Proposal: A Gamified Learning and Collaborative Platform for Early Childhood Educators
Context:
In this Open Innovation Challenge 2024 run, The Challenge Owner’s through Institute for Adult Learning’s InLab requested a gamification solution that can help the them to look for a solution that provides an engaging learning platform for pre-school educators to encourage them to enhance their skills and competencies, facilitates collaboration between educators for knowledge sharing, and allows educators to update and engage with parents on a regular basis. If proven successful, the solution could potentially be scaled for deployment to other pre-schools in Singapore.
Let’s look at The Challenge Owner’s programs;
- They are designed for children aged between 18 months and 6 years. Within each class, there are children with differing learning needs, including around 10% to 15% of learners with special needs.
- Their curriculum is developed in-house and teachers are provided with a framework/guidelines and lesson plans for each week, with flexibility to decide how to conduct the lessons themselves.
- The actual delivery of lessons is dependent on the ability, creativity and motivation of each teacher. They currently lacks a structured training/learning and assessment system for teachers, which makes it difficult to identify teachers’ skill gaps and track their progress, especially with regard to their delivery of the curriculum.
- Teachers do not pursue training courses often on their own accord, as they may lack motivation and do not view upskilling as important for their careers, which limits their teaching effectiveness and professional development. Beyond academic skills, there is also a lack of available training courses focused on soft skills for teachers.
Team Gametize took on the challenge with the following proposal. Please note the proposal was not implemented, but we decided to share and publish the proposal in the spirit of advocating for the cause and our potential solution. If you would like to learn more, please contact us through academy@gametize.com.
Problem Statement
How might we empower pre-school educators to access training resources for continuous upgrading of skills, foster collaboration among educators for peer learning and enable timely parental engagement, in order to deliver a holistic and inclusive learning experience for students?
Understanding The Users
Self
When it comes to how they want to be treated, early childhood educators want to be respected for their profession and the importance of their work. They want to be recognized for the impact that they have on the lives of young children, as well as the broader community. They want to be treated as professionals who are valued for their expertise and dedication.
Belonging
They value collaboration and teamwork. They understand that teaching is not a solitary activity and that working with other educators can help them to share ideas, learn from each other and improve their teaching practices. They want to be able to communicate and collaborate with their peers, as well as parents of their students, to ensure that everyone is working together to create the best possible learning experience.
Creative/Dynamic
They are passionate about teaching and are committed to providing a holistic and inclusive learning experience for their students. They are patient, empathetic and have a deep understanding of the developmental needs of young children. They are creative, resourceful and can adapt to changing situations in the classroom.
Structure and Supported
They also want to be given the support and resources they need to do their job well. This includes access to training and development opportunities, as well as tools and resources that can help them to be more effective in the classroom. They want to feel supported and empowered in their work, so they can continue to provide high-quality education to their students.
Safe
They understand that parents are the primary caregivers and they want to work collaboratively with them to ensure that children receive the best possible education. They want to be able to communicate effectively with parents, providing regular updates on children’s progress and sharing any concerns or issues that arise. They want parents to value their expertise and to trust them to provide a safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment for their children.
Implementation Plan
This solution aims to provide preschool educators with access to training resources for continuous skills upgrade, encourage collaboration among educators for peer learning, and facilitate timely parental engagement. By completing various challenges and tasks, preschool educators will be empowered to deliver a holistic and inclusive learning experience for students while receiving peer support and opportunities for growth in upskilling.
- To enhance their skills and competencies, facilitates collaboration between educators for knowledge sharing, and enables timely parental engagement to provide valuable insights into student management.
- It has to be a platform that can lower the barrier for preschool educators to access training resources, encourage them to continuously upskill, and enable them to better collaborate with other educators and parents to deliver a holistic and inclusive learning experience for students.
- The solution should also focus on developing training courses that focus on soft skills for preschool educators.
Potential Benefits
- Increasing Educators Participation and Engagement – a key challenge encountered has been to get educators collaborating with peers. Without addressing this, the gamified experience will likely face similar challenges. One way around is for an onboarding topic to drive initial participation. Onboarding will include referral challenges, encourage team formations, with rewards and recognition to motivate preschool educator to start on the program.
- Inclusive Design will include the use of inclusive language and visuals, which means without a skew towards a specific gender or interest group; focus on behaviour we want to drive, user preferences and learning outcomes. The user experience will adhere to universal design principles that are simple, easy and intuitive, so as not to disadvantage educators who may be new and not familiar with tech jargon or specific popular culture. Testing and making iterative improvements will serve to create a better experience for all educators.
- Customization – The enterprise-level plan offers customizable design options for training courses and assessments geared towards preschool educators. Additionally, the platform can be used as a hub for educators to upload insightful materials and collaborate with peers. This allows educators to follow personalized learning paths, continuously improving their skills and competencies.
- The approach will be to constantly motivate the educators through affirming messages (e.g badges, virtual rewards), keeping them consistent so as to meet the educators’ expectations. Feedback should be offered, including words of praise for a job well done, encouragement to try again in order to master the skill (avoid terms like wrong/mistake/didn’t get it right) and constant validation after every task – here is where Gametize excels.
Proposed Solution and System
Create white-label apps with simple customizations quickly on Gametize.com. The solution is hosted and managed on our server and database (powered by Amazon Web Services), minimizing overheads.
The use of Gametize Gamification Strategy – Using the 6D Playbook. Gametize firmly believes in a test-driven approach and thorough and structured design-thinking processes. You can learn more about Gametize 6D Playbook.
About Gametize
Gametize is the world’s simplest enterprise-grade gamification platform for community engagement and advocacy. Clients use Gametize to motivate target behaviors, such as employee training/ performance management or consumer marketing/ sales advocacy. The highly customizable and versatile solution is available on both cloud and on-premises. Gametize is proud to be one of eight winning solutions to be piloted in the Jurong Lake District (JLD) to lead the way in urban sustainability at the recent Innovation Challenge, organized by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) – See for the press release.