“Gamification” was a buzzword in education for a while, but — like many flashy trends in education — the enthusiasm of those trying to jump on the bandwagon wasn’t always enough to translate into solid pedagogical practices.
The truth is that there aren’t many short cuts to being a good teacher. It’s a relationship that’s built day in and day out, a dance that requires ongoing attention and the ability to adapt to the tempo of the music and the learner’s decision to improvise.
Many of the ed tech services and products I’ve tried myself as a homeschooling mom have fallen short of that kind of attention, and it’s often because a business model built on growth and “scalability” is simply not one that can co-exist with the kind of unpredictably paced attention required of a teacher who truly wants to help a learner succeed.
I can give you a personal example. I LOVE escape rooms. I love participating in them. I love making my friends who think it’s crazy to lock yourself in a room for fun do them with me. I love making them. I love live hosting them and listening in on a group of kids trying to solve problems. I love when they do something I couldn’t have predicted and have to think on my feet.
I tried to create a “Self-Paced” escape room (like those kind you can get sent to you in a box), and I just didn’t love the results. The real joy of it for me is in the interaction, the in-the-moment-ness that can’t be translated into the theoretical future or replicated into neat packages.
It’s the mess that makes it worth doing.
These were some of the things I had in my mind when I met with Alan, one of the founders of Co-Lab. I was curious to see how this platform, which I’d heard about but hadn’t used, was able to maintain the mess.
Co-Lab is an online platform where learners meet in cohorts to solve puzzles and collaborate on challenges for one hour a week.
To my surprise and delight, Alan was clearly all about the authenticity of messy interactions. He talked about how important it was to find facilitators who really cared about the learning process and was frank about his desire to bring in only as many participants as he had the resources to fully support. He invited me to enroll my own son (who is 9) in a session and even let him bring a friend.
I sat nearby while my son participated, and I was incredibly impressed. The facilitators were patient, kind, and encouraging while clearly skilled at keeping the kids focused.
Together, the kids worked through puzzles in a virtual game space that was impressively low tech. This wasn’t so much a video game as a visual tool to help facilitate deep conversations about problem solving and collaboration.
The facilitators gave the kids plenty of room to experiment and make mistakes while simultaneously ensuring that the interactions remained positive and inclusive. (“Let’s notice if we’re leaving any teammates behind” helped promote more discussion without telling them how to do it.)
At the end of the game session, the facilitators led the kids through some questions about what worked well and what they could do differently in the future. It was metacognition that was immediately usable and relevant, and one learner was especially reflective about the difficulty of the task (“I wanted to rage quit!”) but was able to think about what they could do differently when they tackle the problem next time. And there will be a next time! The cohorts continue to meet and work together, so they’re not just brainstorming about better strategies in a vacuum. They get to actually put them to the test.
I was so impressed with the experience that I quickly told my son yes when he asked if he could sign up long term. It’s exactly the kind of thing I look for in high-quality educational experiences for my own homeschooled kids, and I can enthusiastically recommend others give it a try.
They’ve got cohorts for ages 6-8, 8-11, and over 12. You can learn more about them at their FAQ page. If you want to sign up, you can use this form, and if you mention Dayla Learning, you’ll receive a free trial, 20% off a paid subscription, and a $40 credit.
