For the final project on creating a learning tool that promotes usability, my group and I created a unit for grade 10 students to learn and develop mental health literacy using the web based Classcraft. Classcraft is an online tool that educators can use to create lessons and units to promote engagement and learning with students using theories of gamification and game based learning. We developed the unit to allow for multiple ways to complete assignments, can complete any lesson in any order, and allows for groups or teams to be made for collaborative work. My role in the group was to create the lesson on “Eating Well” and assembling the Classcraft page for student use. Classcraft did not allow for multiple editors of a quest so I was in charge of putting in all the lessons, ensuring that the settings were set to the parameters we wanted and sending out invites to my colleagues and professor to have access as a student.

Some things I really liked about Classcraft and the process of building the unit on mental health literacy were its easy navigation of the website and creation process, and its ability to allow for multiple avenues to complete assignments and promote engagement via gamification. When creating a unit and crafting the quests/lessons for students to create, you can customize it for your classroom needs. By having the ability to ensure the needs or your students are met when creating quests, it encourages educators to explore other methods of delivery of a given curriculum. 

An aspect of Classcraft that did not work was how it only let one “creator” exist and prevented multiple educators from editing or adding content to the quest. With this issue at play, we resorted to having my role be the “creator” who built the quest and added all the content that my colleagues created, and built it so that any lesson could be completed in any order. 

What I learned from this project was that when creating lessons, it is important to keep usability as a top priority. Without usability in mind when developing lessons, students will be asked to complete assignments in a single way without providing an opportunity to be assessed in ways that students would succeed in. Ensuring that students have equal and equitable access to technology and lessons ensures that all students have a chance to succeed and develop. Educational and technological usability continue to change and it is the responsibility of the teacher and government to ensure students have the ability to grow their understanding of curriculum.