GWEN HAM
NCPG Campaign Reflection
Academic Learning
I learned that the token economy system was effective. My group and I decided to use the token economy system as a reinforcer throughout our roadshow because it is proven to be successful as a conditioned reinforcer and a powerful motivational tool in an education setting (Hackenberg, 2009). Participants can accumulate tokens in exchange for food and this was effective in two ways- when persuading them to visit our booth and getting them to stay longer. When approaching the participants, I said things like, ‘Hi, would you like to win some food? You just have to answer some questions through our games’, and this actually enticed most of them to come to our booth. Initially, we had planned to use token system for our life-sized monopoly game by deducting a token for every wrong answer, but we changed the system slightly and gave a token for every right answer instead. Participants might not be motivated by negative punishment, which is the deducting of tokens, and this may discourage the them from continuing the game, thus the change of plan. This system proved to be very effective as we observed that many were keen to play more rounds because they wanted to win more tokens. This then gave us many opportunities to explain more information and further increase their awareness on the issues relating to teen problem gambling. At the end of the roadshow, we asked all of the participants to list down 3 ways to help friends who are facing gambling issues as part of our evaluation method. Even though that was our method of evaluating what they have learnt, I felt that it might have not been very credible as there were posters and handouts where they could reference from. Instead, it was more evident through them being able to list the methods down without any reference from the posters or hand-outs, which many of them were able to.
Life-size Monopoly
Evaluation
Personal Growth
I learned to be more confident as a person and to take more initiative. Although I enjoy conversing and can be very open to people, I am quite hesitant to approach people and usually wait for people to approach me. Generally, I feel like I lack confidence, especially when dealing with crowds or people I don’t know. During the planning stage for the roadshow, there were no proper delegation of roles as to who was in charge of carrying out the game or who was in charge of attracting people to our booth etc. This contributed to our initial confusion at the start of the roadshow and most of us were reluctant to take on the responsibility of persuading participants to come to our booth. This could be due to the fear of rejection from the participants and the lack of confidence in approaching people, which were the reasons for my reluctance. As our booth was located at the far corner and not as close to the crowd as compared to the other booths, I felt a greater need to step out of my comfort zone and take on the responsibility so that our goal of educating at least 30 people can be met. I took the initiative to start approaching people and the more I managed to successfully persuade participants to come to our booth, the more comfortable and confident I felt and thus continued to promote our booth throughout the roadshow. Eventually, along with the help of my groupmates, we managed to far exceed our goal and educated 68 participants. This experience gave me a platform to build on my confidence level and made me realize that my fear of facing people I do not know can be easily overcame. This also allowed me to realize the importance of taking initiative and how it can help facilitate activities. With these aspects, I would have more confidence in other aspects of my life such as leading my CCA club or presenting to groups of people and I would be more inclined to take more initiatives and not hesitate to try.
Civic Learning
This learning matters because with the confidence of approaching people and getting them to visit our booth, my group and I were able to educate many participants on teen problem gambling. As many of these participants are youths, it emphasizes the importance of spreading awareness to them. According to Ministry of Social and Family Development (2014) showing the prevalence of problem gambling, 52% of the respondents stated that they gamble at least once a week before they turn 30, therefore, equipping these youths with the knowledge of problem gambling is crucial, so that they do not progress into it in the future. To add on, one of the reasons why teen gamblers resist to seek help is due to the lack of awareness of treatment methods (Hardoon, Derevensky & Gupta, 2003). By educating these youths on where to get help and the possible self-help methods, they may feel more inclined to help others or even themselves. By informing others of teen problem gambling, I am also better informed about this issue and can apply what I’ve learnt to my life such as watching out for signs among my friends or even myself.
Prizes
Recommendations
In light of this learning, in the future, I will make use of the token economy system in activities if given the opportunity to conduct such advocacy projects because it was proven effective in prompting participants for answers and getting them to take part in and continue the activity. I will also use more attractive prizes such as stationary so that participants may be more attracted to them. As for my confidence, I will try to improve it by making use of opportunities such as presenting in class to practice, as it will be beneficial for me in the future when advocating on other issues, especially if I do enter the social service sector. Lastly, I will always remind myself to take initiative in many aspects, starting from simple day-to-day things like initiating group meetings so as to cultivate this system in myself.
