Social Justice – Bhuddism / Queernes Radical Dhama

Posted on 24th June 2023 by Lorraine French

One of the first questions I had to ask myself and look up was what does dharma mean?

There are several different definitions of Darma for Hindu and Buddhism, but, is generally known as the ‘Teachings of Buddha’. In this article, a review of the Radical Dharma, it is looking at how injustice and white supremacy have affected the Buddhism. Although, I would argue that it is the other way around for most religions!

As with all religions, Buddhism needs to shape up for the future, to acknowledge where the weaknesses lie, and take a good look at it’s inclusivity, (or lack of). A new breed of Darma is on the rise in American Buddhism.

New ideas, looking at ways to improve inclusivity, to ‘deconstruct rather than amplify systems of suffering’.

As with all religions, the prejudice and inequalities against different communities within Society needs redressing. The Christian church may now have women bishops, but, speaking to a women chaplain recently, I will add that this is still reluctantly! It is still not possible for a woman to be ordained in the Roman Catholic church however, in fact it is considered a crime! The Vatican sees it as a serious crime in canon law. So, there is still a lack of equality for women in most religions.

After 10 years of legal same sex marriages in a civil setting in the UK, with the establishment of The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act (2013), the Church of England still refuses to budge on same sex marriages taking place in a church. Another prejudice, and inequality. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture I’m painting.

I believe that religion has to answer for many of the wrongs in the world today and in the past. Inequality of women’s rights, girls not being allowed to go to school, the abuse of power and greed. Abuse and cover ups by the church throughout the ages not to mention the wars in the name of religion. Those persecuted as witches if they were different, or offered a different explanation to that of the church, like scientist. Protestants against Catholics, Catholics against Protestants.

One of the books authors, Lama Rod Owens, criticizes the capitalisation of some Sanghas, that they have been compromised and have watered down their teachings in order to sell classes.

At this point, I will mention the discussion that began about Yoga, when recapping the article. Although I attend yoga classes, these are exercise classes to me, I attend for my physical health and yes, probably my mental health too. Faith and religion have never entered my head when taking a class, and I believe it is probably the same for many of the other participants that attend. But I know that this is not true of most of the teachers, (not the ones I have known anyway!). It was mentioned that yoga is seen largely as a white middle class woman thing. However, the class I attend is very different to that. Maybe it is because of local demographics of where I live, maybe I was wrong in my previous statement and there is more of a spirituality element for those in attendance. But it is well attended by a diverse group of people including people of colour. So, not your stereotypical yoga class as mentioned during the discussion. Does this mean that the popularity of Buddhism is on the rise, or just the popularity of yoga?

Is Buddhism following in the footsteps of the “Christian Megachurches” as described by Webster, (2017). Has the raise of Yoga popularity given the religion it’s own money making scheme?

Has this become the priority over the Buddhism teachings? Is this the compromise Lama Rod Owens talks about? Or maybe one of the elements?

The term “Radicalized Society” is used in the article. Is ours a radicalized society? Sure, there are element of Radicalization. Who is responsible for the radicalization of our society? Do we need more?

Yes, sometimes radical thinking might be necessary, but is more extremism the answer?

How any of this fits into my practice, heaven only knows!! (Sorry! Couldn’t resist!)

Being aware of radical views, and radicalisation is part of the prevent training that I must attend as part of the safeguarding training in school on an annual basis. So, coming from a different angle, it is important to be aware of, and I must say, I know I only work at UAL part time, but I am surprised that there is not more in the way of safeguarding training in FE and HE too.

Although I must come across as really anti religion, I am not.  It is the greed and the power and the ‘old boys’ network (which the church is in a different setting, like class, politics and other big business). I work in a church school and see much of the good the church does too. Faith and community are really important factors in many people’s lives.

What is important for me to take away from this, is that students should feel comfortable and able to talk and share their experiences in a safe place, that feels safe. And I will try to ensure that I make space for this by including different religions in resources where possible, finding new resources that are reflective of other religions and cultures is important to.

In school I have expanded the libraries collections, ensuring there is a range of diverse and inclusive books from a range of different authors for students to access. It is important that they feel represented in the resources that are available to them to help them to engage in their learning.

References

Webster, T (2017) Social Justice/Buddhism/Queerness, Higher Power: Religion, Faith & Spirituality & Belief, Pg 35-36. Shades of Noir.

Useful websites – Further reading

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-63923460

Buddhism and Social Action: Engaged Buddhism | The Pluralism Project

Buddhism and social justice: doctrine, ideology and discrimination in tension – Leiden University (universiteitleiden.nl)

Buddhist Perspectives on Diversity, Discrimination, Social Justice and Politics — Mindful Teachers

https://www.christian.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/ssm-legal-guide.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prevent-duty-training

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/reporting-abuse/dedicated-helplines/protecting-children-from-radicalisation/

https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=Buddhist+Perspectives+on+Diversity,+Discrimination,+Social+Justice+and+Politics+%E2%80%94+Mindful+Teachers&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/journals/higher-power-religion-faith-spirituality-belief/

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Blog #3 A Pedagogy of Social Justice education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality and Empowerment by Aaron J Hahn Tapper (2013)

Posted on 22nd June 2023 by Lorraine French

In this paper Hahn Tapper examines a program of education using Social Justice Pedagogy. How it works and why it is important. I have only read the beginning of the paper and have learned so much already.

One of the first things that the article tackles is the lack of an agreed definition of social justice education. There are many definitions round the term, and as Hahn Tapper says, by not having an overriding definitive definition, the term can become diluted and confusing.

However, the overarching goal is to create students who are well versed in the ideals of social Justice and equality.

“It encourages students to challenge and transform unequal power relationships.” The education hub (2021)

The program aims, by following the theory of conflict resolution, to bring sides together with activities requiring collaboration, and that by getting to know each other through working together, barriers and prejudices will be removed, and students will have overcome any previous biases they held.

There are 5 Pillars to the theory of social Justice Education as shown in the diagram below:

Hahn Tapper (2013)

Pillar 1: Freire, notion of social justice looks at the idea that education enables students “to achieve freedom both intellectually and physically” Freire (2006) Hahn Tapper (2013)

Another important element is that of students experience of life, their social identity, and that of the teachers too, and that the teacher is not just providing information as with the banking system, but that they, students, and teachers, engage in critical reflection, considering their own identities.

Teachers become facilitators, guiding students through their learning not leading, or trying to instill information upon them.

Pillar 2: Social Identity theory

The program follows the contact hypothesis, where intergroup anxiety and differences can be resolved. Thus, breaking down barriers between different groups. By creating opportunities for groups to cooperate and build positive working relationships, the negative preconceptions and stereotypes are dissolved, and conflict no longer exist. Breaking down the barriers, bias, and prejudice.

Although, there has been research to show that the contact Hypothesis has the potential to reconcile conflict within groups there is also research to show, that this method can also lead to deeper conflict if not managed properly, which is where the SIT, Social Identity Theory comes into play. “Intergroup encounters must be approached in and through student’s larger social identities.” Hahn Tapper (2013), pg 417.

“Social Identity underpins intergroup behaviour and sees this as qualitatively distinct from interpersonal behaviour.” Hahn Tapper (2013), pg 417.

Without the Social identity element, an activity based on Contact hypothesis cannot succeed. Hahn Tapper (2013)

There was much more to read on the remaining pillars, which I may have to come back to later.

How can I relate this to my practice?

I think that in the teaching that I will be doing moving forward, one off workshops, different groups of students, it could be difficult to build this into workshops. However, having said that, any opportunity for group work and discussion could draw on SIT.

References

Freire, P (2006) Pedagogy of the oppressed, 0th anniversary ed. New York, Continuum.

Hahn Tapper, A.J, (2013), A pedagogy of social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality, and empowerment. In Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Vol 30, no.4. Available at: A Pedagogy of Social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality, and Empowerment – Hahn Tapper – 2013 – Conflict Resolution Quarterly – Wiley Online Library. Accessed 6/6/2023

The Education Hub, (2021) A social justice approach to education. Available at: https://theeducationhub.org.nz/a-social-justice-approach-to-education/Acessed, 12/6/23

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IP

Posted on 24th May 2023 by Lorraine French

Disability too white

Not enough media representation of disabled people of colour – Is this still true today?

The article was published in 2016. There has certainly been an increase in disabled and disabled people of colour on the TV recently, especially the BBC. Is it proportionate? I don’t know.

I know that the UK census (2021) states that 17.7% of the population in England and 21% in Wales have a disability. So, to be proportionate, around 20% of presenters on TV should have a disability.

12% of the total population aged 16 and over are from a minority ethnic background. ( House of Commons Library analysis of survey microdata. (ONS (2021). Annual Population Survey Three-Year Pooled Dataset, January 2018 – December 2020. [data collection]. 2nd Edition. UK Data Service. SN: 8855, DOI: 10.5255/UKDA-SN-8855-2

Based on data from the Annual Population Survey, an estimated 10% of disabled people aged 16 and over are from a minority ethnic background. (https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9602/CBP-9602.pdf)

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/124255/bbc1-bbc2-diversity-monitoring.pdf

https://disabilityhorizons.com/2022/10/less-than-2-of-characters-in-the-top-uk-tv-show-are-disabled/

Unfortunately, disabled people of colour were not identified in this report.

So, although the figures show that there have been improvements in the number of disabled people appearing on our TV’s, as presenters and as characters in shows. It is not clear how many are disabled people of colour. However, despite the improvements, there is still much work to be done.

The Independent reported

“Disabled people are “shut out” of the UK television industry but the BAME population is now over-represented on screen, compared with the overall population, the most comprehensive survey of diversity in broadcasting has found.” (https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/tv-industry-disabled-people-shut-out-bame-representation-  Adam Sherwin  (Feb 2020)

Things are changing, but there is still much work to be done!

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IPU 1 Disability Christine Sun Kim film

Posted on 21st May 2023 by Lorraine French

I watched this video several times. The first time left me feeling inspired and in awe of Christine.

I had to keep watching to because I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about, and I was so impressed with how Christine coped. You would not know that she had a disability, until she begins to signs. Hearing loss is another of those invisible disabilities.

Christine made me think about all of the other amazing artists that there are and have been that have had disabilities. It also made me think about how amazing the human body and the mind is. How it adapts and evolves to work with what it has. I thought about the left and the right of the brain and how this affects us all. The idea that we have a dominant side left or right. But apparently this isn’t accurate.

“Several studies have debunked the old brain theory and straightened out information regarding hemispheric differences. Recent research has shown that the human brain has a symmetrical structure for a reason; everyone uses both brain regions equally unless one side has been damaged due to a brain injury. “ (Left Side vs. Right Side of the Brain | Different Functions of the Brain | NaturalTherapyPages.com.au)

But it makes sense, in a way, that there is such a high proportion of students with disabilities, or neurodiverse, (including dyslexia), studying art and design. UAL has a higher proportion of students with disability than the national benchmark. Could it have something to do with brain dominance? Although, this theory has since been challenged, there is a lot of continuing research in to the differences of the  brain of dyslexic children too, which is very interesting. Dyslexia and the Brain: What Does Current Research Tell Us? | Reading Rockets.  Is it the creative side (the right) that is dominant? The brain is an amazing organ which I will never understand, but those that do and are continuing to research may give us the answers one day!

The other thing I was thinking was about the sense. It is said that if you lose the use of one sense the others will heighten to compensate. I do this myself sometimes when I can’t hear properly, I know its silly, but it sort of makes sense as to why I reach for my glasses. Its not going to make me hear any better, but is that a normal reaction for the brain to look more intently, to try to see better?  If we can’t hear, we look more intently to understand what is going on, we lip read. Or am I just weird?

Christine says at one point “lets listen with our eyes and not just our ears” and she shows us many different ways of seeing sound.

Her frustrations as a child, growing up are touched upon, and it puts me in mind with a recent conversation with a pupil at school. But, as many with disabilities do, Christine has developed her own coping mechanisms and developed her curiosity into an art form. Amazing!!

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Microteaching – Reflections – After the event

Posted on 17th March 2023 by Lorraine French

Reflections – After the event

The feedback from the session, was mostly positive, and had the WOW factor, according to 2 of my peers.

Eyes literally lit up when I got the boxes out of my bag. There was a little disappointment when they realized that the Celebrations box was not filled with chocolates, but the LEGO seemed to be a good consolation prize. I don’t know if I would have got away with anything less!

I forgot to explain at the beginning, the purpose of the task, going straight into the instructions for the activity. However, this seemed to work in my favour according to the feedback, as it increased the anticipation and element of surprise at the end of the activity.

Comments:

“A quick, fun and effective way to make a very important point about plagiarism (and I teach IP, so it’s a really helpful idea)”

“The WOW factor, surely! Such a straightforward depiction of what referencing means and why it is important.”

It was suggested that less time could have been spent on the building of the LEGO creations, however, that was a little contentious, as most felt that it was good to have that time to develop a connection/ownership over their creation, thus increasing the impact at the end.

Another commented that there could have been more on the referencing of material.

The original activity that I based my session upon, Buckley, (2015), was much longer and had follow-up referencing activities.

I did consider the possibility of reducing the building time and trying to squeeze in another activity, however, on reflection, I am glad that I left it as it was.

If I were to run the session again with more time, I would include further activities and more discussion to support and reinforce the learning outcomes.        

Only one participant said that they had, at one point during the building of her LEGO creation, wondered what LEGO had to do with anything, but that she was enjoying herself too much, she forgot to ask the question. This is something that is noted In Buckley’s (2015) session.

So, all in all a successful teaching session, using active learning to generate engagement which allowed those taking part to learn by connecting new ideas and experiences to what they already knew, which supports the constructivist learning theory.

If I were to run the session again, I would provide some written instructions too as a reminder. Some students were so engrossed in building their LEGO that they forgot they needed to use LEGO from 3 different boxes, which I had to remind them of.

I believe the Learning outcomes were achieved. All peers/students engaged with the activity and seemed to understand the purpose of the activity. The LEGO bricks being a metaphor for intellectual ideas and theories and the importance of referencing when using others’ ideas to develop our own.

Two peers said that they would use the same activity in their own teaching sessions.

Buckley, C (2015), ‘Conceptualising Plagiarism: Using Lego to construct students’ understanding of authorship and citation’, Teaching in Higher Education, 20(3), pp. 352-358. DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2015.1016418. https://dio.org/10.1080/13562517.2015.1016418. Accessed: 28/1/2023

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Finding Amazing Images & Using them Ethically 16-2-23 – Reflections

Posted on 17th March 2023 by Lorraine French

Disaster!

The thing I had been dreading most happened. No Students turned up!

It was never going to be a big teaching group, but there were 8 students booked in, and I was beginning to relax a bit. However, on the day, they were all no shows!! I could have cried!

Is it possible that the students turned up and were unable to find us in the Old College Library? If they were from other sites, then yes. I suppose that is a possibility.

I was told however, that it is not unusual for students to not turn up to lectures and tutorials, so it is not wholly surprising when they don’t turn up to extracurricular sessions, which of course this was.

I realised very late on, that although the session was advertised through ASO, and some course tutors, I had not put up any posters in or around the library, which was a big oversight on my part. It was a concern of mine from the beginning that no one would turn up, yet I did not take any steps to reduce the risk of this from happening other than asking others to spread the word. I will be better prepared next time!

I am of course disappointed that all of the preparation for the event, did not produce the required results. However, the session did run with a few colleagues who stepped in to save the day, and the observations did go ahead. But the results will surely not be as positive as they might have been,  and I’m going to have to do it again at some point.

Until Information literacy is fully embedded into the curriculum, this will continue to happen, and students will slip through the net. So, we will continue to embed where we can and play bigger parts in course delivery where we can until those bridges are built, through stronger links with academic staff/team members.

In the meantime, I’m reliably informed that food is a great motivator, (I myself, am motivated by food it seems!), so maybe pizza may be on the menu next time, or something a little less messy like a pack of biscuits, (this usually does the trick in school).

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Embedding Information Literacy (16/2/23)

Posted on 17th March 2023 by Lorraine French

I read somewhere a few years ago about a university that was embedding Information Literacy into its’ PG Cert program, thus reaching lecturers and academic staff this way, spreading the importance of Information Literacy Skills.

Even as a trained Librarian, being out of the mode of study for so long, I am finding, that even with my knowledge and good intentions, how easy it is to mess up, if you don’t record everything that you might later want to go back to. It is a habit, no doubt, for those who research all the time. However, for those starting out, or even those returning to education after a long break, the process of information gathering, recording, and summarising etc, should, surely be the first thing that we learn, because everything else depends upon us having this ability, and despite our best intentions, very few students will leave school with the required skills for university.

I have been reading how plagiarism is a growing concern. Surely, if students are better educated in information retrieval, the incidents of Plagiarism will decline. Of course, there will be those who choose to plagiarise, but it will help to eliminate the plagiarism through lack of understanding and bad practice. It is such an essential skill, yet it is not required to be on the curriculum at school or at university. There are a growing number of Librarians and academics working together to teach Information Literacy. Frameworks for Information Literacy in Higher education, exist in the USA, with  the ACRL framework for Information Literacy, (2016) and in the UK we have the CILIP Information Literacy group and the SCONUL Seven Pillars! But is that enough?

One example of how Librarians and academic staff have worked together in UAL, can be found in Duncan, A, (2019), Crossing the threshold: innovations in information literacy. Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, Vol 4 / Issue 1 pp.16-22.

Alexandra Duncan, Academic Support Librarian at Chelsea College of Arts worked with a Fashion Management Course Leader at London College of Fashion, to design and embed three classes using the threshold concepts of information literacy to teach information literacy.

This is a great example of what can be done. There are of course (or would be) concerns if all academic staff suddenly wanted this to happen (which of course it should!), for their courses. There simply isn’t the time or the number staff needed to go around. So maybe one of the biggest problems is (as always) resources. If staff had more time, maybe more collaborations like the one mentioned above, could take place.

Embedding IL into the Curriculum is full of issues and concerns. In McCluskey, (2011), a survey of academic staff showed that they were reluctant to embed IL as part of their course because they were not confident enough to teach it themselves and would need more training first.

References

Duncan, A, (2019), Crossing the threshold: innovations in information literacy. Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, Vol 4 / Issue 1 pp.16-22.

McCluskey, (2011), Creating Information Literacy Partnerships in Higher Education. Library & Information Research. Vol 35. No. 111. Available at: https://doi.org/10.29173/lirg259 (Accessed: 12/3/2023)

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Conceptualizing Plagiarism – The Idea!

Posted on 15th March 2023 by Lorraine French

Plagiarism is such an important aspect of academic integrity, and yet such a dry and boring subject to teach, or so I thought.

I was looking for some inspiration for the Microteaching session. I had no idea at this stage what I was going to bring to the session, or teach. I remembered someone ask about bringing in something that could be made as part of the session, which had started me thinking about buttons. I had started researching articles about active learning as this is something that I wanted to explore more.

I use LEGO in school for groups and team work so I wondered how I might be able to combine the two, and began my search for active learning and LEGO. I had never considered it as a tool to use in my Library lessons, let alone to teach about plagiarism, and now I have done both!

I found an article in the Times HE by Dan Swanton, a senior lecturer at Edinburgh University. He has used Lego in his lectures, apprehensively at first, not knowing how the LEGO would be received. But the Play element creates a more relaxed and engaged audience and the LEGO has shown to support active learning in many ways:

  • “encouraging students to engage with, reflect on and experiment with ideas and experiences
  • challenging the usual organisation, hierarchies and atmospheres of teaching spaces. Building and working collaboratively involves rearranging furniture, moving around and using floor space.
  • shifting the students’ focus away from screens, notes and the lecturer.
  • providing focus for cooperative learning as bricks reshape interactions between students. Discussions take place while students focus on playing and making with their hands. Debate, reflection and analysis are mediated by the bricks.
  • allowing ideas to be communicated non-verbally through building and manipulation of bricks.
  • providing a medium for story-making and storytelling
  • enabling creation that gives a focus to all-class discussions. In a variation of a “posters and galleries” method, creations are introduced, and specific features are identified, moved and explained in ways that animate peer discussion.” Swanton (2021).

From here I followed Dan’s references and found an article by Carina Buckley, from

Southampton. She had written an article titled, Conceptualising Plagiarism: Using

LEGO to construct students understanding of authorship and citation. My initial

 thoughts of how can you teach about plagiarism and referencing using LEGO, were

soon dispelled after reading the article. I had found what I was looking for. Her methods

sounded perfect for what I needed. So, after a few adjustments, I have

adapted Buckley’s method, (2015), for my own purposes. Watch this space to find out

how the session goes. I hope it will be a success. Thinking outside the box – is a

game changer. Buckley, (2015) writes of the importance of the understanding of

referencing of work to avoid plagiarism, as we all know. However, she also talks of the

often, misunderstanding that students have around producing an academic text.

(Myself included!!).

“To teach referencing effectively, in a way that helps students to understand

what plagiarism is and to avoid it in their own texts, means in practice to teach paraphrasing and the fundamental nature of academic writing.” Buckley, (2015)

I wish I could say that I was going to teach how to paraphrase, (something I struggle with myself), but hopefully the session will give (students), a new outlook on ownership, academic writing and referencing.

Buckley, C (2015), ‘Conceptualising Plagiarism: Using Lego to construct students’ understanding of authorship and citation’, Teaching in Higher Education, 20(3), pp. 352-358. DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2015.1016418. https://dio.org/10.1080/13562517.2015.1016418. Accessed: 28/1/2023

Swanton, D (2021), ‘Teaching with LEGO: Using plastic bricks to encourage Play and Interaction in class’ in Times Higher Education. Available at: Teaching with LEGO: using plastic bricks to encourage play and interaction in class | THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect (timeshighereducation.com). Accessed: 28/1/23

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The final session 3.3.23

Posted on 15th March 2023 by Lorraine French

It is quite sad really. We have just started to get to know each other and working together. I think I’ve been very lucky working with my peers in my groups, (whether by design or accident). I’ve enjoyed meeting and working with others.

However, today’s session wasn’t my favourite, simply because of the reading activity. Don’t get me wrong, it is a really helpful activity, especially for those who might find reading some of the papers and understanding them, a little more difficult than others. And it meant learning about more of the papers in a short period of time. Having someone share their own thoughts on the papers was very useful.  However, I found the session very hard. The reading and the sharing (embarrassing) and the listening too, was hard. Too noisy to hear. (Suffering a bit of a cold meant my head was ready to explode). I’m not sure that I had much to contribute and those feelings of a fish out of water and Imposter syndrome were back!

Reading has never been a strength of mine. It takes me time to process and comprehend, especially academic writing, language can slow me down and analyzing is still not one of my strengths. But I am much better at this now, (I think).

Although this session was not one of my favourites, due to my own weaknesses in these activities, it was nevertheless an important session, demonstrating yet another useful tool that can be used in our teaching. This form of activity, collaborative reading and sharing, has a number of benefits, (despite my hating it!).

Getting students in a group to read different papers and share their findings, helps to speed up students’ acquisition of knowledge, information sharing, as they only have to read one paper and not all four papers, and yet they gain knowledge/information of all four when each is summarized for the group. So, this saves each student time.

It gives students an opportunity to learn from each other the different techniques that might be use for taking notes and summarizing. It may also make the information more accessible when summarized by a peer.

This form of scaffolding can be very useful when trying to expand students’ knowledge and reading, it is certainly a good way to share and learn about the different papers in a short period time, and a useful tool to add to my teaching belt!

It might have been useful after the reading activity for all of those who read the same paper to get together first before feeding back to others. This would give everyone a chance to share and develop their thoughts about the texts. This way, those with weaker readers in their group, would still learn something from the weaker reader. I don’t know just a thought!

It might also benefit others to use different rooms if available, so it is not so loud, or feedback one group at a time. Other people may have also struggled to hear what was being said.

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Blog 18-1-23 – Part 2

Posted on 12th March 2023 by Lorraine French
Blog.mindresearch.org GBL V gamification – Bing images

18-1-23 – Part 2 GBL V Gamification

Over time at school, I have introduced an element of games in many of my library lessons, with activities involving matching, and reordering different elements of information to teach information skills. I now know that these are Game Based Learning (GBL) activities. I have thought using Games and Gamification as the same thing, and often used the terms interchangeably. But know I understand them to be separate approaches.

Hussaini, N, etal, (2021) have produced this very useful table which distinguishes between the two.

The Advanced-HE website (Accessed 6/3/2023) define the terms as follows:

“Digital Games-Based Learning is the integration of gaming into learning experiences to increase engagement and motivation.

Gamification refers to the use of a pedagogical system that was developed within gaming design but which is implemented within a non-game context. “

There are so many opportunities to use Gamification in education and it is being widely used in schools to help motivate children from a young age into Higher Education, with new software being developed all of the time.

I have been using the Accelerated Reader reading program to help motivate pupils to read for several years. However, I had never considered it to be a Gamification tool until now. It has all of the elements described above, rewarding pupils when they reach certain goals, to help motivate and engage.

Game based learning is something very different, and is what I use during lessons, not only because it is fun and helps to engage pupils, it has many other benefit too.

It helps to foster collaborative learning with students able to discuss and learn from each other, solving problems helps them to learn at a higher level, and therefore helps to ensure retention of knowledge. Confidence is improved too, as is creativity and critical thinking. Teachers can give immediate feedback, mistakes can be corrected there and then. Another benefit is that it is suited to most if not all learning styles, Hussaini, N, et al, (2021).

Both GBL and Gamification can be both physical and digital, but with the development of technology there is greater scope for and increased numbers of digital developments.

There are many programs being developed for GBL and Gamification if schools, Higher Education and even in University Libraries, for example the university of Florida’s collaboration with Faculty members to develop their own game “Gaming Against Plagiarism” game, Buhler, A etal, (2011), in an attempt to combat increasing incidents of plagiarism.

GBL and Gamification have grown in popularity and are widely used, researched, and written about. In 2014, Mazeyanti Mohd Ariffin, Alan Oxley, Suziah Sulaiman recorded in their paper, Evaluating Game-based Learning Effectiveness in Higher Education, that, when carrying out a search for Game Based Learning, the result was 162 million hits on Google with 2.37 million on Google Scholar. The same search today produced 1,400,000,000 results and almost 5.5 million hits on Google scholar. That’s a lot of hits and a big increase in less than 10 years!

How did I get onto the subject of GBL?

Oh yeah! GBL is another example of an activity-based pedagogy which is a student-centered pedagogy. It is growing in popularity, and adopted widely at all levels, and used increasingly in digital format in Higher Education.

References

Advanced-HE, (2020). Gamification and Games Based Learning. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/gamification-and-games-based-learning. Accessed: 6/3/23.

Buhler, A. G., & Leonard, M., & Johnson, M., & DeVane, B. (2011), Gaming Against Plagiarism: A Partnership between the Library and Faculty Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2—18015.Available at: file:///C:/Users/daddio/Downloads/gaming-against-plagiarism-a-partnership-between-the-library-and-faculty.pdf, Accessed:6/3/23

Hussaini, N, et al, (2021). Game Based Learning in Higher Education: An Effective Pedagogical Tool for Enhanced Competency Building. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357934412_Game-Based_Learning_in_Higher_EducationAn_Effective_Pedagogical_Tool_for_Enhanced_Competency_Building. Accessed: 4/3/23

Mazeyanti Mohd Ariffin, Alan Oxley, Suziah Sulaiman, (2014), Evaluating Game-based Learning Effectiveness in Higher Education. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275543569_Evaluating_Game-Based_Learning_Effectiveness_in_Higher_Education Accessed:3/3/23

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