Play As You Learn Gamification as a Technique for Motivating Learners

1. Play As You LearnGamification as a Technique for Motivating Learners Dr. Ian Glover Sheffield Hallam University, UK i.glover@shu.ac.uk

2. Gamification • Using game-design concepts in domains • Typically, but not exclusively, from computer games • Distinct from Game-Based Learning and Serious Games • Gamification adds an extra layer over existing activities • GBL and SG uses games as the learning medium

3. Motivation • Intrinsic • Personal • Strong • Extrinsic • External • Weak (usually) • Mixed motivations common • e.g. interested in the topic, but also want to gain recognition from peers.

4. Key Game Concepts Goal-focused activity Reward mechanism(s) Progress tracking

5. Goal-focused Activity Working towards clearly defined targets Large goals should be broken down into sub-tasks Each sub-task should progress towards the overall goal

7. Reward Mechanism(s) • Different mechanisms appeal to different people: • Peer recognition • Awards • Benefits / Prizes • Unappealing rewards have little motivational effect • Possibly allow learners to choose rewards

9. Progress Tracking • Progress within overall goal, and any sub-tasks, should be readily available • Progress can be shown relative to peers • e.g. Leaderboards • Progress tracking is not a substitute for assessment

11. Existing Uses of Gamification Education Uses Business Uses Passport to Professional Skills Online Travel Training 'Gold stars' • Open Study • ClassDojo • Open Badges • Webmaker Other Uses • Academic Experts • Chore Wars • Crowdrise • my1login • RedCritter Tracker • Badgeville • FourSquare • DevHub

12. Quick Exercise How would you GamifyEdmedia? What would be the goal? What would you encourage/discourage? What rewards would you give? How would you track activity?

13. Criticism of Gamification • Over-justification effect • Extrinsic motivation can have negative effect on intrinsically motivated learners (Groh, 2012) • Only creates illusionof activity being rewarding (Teti, 2012) • Encourages addicted/compulsive behaviour? (Zichermann, 2011) • 'Rankings' may discourage some people (Williams, 2012)

14. To Gamify or Not? Is motivation a problem? Are there behaviours to encourage/discourage? Does the activity lend itself to game concepts? Would this create a parallel assessment route? Would some learners be favoured over others? What rewards would work best? Are rewards too easy to obtain? Will it encourage learners to spend too long on particular activities?

15. Gamifying e-Learning • e-Learning systems routinely capture data useful for gamification • Link Classroom Clickers to leaderboards • Publicly rank learners according to grade • Adaptively release new materials and activities upon mastery • Encourage cooperative/collaborative learning • Reward contribution to forums, wikis, etc. • Issue badges for achievement • More ideas: http://www.growthengineering.co.uk/how-to-gamify-15-ways-to-introduce-gaming-concepts-into-elearning

16. Gamification • is a recent term for an established idea • can be a useful motivational tool • is particularly suited to behavioural reinforcement • lends itself well to e-Learning • isn't for every situation • may have negative effects • needs careful planning

17. Claim a Reward for Attending Or use code: VCVAWP at http://badg.us Questions? Dr. Ian Glover Sheffield Hallam University, UK i.glover@shu.ac.uk

18. References Groh, F. (2012). Gamification: State of the Art Definition and Utilization. In Proceedings of the 4th seminar on Research Trends in Media Informatics,39-46. Teti, J. (2012). Rev. of Assassin’s Creed III. The Gameological Society. Williams, J. (2012). The Gamification Brain Trust: Intrinsically Motivating People to Change Behavior (part 2). Gamesbeat. Zichermann, G. (2011). Gamification has issues, but they aren’t the ones everyone focuses on. [Editorial] O’Reilly Radar.