Attendance Zoom!

Due to the circumstances that we are currently living in, we still need to attend university and get a degree (also get our social fix somehow) thus, various applications like Zoom have allowed this to happen. Zoom is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world, started in 2011 therefore has allowed our class to still interact weekly. On Zoom you can either be seen or not seen, heard or muted. For example, in our ALM201 class we all show ourselves on camera with our mic on mute which means if we want to add something to the conversation or ask a question, we can either unmute ourselves or type it in the meetings message panel. It was a bit confronting the first class but now we feel very comfortable. However, some students may feel as though that showing their face could discourage some from participating. Zoom can both motivate and demotivate students because although it may be easier as we don’t physically need to travel to campus, this can also be demotivating since not actually being at university which helps students to be inspired to work hard by being in the correct learning environment, home presents the issue of having new and multiple distractions being present at almost all times. However, according to the unit chairs, the attendance is still below 50%. While this can be seen to be a negative due to 50% slacking off and not coming to class, could be also viewed as positive since 50% of students have been motivated and successful with the transition to online, making the attendance level constant compared to a significant dropping in attendance, as there is in other classes. 

After some thinking and engaging in conversation via email and google doccing (Via zoom), Kate and I came up with ideas that could include gamification to boost attendance.  For example, on the uni page (cloud) there could be a rewards points system that is visible to you, other students and your uni chair when you have attended the required lectures on Zoom. For example; 6/6, 4/6 and then ranked against your classmates based on who has the highest attendance rate and, as a result, get a mark of High distinction, Distinction, Credit, Pass, Fail etc. for attendance levels. This could be available for all students to see so they can see not only what their attendance level is, but how theirs compares to their peers for each subject and therefore be not only held accountable by staff, but by their peers. This could boost motivation to not only attend but participate with the class as they do not want to fall behind in odd times like these where they have a lot of spare time. There could also be a notification system where students will have a countdown to their class on the day so that the zoom isn’t missed and you kind of can’t really get away from notifications if you’re on your phone. We could also introduce a more in depth attention indicator onto Zoom available to be seen by everyone in attendance, where the mentors can see if the students are engaged such as a notification to the mentor if the student has gone offline to another website or turns off the camera. Therefore another points system could be introduced and the student gets to see a percentage of some sort to measure engagement that the students and teachers can both see in order to motivate them to increase as they try to get the percentage higher each lesson. 

We hope you liked our ideas on how to include more gamification into Zoom!

By Ella Smith and Kate Rolston