Class Dojo's misguided design undermines its potential for learning
 |
| via classdojo.com |
 |
 |
Untapped potential
The reason this post isn't strictly about blasting Class Dojo is because I'm hoping that the application's creators realize the remarkable potential of Class Dojo as a legitimate teaching and learning tool.
Because the teacher is able to customize the behaviors, it is possible to supply meaningful feedback to students about what's really important. The picture below illustrates how I changed the so-called positive behaviors, in order to indicate accomplishments related to learning or to encourage students to complete unfinished activities. If I could, I'd eliminate the words "positive" and "negative."
 |
| via classdojo.com |
The problem Class Dojo must overcome is the points system. Giving or taking points for any type of behavior has no merit and only hurts learning; the evidence against rewards and punishments is overwhelming, yet schools continue to use them.
Is Class Dojo a misguided tool? Absolutely. It does, however, have amazing, untapped potential for 21st-century teaching and learning.
Do you use Class Dojo? Please share your experience with it and your opinion of its effectiveness or lack thereof.
Mark Barnes is an education author and consultant and the publisher of Brilliant or Insane. Learn more about Mark on our Team page. Follow him on Twitter here.
Mark Barnes is an education author and consultant and the publisher of Brilliant or Insane. Learn more about Mark on our Team page. Follow him on Twitter here.
Class Dojo has a major flaw. Under this system children receive points for noticeably good behavior and noticeably bad behavior. Lets say a child receives a positive dojo point for being on task in the morning and then at the end of the day he or she gets chatty and receives a negative dojo point for talking out of turn. At the end of the day the parent sees that their child's behavior was only 50 percent positive for the day. But what of those unnoticeable vanilla moments that account for the largest part of the day where the child is performing as expected but not doing anything special to grab the teacher's attention? Class Dojo leaves those moments out of the equation. The problem is that busy teachers are unlikely to account for every moment of the school day with a dojo point and that is only way to arrive at a definitive percentage that accurately represents the child's overall performance for the day. To see how flawed the logic is consider the following example. Lets say I have 10 jelly beans in my hand. One jelly bean is black, another is rainbow colored and all the rest are white. If I were to say 50 percent of the jelly beans in my hand are white would that be a correct assessment? No, of course not because I did not take into account the 8 white jelly beans. So back to the child whose Dojo reads 50 percent positive for the day because he or she got one positive dojo point and one negative point. Does that percentage accurately represent their overall performance for the day or just the two noticeable moments? This skewed percentage sends a message that normal or average work habits and behavior don't count for much. This system is a result of poor critical thinking on the part of the creators of Class Dojo. Particularly for parents of wiggly, energetic boys Dojo could easily create a false sense of failure.
ReplyDeleteAs you can see in my post, I agree with you. I believe that there is potential for Class Dojo to be a tremendous feedback tool. I hate the punitive part, though. Thanks for weighing in.
Delete