinders wat ek en my kollegas al moes hanteer, maar tog vind ek dat die tieners van vandag in baie maniere nog baie dieselfde is as wat ek hulle onthou. Daar is nogsteeds die raserige kinders, altyd vol grappies, die stil kinders wat nie raak gesien wil word nie, die verliefdes, die dag-dromers en daardie kinders wat net wil hê iemand moet vir hulle ‘n bietjie aandag gee.

Ek het reeds genoem dat my nuwe hoërskool ‘n skool is wat bestaan uit hoofsaaklik “minder-bevoorregte” leerders, en ek reeds voor die skooljaar begin het deur van my kollegas ingelig is oor die moeilike, soms ondenkbare, situasies waardeur baie van die leerders al moes kom. Dus was dit onmiddelik opvallend hoe vreugdevol meeste van die kinders in my hoërskool is, en enige geleentheid gebruik om dit vir my as onderwyser te wys. Of dit nou is om vir my te groet met ‘n groot glimlag, vir my te waai na skool, of vir my te kom vertel van hul families, is dit ongelooflik hoe hierdie leerders skool kan gebruik om, selfs net vir ‘n kort rukkie, van hul probleme te vergeet.

Ek is alreeds bewus daarvan dat dit nie maklik is om ‘n onderwyser te wees nie, en ek weet dat ek waarskynlik voor die einde van die jaar ‘n paar keer die handdoek (of handboek) gaan wil ingooi, maar ek het ook ‘n verantwoordelikheid teenoor my leerders om die beste onderrig te gee wat ek kan. Ek noem dit MY nuwe hoërskool omdat ek as onderwyser onlosmaaklik deel is van die sisteem, en op my eie manier ook (weer) hoërskool moet oorleef.