Comments on: School Rewards 2.0?

By: Henry

Henry — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:38:23 +0000

Hi Mr Stucke, Thanks so much for the shout out on myStickers. At School Stickers we’ve certainly heard the need for a simple merit reward system and we’re been quietly getting on and creating one! As we were in development before I didn't want to talk about it before; but the site is now in beta I thought you, as well as your readers, might be interested in checking it out. We’d certainly value any feedback you can give us. The site is called CarrotRewards (www.carrotrewards.co.uk). It works with myStickers.co.uk. For those that are unfamiliar with it - all our stickers and postcards can come with a small 6 digit code. Your pupil logs them on myStickers to create a virtual sticker book. The new bit is that you - as a teacher - can then see that data on CarrotRewards. From there we’ve developed systems so you can run any competition you want: Whole school, year, subject, form etc for any specified time system. Your pupils then see their position on myStickers and you can get instant updates in CarrotRewards. Allowing you to encourage pupils with daily updates. The great bit is you run all these competitions but you don't need to spend all your time counting tokens! Apart from competitions we also built in general behaviour management and reporting tools. You can see how pupils are doing individually, how a class is doing, or how many rewards a certain subject has given out. We’ve also built the functionality to export the data to SIMS for integrated reporting. Now right now we’re in Beta (so a few bugs!) but I’d really value feedback so I’ve set up a demo account for you: Username: tryme@carrotrewards.co.uk Password: carrot You can get dummy codes to try out here: http://www.carrotrewards.co.uk/codes/ You can try registering as a pupil on mystickers.co.uk and see them appear in the Carrot Demo School. (The codes link the pupil automatically to the demo school). I look forward to hearing your comments. Henry Shelford. Henry (a) schoolstickers.co.uk 0121 333 3600.

By: Steve Urmston

Steve Urmston — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:13:05 +0000

I’ve actually been running an experiment at York University (part of my dissertation) that deals with this idea. I have two groups of students (undergraduate politics class of 110 split into 2) using a relatively simple custom VLE, one group with additional game rules/mechanics (points, trophies, levels, leaderboards).

The experiment still has a couple of weeks to run, but the results have been pretty good for the game stuff; significantly higher logins / page views / time spent, and a lot more participation, although general levels of student contributions are still quite low!

I’m doing some qualitative evaluation, and the students do seem to really like the game like features and rewards. I keep hearing the word fun anyway!

By: Michael Acton Smith

Michael Acton Smith — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:06:07 +0000

Good post @mrstucke (+10 experience points!)

I'm a huge believer in the power of games to aid many different types of learning. I think we've barely scratched the surface with what is possible and would love to see more game designers tackling education projects

Kids spend much of their leisure time playing games so it seems sensible to explore the elements that makes these experiences so popular, and attempt to adapt them for the classroom. Many non-gaming websites are applying the secrets of good game design to their sites, and reaping big rewards. Amy Jo Kim has a fantastic presentation on this subject (Putting the Fun into Functional):

http://www.slideshare.net/amyjokim/fun-in-funct...

We had a very simple reward system when I was at school - we got a physical gold star if we were good, and one removed if we were bad. An online reward system could offer much greater granularity to reward many different behaviours, but also wider visibility so parents and other classmates could keep track of progress. There's little point in being awesome if you don't get to show off your awesomeness.

I love the widget idea but one problem might be that older kids (12+) would be less inclined to display their progress at school to their friends on Bebo/MySpace/Facebook, while younger ones aren't generally on the types of social network that host widgets.

It needs a little more thought, but I think the idea of a standardised virtual reward system has a lot of merit. I haven't heard of any projects like this in the pipeline, but we'd be happy to lend our advice and support if anyone is planning something.

By: Michael Acton Smith

Michael Acton Smith — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:06:07 +0000

By: wildblu

wildblu — Wed, 06 May 2009 06:11:23 +0000

Virtual rewards sound a great idea! At present we have Merits (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond), with a once a term reward trip (morning/afternoon cinema, swimming, ice skating).
Most staff also send 'postcards home' ~ very much appreciated.
We also have G codes (Green or Good), as well as R codes (Red for bad behaviour).
Headteacher awards are also given out for exceptional good deeds/performance.
Yes, the merits are mostly collected by the Yr 7's and drop off as you progress through the school, but postcards home are certainly prized.
We have just begun to introduce Kaleidos, our VLE, to students since the beginning of the year, and they do like making their own avatar, which is built in.
The idea of collectible widgets would appeal immensely!
How would it work??
Would love to be involved if you find anything!

By: mrstucke

mrstucke — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:27:57 +0000

Thanks for all the great comments.

I think there is much to discuss about the motivation of pupils and the ethos of a school. I work in central Manchester in one of the most deprived areas of the country. We have nearly 75% on free school meals and nearly 50% with special educational needs.

I don't think that traditional middle class values are held by lots of our pupils. This is not to do them a disservice, but to say that there is not a ingrained culture of trusting in the educational system and seeing its value.

I think that a reward system is useful, particularly in early years of Secondary school. If it contributes to successful learning, then you are able to build an atmosphere and ethos of value in learning. If your time is spent dealing with low level disruption, which in turn stops children from fulfilling their potential, then it is difficult to get that feeling of success going around a school.

A good reward system should encourage Y7s and Y8s to understand the school's values so that when they progress further through the school they want to succeed for the right reasons.

By: futurebehaviour

futurebehaviour — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:28:41 +0000

I used Mathletics when I worked in primary and the kids loved it. Not only did they love it but they were incredibly motivated and the motivation was, surprisingly, sustained. The children (both boys and girls throughout KS2) loved the competition and collecting credits to upgrade their avatars. So I certainly think that Mathletics effect could, as you suggest, be applied to other areas.

The methods you suggest could certainly be used as a method to motivate students in their studies although I’d say it would need to separate from behaviour. I think the emphasis should be on peer-wide rewards for behaviour. These encourage students to support each other. For me, when it comes to students making the right behavioural choices, the aim is cooperation not competition.

If we can motivate students in their school-work with your idea of micro-rewards and competition then great. We need every strategy we can get our hands on and I think this would be a very effective one.

Can I have a marshmallow now?

By: fiendishlyclever

fiendishlyclever — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:45:37 +0000

The main reason for pupils needing a reward system is that they don't value their own education. I've visited several mainstream and special schools in China over the last 18 months (lucky me!) and the culture is quite different. Chinese pupils generally value their education and understand the need for a good education. Strangely these pupils do not have the need for reward systems, because the reward for hard work is a good education (and better life prospects).
I'm not sure how this translates to our pupils, where we have two generations of parents living on state benefits, where pupils don't see the education they receive as being important to their future prospects.
I'm one of the lucky ones. I teach in a special school where we have managed to build a culture of self worth. Pupils do generally value their education and the effort that staff put into it. Without this, the reward system would be less important.
The reward system in this context seems less important than the ethos and culture of the school. I've been in many of the mainstream secondary school across my LA, some for extended periods of time, and yet to see a reward system that works well across all age ranges and abilities. I do like the idea of an electronic tracking system – I'm lucky I have a TA to help me track number of points and issue tickets for my tutor group – but the admin would be a nightmare in a larger school.

By: Doug Belshaw

Doug Belshaw — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:32:52 +0000

I absolutely agree with @futurebehaviour's tweet: you shouldn't really *need* a formal rewards system as the feedback loop that you mention in your post should be different yet evident across the curriculum. That being said…

The Tamagotchi-like monsters idea is an excellent one! Coupled with the school VLE it could work really well. It reminds me of a Futurelab project called 'Fizees' where Primary school-age children had to take care of virtual pets. The health of these pets was directly in proportion to the amount of exercise the children did. More about that project here:

http://www.futurelab.org.uk/projects/fizzees

You might want to talk to a VLE provider. I think you're onto a winner.

By: mrstucke

mrstucke — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:25:00 +0000

I agree, league tables / other reporting would be useful for staff, if not for pupils.