Blog Archives
The death of ‘Gamification’ – the birth of ‘Games and learning’.
Michael John writes that;
“…as a game designer, it was painful to listen to the education world talk about gamification as if it was a special sauce that can be applied to any existing task in order to improve performance. As a practitioner of game design, I know that this special sauce just does not exist, especially when it comes to K-12 learning.
Though this frustrating craze led to a proliferation of interactive drill games that incorporate gamification-style scoring and reward systems, we need to move beyond this, to a better definition and understanding of how digital games can impact student learning.
Rather than looking at “gamification of learning” as a process that’s applied to curricula to make school more interesting, we should recognize that learning at its best already has game-like elements that are latent and waiting to be unlocked.”
To read Michael John’s full article at Techcrunch click here;
http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/05/gamification-is-dead-long-live-games-for-learning/
Games Based Learning through Text Adventures
This week in the Games Based Learning MOOC, we’ve been focusing on two tools for GBL: AR/ARGs and Interactive Fiction/Text Adventures. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I’m planning to integrate IF into my Fall FYC class. Students will both experience the course as a piece of IF and, at the end of the term, create their own IF.
The Class as a Text Adventure
In lieu of a syllabus, I’ll provide students with a piece of IF that they will have to “play” in order to navigate the course: all of the course resources will be located within the “game” and students will need to solve “puzzles” and complete levels in order to locate them. As with any text adventure, the students will be able to make choices in terms of whether or not they solve specific puzzles or utilize specific resources. In this way, the game…
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YES! Games Give Flow, Fun, and Fiero!
Yes! Flow, fun, and fiero – I love them all! The flow experience in games has been described by Hansen and Sanders (2010), as the optimal state for intrinsic motivation, it is experienced when a person is “fully immersed in what he or she is doing. These peak experiences balance the appropriate amount of challenge in the task and skill in the player. Video games can be perfectly designed to achieve this kind of balance to facilitate the flow experiences, which then catalyzes the intrinsic motivation for active learning (de Freitas, 2006, p.11; Delwiche, 2006, p. 162; Dickey, 2006, p. 246).
References
Delwiche, A. (2006). Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) in the new media classroom. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 9(3), 160-172.
de Freitas, S. (2006). Learning in immersive worlds: A review of game-based learning. JISC. 148
Dickey, M. (2006). Game Design Narrative for Learning: Appropriating Adventure Game Design Narrative Devices and Techniques for the Design of Interactive Learning Environments. Educational Technology Research & Development, 54(3), 245-263.
Hansen, L., & Sanders, S. (2010). Fifth Grade Students’ Experiences Participating in Active Gaming in Physical Education: The Persistence to Game. The ICHPER-SD Journal of Research in Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport & Dance, 5(2), 7.
As mentioned in my last post, I am planning to gamify next Fall’s first-semester FYC course, using Interactive Fiction (IF) and the multiplayer classroom model. The decision to do so came completely independently of a new MOOC that started this past week that focuses on Games Based Learning (GBL). I had not intended to take this MOOC, since I had already signed up for another MOOC that would overlap with it. However, when I saw that the GBL MOOC would be covering IF, I decided to give it a try. The great thing about MOOCs is that they are voluntary and, therefore, you can dip in and out of them as you wish. While many have classified this aspect of MOOCs as one of their weaknesses, I see it as one of their strengths. Not only does it encourage learners like me to give something a try that…
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Gamification at Khan Academy
According to Karen Bryan, the Khan Academy employs some of the elements of gamification to keep learners engaged and motivated.
“Khan said that when he began to make his videos public, he expected that they would attract only the highly self-motivated learners. What he found, though, is that it’s become popular with a wide variety of students, from high achievers to students who are on the verge of failing their classes. On the surface, the skill trees are a type of extrinsic reward, and there’s incentive to keep watching videos and taking assessment tests just to see the next box fill in on your tree. But at the same time, users are intrinsically drawn to the site, and their primary motivation for using Khan Academy is actually the method of instruction itself. Millions of people have viewed the videos, and as the staff continues to translate the tutorials, even more people will be able to access the content on the site.”
To read the full article by Karen Bryan, click here.
Gaming and Education 