Tech Evaluation- Class Craft

I first learned about Class Craft at the CMC-South Palm Springs Conference. I attended a session focused on tech tools to help digitize the 21st century classroom. Most of the tools were ones that I had already known about, but one that stood out in particular was Class Craft. I was interesting and one of the only tools that truly engaged me in the session. Class Craft is a simulation that the class takes part in. Each student makes their own avatar and are put into teams. The teacher can give students experience points for completing tasks, engaging in collaborative work, good behavior, etc. As students gain more experience points, they can level up and receive some sort of prize. Alternately, students who are disruptive in class or do not follow classroom norms will lose health points, and push them and their team back. I thought this tool was interesting because it seems to help with classroom management and it makes the classroom seem like a video game that many students play.

1) Does it take more time to learn the technology than to use it?

Class Craft seems pretty easy to learn and most of the time the teacher is the main person engaging in the tech.

2) Is it easy to use? (clear directions, intuitive)

From the student side, it is a lot easier to use because they are mostly just checking on their avatar and group's progress. Students can see with their health points lie and if members in their group are struggling as well, students can help save one another. This makes students want to engage and work with their group members more to ensure they are all completing a task.

3) Is it equitable/ accessible to all? (allow for offline use, required outside of the classroom, accessible for students with special needs and ELs are there potential financial burdens?)

Again, since students aren't really doing much with the tech, accessibility isn't really an issue. Students only need a few moments to check on their avatar. On the other hand, if the teacher decided to pay for a more intricate Class Craft account which allows students to complete "quests" or tasks for more points, there would be an issue of offline accessibility.

4) Can students use this tech to create new tasks? (Are students producing anything, can it be done without technology?)

Not directly. The hope is that by introducing this technology into the classroom, students are engaging with one another and classroom tasks with less behavioral issues. A common issue that comes up with group work is that students don't often ask their peers questions, instead always asking the instructor. With Class Craft, the instructor can create an opportunity to earn points if students ask one another questions before calling over the instructor that might be busy with other students/groups.

5) Can students follow their curiosities and grow as learners with this technology?

I think with Class Craft, the answer to this criteria can be answered with the same response as the previous criteria. The goal of Class Craft is to get students to be more engaged in classroom tasks. The hope is that with the experience points and the possibility of leveling up will motivate students to be more engaged in class and follow their curiosities with the task that they are engaged with.

6) Are they exploring tech with/without scaffolds and going beyond what is expected?

Ditto to this criteria as the past two questions. I think that this tech itself is something that could be used at first to get students to be motivated to engage in tasks in the classroom and eventually be taken out of the classroom. First getting students used to the idea of working in a group, and then making good behavior and group work a norm, once this is achieved Class Craft could definitely and should be removed from the classroom.

7) Does this technology connect students with learners around the world?

Unfortunately not at all.

The more research I did about Class Craft I began to realize that while I thought it was cool at first, helping me with classroom management (one of my biggest weaknesses), it kind of goes against one of my basic tenants of not using reward to motivate my students. I think that with rewards, students are less likely to grow as learners and learn to persevere on their own because the real world doesn't come with rewards. Either way, it was still interesting to learn about this new piece of tech.