Going through my google reader recently, I stumbled upon an atricle titled ’5 Reasons to “Gamify” You Class’. The article sparked my interest and lead my to look into ‘Gamification’ further. I feel like I’m a little late on this idea as my search revealed many articles and sites on the topic.
To me ‘Gamification’ made me think of the term ‘If you can’t beat them, join them’. Our students whether we like it or not a playing computer games at an enormous rate, in particular boys and the trend only looks to be increasing. ‘Gamification’ looks at why games are so popular, engaging and often addictive and aims to incorporate these aspects into an education setting.
Bellow are some links to videos and sites on the topic of Gamification that I have found interesting, informative and in the case of John Hunter’s speech inspiring.
John Hunter: Teaching with the World Peace Game (TED Talks)
Gabe Zichermann: Gamification (TED Talks)
Website: superfunner.com
Tom Chatfield: 7 Ways Games Reward the Brain
My own thoughts
After watching the videos and reading further about the subject, it made me think about some of the games I played when I was young and some of the games I still play.
I thought about the game ‘Pokemon’ which I am unashamed to say I was addicted to when it first came out on the Nintedo Game Boy way back in 1996. I chose my starting Pokemon and raised him and earned badges by defeating opponents and completing different tasks. I remember wanting my Pokemon to get stronger and looking forward to them evolving and changing, the anticipation and reward of my little creature learning something new or catching a new Pokemon was enough to see me play and focus on the game for hours at a time.
What if at the start of the year, each student got to choose a little creature either digitally or from a couple that have been printed, every time they completed or attempted a task at school whatever it may be they gained experience points to go toward growing their little creature. At designated levels the students creature may have the to option of evolving, changing names, learning new powers or attacks. The aim is to have the students as engaged in their learning through game like rewards as they would be playing a video game.
Gamification isn’t without its sceptics and doubters:
- Larry Ferlazzo writes on ‘The Dangers of Gamification’
- 3 Reasons NOT to Gamify Education
These article warn about token motivation and what happens if or when the novelty wears off. They talk about psychological factors that influence our engagement and need to achieve.
Have a look at both sides and make up your own mind.
What are your thoughts and ideas on ‘Gamification’?
Have you or do you know of anyone that has tried to Gamify their classroom?
2 comments
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November 25, 2012 at 4:59 am
JohngSchroeder
I took the Gamification class offered by Coursera a couple months ago. The professor stated that extrinsic rewards (such as points and badges) have the danger of “crowding out” intrinsic motivations (such as the joy of learning). I think education is already extremely gamified. Our success is determined on how many points we get out of 100 and we sign up for classes to get a badge on our transcript. It seems an obvious decision to me to maximize a student’s intrinsic joy of learning rather than motivation through gamification because the former lines up better with the purpose of education.
November 26, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Mick Sweeney
Thank you very much for your comment John.
Very good points you make. Personally I’m not sold on the powers of ‘Gamification’ either way, it may be useful as maybe a one term novelty rather than a whole year every year thing.
Makes for interesting reading though.