What is gamification?

-the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts

Elements/attributes of gamification

 Flexibility- flexible learning path or achievement path

 Reward Structure
 Clear rules & objectives
 Quests
 Feedback
 Badges/Achievements
 Leaderboards
 Avatars
 Narratives/Storylines

The game mechanics most likely to be used by teachers are:

 Cascading Information Theory – breaking up information into bits so that each bit can
be effectively learned; not getting all the information at once. We do this all the time;
it’s called curriculum.
 Achievements – where learners have accomplished something, and they know it.
These may be made visible in a variety of ways. Teachers tend to do this a lot with
their learners. Game theory calls those who are greatly motivated by achievement
relative to others “Achievers” or “Killers.” Both need to know that they’re better than
others, but the latter (“Killers”) want to have more power than others or power over
others. Good teachers try to channel this desire for control into helping others.
Sometimes it works.
 Community Collaboration – working together to solve a problem or do a task. We call
it “group work” in teaching. In game theory, “Socializers” are especially motivated by
this. Women are more likely to be socializers and motivated by collaboration than
young men, particularly “Achievers” and “Killers.”
 Points – giving numerical value for actions. We call them grades. We tend not to give
points to a group or for routine activities, but we could.
 Loss Aversion – not getting a reward, but avoiding punishment. Grading is often how
teachers implement this.
 Behavioral Momentum – the tendency of people who are doing something to keep
doing it. This works in tandem with what SCVNGR calls Fun Once, Fun Always –
activities that remain enjoyable, even with repetition. Classroom routines would fall
into this category.

Examples of Gamification

 Duolingo
As an example, let’s look at a high-beginner class. The game mechanics are in [brackets, in
italics].

The teacher starts the class by asking the designated team (selected in the previous class) to
mention the topics that they covered. In this case, it was colors and clothing.
[classroom routine=Behavioral Momentum; team=Community Collaboration].

The teacher shows 2-3 pictures of people and describes each: This is Salim. His shirt is green.
This is Marta. Her dress is black. This is Toshio. He has blue trousers. The students sit in
groups of four. They have 5 pictures and descriptions of each picture, cut into words or
phrases. The teams have 10 minutes to create a correct sentence for each picture.
Teams get points [points] for:

 having different people on each team make sentences [community collaboration,

virality]
 when they finish (earlier gets more points) [countdown], and
 how many sentences they complete correctly [achievement].

An option is to deduct points for incorrect sentences. [loss aversion, challenge]

As a follow-up, students are asked to go into the community and either take pictures of
people or of signs with people on them,or find pictures in a magazine. They have to find
images that they can describe. They then need to create descriptions.
[challenge, ownership, and discovery]

The next class will review by sharing pictures with other teams and writing sentences.