GBL is an excellent tool that needs to definitely be incorporated greater into our nation’s educational curriculum. In doing this, there needs to be more inclusion of such educational games into the syllabi. As the system stands, teachers are left to choose and develop such games on their own. I believe that if the games were integrated directly into the different syllabi, this learning tool would be more easily and readily used in our educational system. There are so many under-utilized apps, websites, interactive quizzes and other types of online games which can be used and modified to suit different subjects areas yet many times not necessarily relevant to our curriculum. So therefore, there needs to be some reform and restructuring of the curriculum.

ii) At Waterloo Secondary School where Hemawatee Singh-Ramasar and Shely-Ann Jagdeo-Santlal teach. There are many operational policies that need to be established in order to develop GBL at our institution. Firstly, the internet access is not available to the entire school, there are only a few areas that have access. Equipment and resources personel are insufficent for our school's population. Therefore greater funding and manpower are absolutely necessary. Training for staff is another important policy which must be implemented to achieve this goal of GBL at our school
 

Game Based Learning (GBL) coincides with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 which deals with Quality Education. Curriculum reforms and new teaching strategies must be undertaken in order to cater for the needs of the current learners. When considering the use of GBL there must be careful consideration of the cultural implications on the students/learners. Games should be culturally sensitive and appropriate and should facilitate cultural imperialism but rather promote a local cultural context. The games must not be violent, explicit and gruesome since the target group is children.  In a cosmopolitan society such as Trinidad and Tobago, one must be cognizant of the fact the country is culturally diverse and thus when using games in learning, cultural sensitivity is of utmost priority. 


OPERATIONAL POLICY AT SHIVA BOYS’ HINDU COLLEGE (S.B.H.C.)

Game Based Learning (GBL) is a very innovative way in reaching all students with varying intelligences. Since the school is a Hindu School and there may be the issue of cultural sensitivity, one operational policy is that the pundits who are also teachers on staff, can be the ones to screen the games before they are used in the classrooms. The pundits can decide what is culturally/religiously appropriate and what is not. 

Game Based Learning needs a series of networking components in order to be effectively implemented. In this vein, the provision of internet hardware is essential for both teachers and students to function in this digital environment. Policy amendments should therefore include a commitment to furnishing all schools with the internet hardware capacity to stream and download from the internet at fast speeds on multiple devices simultaneously. Additionally, upgrades to such infrastructure will be necessary from time to time.

Recommendation for Presentation College Chaguanas :
Specialized rooms are probably most cost-effective than trying to equip all classrooms in one go. This will facilitate easier security and will buy time for stakeholders to get used to the idea of using a smart classroom to enact the curriculum.

Amendments and Improvements

Support Staff – Lynette Boodoo

The government policy currently recognizes the diverse benefits of GBL in education. While it addresses curriculum needs and teacher training as areas to facilitate GBL it falls short in the area of support staff. My recommendation for improvement focusses on the need for support staff to better facilitate the implementation of GBL.

The government needs to provide adequate technical support staff to assist teachers technically in areas of internet support and technical support for devices and software to ensure the efficient and effective implementation into the learning environment.  

Recommendations for Presentation College Chaguanas:
To operationalise GBL, policies regarding the use and maintenance of the devices and operating software are essential. This would require the input of technical support for the teachers and students to ensure the maintenance of devices and operating software.  

Game based learning is an effective and efficient tool that can be used to enhance learning. Such implementation should be incorporated in order to facilitate the interests shown with technological advancement. However, budgeting and costing of implementing such will have to be considered and must be a feasible one. Provision of financing will have to be included in the policy document.
Recommendations for Presentation College Chaguanas: The government will be required to strategically plan, budget and ascertain all costs regarding: sourcing reputable suppliers / providers to supply our school with all the necessary resources as well as to facilitate such implementation.
Some of the financial costs that will have to be considered in order to facilitate GBL at my school are:
-Access to internet in all classrooms vs. designated classrooms 
-Access to internet in staff room
-Quality and quantity of devices to be installed and used
-specialized and training of teachers as well as technical support
-maintenance of devices and operating software as well as the safety and security of the devices.
- all other required infrastructure