72 12.2 Positionality Statement
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” – Anais Nin.
I will explore how gamification can engage elementary school-aged students and provide ways to develop critical social skills in an increasingly tech-driven world. I will also examine how to incorporate game elements into educational activities to enhance social engagement, especially for students struggling with traditional social learning approaches. These strategies enable students to interact and grow, both academically and emotionally. I will provide strategies in my research to support how educators can create a more dynamic and inclusive learning environment by integrating gamification into teaching pedagogy, particularly those focused on social interactions.
Many different experiences have been shaped by the decades of changes in the social and technical world throughout my life. As the youngest of six in a large family, my parents and three older siblings moved from Scotland to Canada for a better life and then had three more children. Despite tight finances, I was given education opportunities and was the only one of my siblings to attend post-secondary school after high school.
As a member of Generation X, my childhood was marked by freedom and creativity—playing outside until the streetlights came on (no phone to text me to come inside), using encyclopedias (now internet), and watching TV shows with a corded remote (no Netflix on my laptop). My first technology was a typewriter, followed by a bulky Macintosh (now Apple) computer with floppy disks. When I started working, everything was done on paper, and we shared one computer among the staff.
Twenty-five years ago, as a Child and Youth Counselor (CYC) working in schools, I remember showing social-emotional videos to students by wheeling out a giant TV and VCR or using an overhead projector—now a dinosaur in schools. How times have changed! Everyone has a technology device, and the classroom could not exist without wifi. Children who want to play with their friends play remotely through video games. How times have changed!
Today, technology is essential in teaching and learning. I use technology every day to teach social-emotional learning skills. By helping students engage and learn, I see how technology can bridge gaps and bring students together. In my OER chapter, I would like to explore how gamification can enhance engagement while developing social skills, offering new ways for students to interact and learn using technology.