Yes I have moved even further down the road of Apple fan and now have an Apple Watch. I really like using it and now it feels like I am missing something important if it is not on my wrist.
Yes the notifications that I can receive through the watch are useful. Yes the ability to send quick responses to messages is useful. However the thing that I have appreciated the most is the health applications. The Watch tracks my steps and my resting and my moving and gives me feedback on all of these.
There are other devices that do a similar thing but…the Watch makes it fun and a game…complete the rings (kind of LOTR in reverse). It sends motivational statements if you haven’t met your goals for the day, it buzzes and rewards you with images and badges if you achieve a goal. Messages of congratulations if you surpass your goals…all good stuff!
It makes it like a game. As a teacher we often need to add some Gameification into our lessons-competitions between different groups in class…projects that get rewarded points and bonus points for insight and cleverness. Even the use of apps like ClassDojo to gameify student well being.
https://external.classdojo.com
Having used many of these techniques and now there are Apps for them like the ClassDojo (where you can program in the rewards and sanctions) enables students like in video games to ‘up a level’ to progress through subjects getting their differentiation included in a fun way. Playing interactive apps like “Gods of Money” to teach Economic concepts that live in the macroeconomy-forcing students to ‘solve’ real life simulations while having to deal with real life realities like politics and voting!
Classroom races to complete work and to critically evaluate their peers work…points given out as ‘virtual currency’ in a classroom economy…all readily engage the students giving them more of what they are used to…do your students run to the classroom to ensure that they get the desks that have a lower rent so that they can save their rent costs for other aspects of their Classroom economy (including having an auction to model the market forces).
Online learning programs like Elearneconomics enable students to test their knowledge while their teacher gains information about their learning and they can track their progress over the months…like in a game…what level did you make?
What Gamification approaches do you use in the classroom? How effective have you found them? What are their strengths/drawback?
Intel tells us that Gamification brings about the following rewards/benefits:
Motivation
Attention
Focus
Reaction time
Sociability
Positive mood states
Source: http://lipavillage.com/957-gamification-education/
Research also suggests that the average US household owns at least one game console, PC or smartphone and that 58% of Americans play video games
Source: https://www.slideshare.net/paradiso_solutions/gamification-in-education-33475604
Some bedtime reading on Gamification research:
Click to access e1970305f257b08a9f2b9844b346452eb869.pdf
https://ed.ted.com/on/uk36wtoI
authenticeducationforthe21stcentury 
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