Gamification Higher Education

The definitions of gamification and game-based learning are both used under the umbrella term of “E-Learning”, however, there are differences between the two. The term ‘gamification’ was first coined by Nick Pelling in 2002 (Marczewski, 2012) and is the idea of bringing game design elements, mechanics, aesthetics and frameworks to non-game situations such as education, in order to motivate or encourage a particular behaviour by increasing user engagement (Deterding et al., 2011). On the other hand, game-based learning refers to using games in order to meet learning outcomes (Isaacs, 2015). According to a report on the current state of online gaming by Spilgames, more than 1.2 billion people play games worldwide (Takahashi, 2013) and by incorporating the persuasive elements of games through gamification into the mundane tasks of everyday life where repetition may be prevalent, such as education; motivation and interest may be aroused.

Evergreen State College implements a no-grading policy, “taking out the stress of grades and GPA” (Pippin 351). Instead, the institution uses narrative evaluations to assess how students are doing (Pippin 351). That way, whenever someone looks at a transcript from this college, he or she sees that “Mary excels in interpersonal relationships and understands the relationships between X and Y” instead of “Mary made an A in the class.” Texas should follow the ideas of Evergreen State College, eliminating the need of grades and the anxiety of performing with success. The no-grade policy links to “collaborative learning and a way of thinking about learning” (Pippin 351). By phasing out the idea of a grading system, students can not only perform stress-less and anxiety-free, students can also appreciate the value of learning because the pressure to learn subsides. Numbers can only show so much. The response, feedback, and suggestions provide a far more valuable insight behind the

A successful application of this concept, created in 2008, is Khan Academy. Students create accounts and sign into the Kahn Academy to choose a course of study. They have the option of choosing their starting point or taking an assessment to define their level. Students watch videos and work through practice exercises; all the while, their progress monitored. Badges are earned at a variety of achievement levels creating a sense of accomplishment, as well as bragging rights with peers when this program is utilized in a blended format within an educational setting (Khan Academy, n.d.).

I just realized that we are using gamification in this class. We are using different techniques in this class like watching movies, videos, read articles, etc. and at the same time we are learning. Yellowdig is an example of gamification. The leader board show us the people who is more active and have more comments in the class. This encourage all of us to be more motivated and active on the webpage. Our reward will be our grade.

Gamification could change how we learn in the classroom. It makes the “boring” subjects of math and writing and makes it a fun activity. There are many ways that there is gamification in the classroom. One of these examples being the game Sumdog. Sumdog is a math learning site where you play a fun side game for learning. The site “Wikipedia” states that “education and training are areas where there has been interest in gamification.” Gamification in education is the two key elements. They are training at the skill they are practicing.

A well-designed simulation meets all of John Keller’s goals in the ARCS model (attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction). It presents a problem to be solved, allows the learner to make choices, shows the consequences of those choices, and builds confidence in the learner when the problem is mastered.

Analysis of May's class graph of the 5-minute challenge demonstrates that more and more students were able to successfully complete this challenge the longer that it went on. The statistics supports this assertion. During the first day only 11 students were able to successfully complete the challenge. During the final day, nearly double the amount of students, 20 of them, were able to complete the challenge. There are a couple of factors that can account for this progress and that should impact the new goals May has for her class. One is that her students benefitted from having a set schedule of engaging in the 5 minute challenge every day. May should continue to

Pairing Mastery Learning approaches along with Digital Badges are giving educators a way to transform their current curriculum. This is especially imperative within teacher education programs, where students are taking teaching and learning knowledge into formal education. Educators are looking toward badges to increase engagement (Abramovich et al., 2013; Glover & Latif, 2013), develop mastery with critical concepts (Mehta et al., 2013), and reduce gaps in student knowledge (Bowen & Thomas, 2014; Guskey, 2007). Feedback is emphasized as a critical component (B.S. Bloom, 1968, 1976; Guskey, 2007; Kluger & DeNisi, 1996; Slavin & Karweit, 1984).

The experimental group used traditional didactic methods with a gamification element at the end of instruction in the form of an app. The control group just used didactic methods. Through coding and analyzing student’s responses, an astounding 92.2% of students who used gamification methods reported increase intrinsic motivation.

The teacher may also choose to make these problems worth extra points to adhere to the second principle of gamification, agency. Without this increased bonus, the problems will create what’s known as Negative Possibility Space in game design. This is where the player puts a large amount of effort into a task that doesn’t provide an adequate reward.

Now looking into what today’s new methods of learning compared to what it was in the past, it is clear that gamification has made a major breakthrough and a positive influence onto society today. Gamification today has made teaching a whole lot more engaging and effective along being entertaining when being used. Now it has been discussed how gamification is applied in different forms and an interesting definition given by the two authors Janna Anderson and Lee Raine which states “The word “gamification” has emerged in recent years as a way to describe interactive online design that plays on people’s competitive instincts and often incorporates the use of rewards to drive action—these include virtual rewards such as points, payments, badges,

Levels and badges should be used appropriately to guide learners. The learners should be guided with linear content and tie every level to achieve a specific learning objective. The gamification should let learners know about the levels they needed to complete the whole learning process. The badges for showing non-linear progress in the game. It could be tied to terminal and objectives. It also could show off badges to leverage the social effectiveness of gamification

“Digital games are now being used to teach babies the alphabet, to help kids monitor their diabetes and overcome ADD, to teach both practical and tactical skills to the military, to teach financial derivatives to auditors and to teach CAD software to engineers, among many other things. And this is just the beginning” Marc Prensky (2001)

Educators are faced with the question of how gamification can motivate students will to learn and how can they incorporate it into their curriculums. Based on scientific research, students are motivated by both external and internal motivation for example, some students may excel in their reading assignments because of their love of reading, while other students are motivated by rewards or being praise by their teachers and peers. While students do require both internal and external motivation, researcher’s believes gamification can assist teachers in motivating both types of learners. The use of gamification enables students to overcome and conquer complex subjects where they can move and learn at their own pace and not feel judged by their teachers or peers. Gamification can give a students a sense of empowerment where it will enable them to try harder or do better the next time. The major benefit of gamification in the classrooms will add a multitude of engagements for students and can increase student’s awareness and understanding of topics they might not have normally understood, especially those who are struggling.

Gamification should not replace traditional recognition and rewards instead it should be used as a supplement.