Classcraft is a good use of digital technology in a math or science classroom for the following reasons:
- it increases motivation for individual students
- it increases the value of working together in groups
- it turns the classroom into an adventure, something different than a regular classroom
It is important for students to be motivated and learn to work and socialize with peers in academic contexts. This helps students become more open to working with others as professionals since in the real world, successful collaboration is vital to success. Classcraft bring such value to the classroom.
The classroom experience would be that of engagement, of dire importance to do the best in class activities in order to grow individual avatars as well as the prosperity of groups created in the adventure world of Classcraft.
The one instance where I see Classcraft may fall short is with challenging concepts. As it is designed to work along side regular class activities, it may not necessarily lend itself to provide authentic and different ways of teaching phases of the moon for example in order to rid of students’ misconceptions.
Classcraft is a good use of technology primarily because it supports good values and helps students with motivation and collaboration. It has been used in classrooms in the United States already so I see it being viable with a positive vision. Challenges to implement could be with budgets regarding hardware in the classroom like computers, projectors, smartboards etc.
Thanks,
Vibhu
I have been using Classcraft in my classroom for over 3 years now. In my experience, most of the students are totally engaged with the interface, look forward to the event of the day, and interact with it at home. It has placed value on collaboration and cooperation within the students, and I have built in one day a week that we call Kingdom Day where each group is challenged to complete the same activity (they are physical activities and mental activities). This is a great motivator for the students and I can tailor the activities on Kingdom Day to fit in with concepts that are being taught in the classroom, for instance, we are currently studying structures and forces, so this week’s challenge was to build the tallest tower out of specific materials that would withstand the force of the wind (fan) for 60 seconds at one metre away from the structure.
I have attempted classcraft and found it very challenging to use when not a homeroom teacher. I see upwards of 15 different classes a week and the administration of even a couple of pilot classes became troublesome. The major issue that many of my peers have pointed out with Classcraft, Class dojo, etc. is that they often work on a give points and take points system. It requires a lot of focus to try to catch your challenging kids doing good in order to reward them and not always be penalizing them, possibly leading to further negative behaviors.