The company is on a Forbes list of private companies to watch.
andflywrite: Thanks Gary for link. Class Dojo new to me.
I used to do ZaZen…which in the classic mode would include a sensei walking around with a big stick, hitting the meditating “monks” with it, to keep them(us) awake. You could ask for a whack if you thought you were nodding off. For some reason meditation sessions often done early in the morning. Like classes in school, but earlier.
AS you know, we sometimes DO sign up for things…to “see how their approach really works”…Kris is a champion of “lurker mode”… but I’m game too.
Just from the Class Dojo home page…”awarding” feedback” and “behavior reports” this sounds like an attempt at working with “Motivation”… Which is a big question for PSA. Is the old, “whack em until they study harder” approach needed? …. as Dr. Sanchez seemed to indicate he wanted to have in online classes, as they do in offline classes?
“Awarding feedback” is on the less negative side of the motivation yin yang. We consider “Motivation” a “Core Concept” for PSA. (value proposition). In the brave new world of online learning one needs to be good at supporting motivation and using the right tools the right way…
Maybe there’s a way to send an electric signal to the chair of students that would Zap them into alertness if the keystrokes per minute were lagging? Just kidding just kidding, but someone will probably propose similar…. or will be a skit on SNL soon.
We laugh, but classroom teachers, and guys like Dr. Sanchez know, that part of the school function is day care/ warehousing of kids, in addition to any learning that’s going on through DLE, kids are busy entertaining themselves, and teaching themselves, a lot of stuff that’s not on the syllabus…undefined learning experiences.
The social learning construct…SLC…another core concept…comes into “play”. Hmmm, “play”. Well, that’s one thing kids seem to do “naturally” without any external motivation. What if “play” and DLE were in one package? (Montessori?) Kris as former classroom teacher probably knows a lot about this.
This comment is actually by Kris. She could post her own comment and I could delete this one.
KRIS 2/9/2013
Thanks for the new app to try Gary. My ipad is full of apps I try.
I tried Class Dojo and as usual, I tend to be more interested in how the technology works, not the topic. The technology is intuitive and seems to work well…a nice tutorial in how to use the tool.
Now, the topic of behavior management has been around forever in classrooms. A teacher’s survival depends on a creative plan for rewarding consequences of negative/positive behavior. I tried it all as a 3rd/4th grade teacher.
At this point, my interest is not in managing behavior with external reinforcement. With good technology tools, I can imagine that learners could learn to manage their own behavior…such as set goals to manage time on task by using a calendar, a “to do list”, respond to notifications about deadlines. Yet, are they motivated to do so?
How can we use technology to help learners self-direct because the learning activity is meaningful? Motivation is a PSA core concept as John has mentioned.