Gamification

Describe gamification and the two distinct ways it has been used in the classroom.

     Gamification is a way to turn work into an enjoyable, memorable, and rewarding experience.  Whatever the work is, gamification should make it feel less like work.  “The idea is to integrate game-like elements and mechanics, including quests, experience points, leader boards, milestones, and badging, among others, into non-game environments” (Johnson, Adams Becker, Estrada, & Freeman, 2014).  My days are spent with teens in the math classroom.  Anytime I can make the work feel less like work, I do it.  I spend a lot of time researching gamification and implementing it with a colleague, who I will refer to as Mr. Gates.  Mr. Gates doesn’t just dabble in gamifying his class—it IS a game.  There is a huge guild board with each guild’s shield, along with the student-designed avatars and handles that belong to each guild.  A big part of gamification is letting students create an alter ego.  The students work on this task during the first few weeks of school, maintaining these identities throughout the school year.  The students are addressed by their handles, as well.  Students in Mr. Gates’ classes don’t have quizzes and tests—they have ‘boss mobs’ along with adventures and tasks to gain XP (experience points) and ‘level up’.  There are leaderboards that are used for students to track their own progress in ‘the game’, not as a means of student-to-student competition.

Explain at least two advantages and two drawbacks of gamification in education settings.

     The biggest advantage is the freedom to fail.  Failure creates a culture of math-phobic people who turn into math-phobic parents who don’t know how to help their kids.  These are the parents who tell their kids they were bad in math so no biggie if problems exist.  Ugh!  Freedom to fail allows students to try without judgment on their results.  Another advantage, which I spoke about previously, is the freedom to assume different identities.  Middle school kids often don’t like who they are and they feel awkward.  A new identity is a great escape for them.  It also fosters creativity and provides another means for the teacher (and peers) to get to know who they are.

     As you can tell, I am a fan of gamification.  There are a few drawbacks to a gamified classroom.  Not all students ‘get it’.  I love the idea of earning XP and leveling up, collecting more badges and tackling boss mobs.  There are some kids who just aren’t into all of that.  Sure, they will adapt and play by the rules, but it won’t have the same effect as it does on the other kids and everything will still feel like work.  They will do what they need to do to pass the class without a build-up of intrinsic motivation.  Another drawback is guild work, also known as group work.  Cooperative learning is a necessary experience that teachers must facilitate.  Even in the best situations, tension can build within a group and negate the purpose of the task.  I wouldn’t label this as solely a gamification drawback, but I will say that gamification doesn’t solve this common classroom problem.

Describe two best practices of gamification.

     One important best practice is to have mixed skill-level groups.  I already mentioned that Mr. Gates has his classes form guilds.  Depending on the size of the class, a guild will consist of three to four students.  Students get to choose who is in their guild, and this will be the guild for the year.  Recognizing when it is appropriate to let students choose groups is just as important as knowing when to create them.  Mr. Gates solves this problem by creating groups that change, depending on the task.  He will assign these groups as new tasks become available.  When students come in the room, all he has to say is ‘go to groups’ or ‘go to guilds’ and students know what to do.

     Another best practice is establishing flow.  Flow is “a state of total focus on the task at hand” (Oxford Analytica, 2016).  To facilitate flow, there must be a clear goal, clear and immediate feedback, and a perfect balance between challenge and skill.  In Mr. Gates class, all of the conditions are continually met.  Students meet the tasks with focus and persevere until it is completed.  This is one of the reasons I believe in the power of gamifying a classroom.  I see it.

Describe the three elements of gamification and give an example of each.

     The three elements of gamification with relevance to education are Mechanical Elements, Personal Elements, and Emotional Elements.  Mechanical Elements are a means to address incremental progression and provide instant feedback.  A great example of this is badging.   Badges are a way to acknowledge student accomplishments while providing a tangible reward that highlights an achieved skill or completed task.  Badges also allow teachers to quickly identify students’ strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in content.  Many students are motivated by the ability to attain badges.

     Personal Elements deal with student status and visibility, including leaderboards and rankings.  An example of this is the creation of guilds, avatars, and personal handles in Mr. Gates’ classes.  All of these provide the opportunity for students to create new identities, making the game personal to each student.  Guilds provide a sense of collective responsibility within the class while allowing students to collaborate with each other.

     Emotional Elements of gamification deal with the psychological state of flow, which I briefly addressed as a best practice.  When the challenge-level is high and the skill-level is low, flow will be hindered by feelings of anxiety and worry.  When the skill-level is higher and the challenge-level is appropriate to the student, the task-at-hand can be approached with relaxation and control.  When the perfect balance of challenge-level and skill-level are achieved, students will enter the state of flow.

Describe two factors that hinder gamification.

     To appropriately gamify a classroom, an understanding of what gamification is must exist.  Teachers need the proper knowledge and willingness to invest the time and work necessary to implement gamification.  It’s not a quick fix to make content fun, nor is it simply turning content into games.  Somewhere, I read that chocolate covered broccoli is still broccoli and students will sniff it out!

     Another factor that hinders gamification is the lack of technology.  In Mr. Gates’ classroom, most of the gamification that happens is not on a computer—it is in the environment of his classroom.  However, technology has been a major support in the facilitation of all of the elements of gamification.  With technology, students design their guild shields and avatars.  With technology, students keep track of XP and leaderboards.  With technology, Mr. Gates provides more immersive, relevant tasks for students to tackle.  Could Mr. Gates do all of this without technology?  Of course, but technology makes all of the work more manageable and helps Mr. Gates to be efficient.  Gamifying a classroom is a huge commitment and requires much work, something that could be easily pushed and replaced with a focus on the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) and Ohio State Test (OST) preparation. 

Describe one gamification platform and its different features used to gamify a classroom.

     I know I’ve spent a lot of time talking about Mr. Gates and his classroom, but now I’m going to talk about Ms. Campbell.  She has been using ClassDojo for three years and I have been privileged to witness the before-and-after in her classroom.  ClassDojo is a classroom management app that encourages students to work to potential, participate, be respectful, and whatever else a teacher wants to give points for.  Teachers can also take points away without saying a word.  In Ms. Campbell’s classes, students will hear a different tone when points are being subtracted versus when they are being added.  She doesn’t need to say who is gaining or losing points.  Students hear either tone and get on track.  Why?  Because parents have access to their child’s ClassDojo account.  They can see what points are earned or deducted for and the time of each occurrence.  Additionally, parents and teachers can communicate with each other through ClassDojo.  Students create their own avatars in ClassDojo, where all of their accomplishments (or problems) are highlighted.  Students can customize their portfolios by highlighting learning accomplishments with photos and videos.  Better yet? Parents can access ClassDojo through the app on their smartphones.  It’s an easy way to get parents involved in their child's behavior at school.      

Describe the relationship between motivation, engagement and gamification.

     Middle school students aren’t the most motivated individuals.  In fact, Ms. Campbell and I have been struggling with her eighth graders all year.  She is doing everything recommended in the research on motivation, but nothing seems to spark this group of kids.  Even the principal has told her that this cohort of students is a tough group and that she shouldn’t waste any more time trying to figure out how to motivate them.  Recently, I had the opportunity to provide time for Ms. Campbell to visit Mr. Gates’ classroom.  His eighth graders are the only students I work with who are truly motivated and engaged.  It is no coincidence that his classroom is completely gamified.  Why does it work?  “Gamification is the introduction of an extrinsic reward system (based on game mechanics) to non-game content (such as learning content) in order to engage and motivate learners to participate and complete the activity.  Its use is intended to compensate the lack of intrinsic motivation towards a learning activity” (Boulet, 2016).  Ms. Campbell was inspired by what she saw in Mr. Gates’ classroom, and I am supporting her in implementing gamification in the fall.

Resources

Boulet, G. (2016, July 19). Gamification and motivation: it's the content that matters, not the container. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from https://elearningindustry.com/gamification-and-motivation-content-matters

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A. (2014). NMC Horizon Report: 2014 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A. (2015). NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

L. (2016, April 26). Gamification when it comes to education. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from https://www.joytunes.com/blog/music-fun/playing-learn-gamification-comes-education-infographic/

Lee, J. J., & Hammer, J. (2011). Gamification in education: what, how, why bother? Academic Exchange Quarterly, 15(2), 1-5. Retrieved March 22, 2017.

Oxford Analytica. (2016). Gamification and the future of education. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from https://worldgovernmentsummit.org/annual-gathering/reports