Jesse’s talk last Monday brought home the message that education has not changed it’s mindset much in recent years. To me it also brought home that while education didn’t move on, entertainment did. Farmville now has more players than Twitter has accounts and World of Warcraft players amassed a total of 5.93 million years play time. However, rather than simply thinking of these forms of entertainment as competition, we should look at them for inspiration and start the gamification of education.
The gamification of education does not mean students will be playing video games to learn. It means we look at the mechanics that make people want to invest 22 hours a week into games such as World of Warcraft, and implement them within education. These Mechanics like levels, achievements and points are already widely being used in areas like marketing in order to boost the compulsion to engage.
Lee Sheldon, who taught a class in the Indiana University, showed how education could be gamified. In his class he renamed everything to fit within a Warcraft context. Students gained experience points (XP), instead of grades. By gaining XP they could level up. Their level at the end of the year corresponded to their grade for that module. Students responded enthusiastically and Sheldon found it to be an effective tool. Simply by renaming the grading system, he turned it into a progression bar and a level up system. Making every assignment feel like it was helping them progress towards levelling up. Level systems are one of the key components that make some video games so compelling.
In a way, all Sheldon truly did was rename the excising system. No bonuses or achievements were attached to levelling up. In order to increase engagement, he could i.e. have given students a bonus if they performed well on three assignments in a row or maybe get an achievement for being the first student to hit level 10.
Gamification can be found in many aspects of life nowadays, and it is slowly starting to seep into education. Imagine if all the students’ goals changed from passing the test to getting the high score and if working on your dissertation was as compelling as milking cows. Gamification is not about playing games, it’s about playing life.
Oderkerk 
Interesting post Chiron! The levelling up system sounds like a good idea, particularly for long term courses (such as A-levels and degree courses). When doing these, it is easy to lose motivation as each of the many components is typically only worth a small percentage of the final grade. Therefore a progress bar would be a good indicator of success (and failures) over time. Having said that, it’s important that the motivation from this system would be intrinsic rather than extrinsic. Wigfield (1997) found intrinsic motivation to be a better predictor of reading breadth and amount in school children than extrinsic motivation. As many shall we say, ‘committed’ gamers will tell you, sometimes their goal is simply to reach the next level, rather than enjoy the gameplay experience itself (leading to ‘grinding’, performing easy repetitive tasks in order to level up). While ‘grinding’ itself couldn’t occur in an educational context (repeating easy tasks would hopefully not lead to educational ‘levelling up!’), the desire to level up could become seperated from the desire for learning for its own/enjoyments sake.
Some really, really good points, I hadn’t even thought of relating gamification to the types of motivation.
Many forms of gamification are based on operant conditioning (Skinner, 1938); participant performs a task, and if he does well he’s rewarded (levels up, get an achievement or ranks higher than his friends on a leader board). This is one of the ways a progress bar works; you perform an action, and as a reward the progress bar fills up. I suppose that would be a kind of extrinsic motivation. Though intrinsic motivation might be more effective, extrinsic motivation has the advantage that it’s subjects do not actually have to care about the nature of task it (in theory). They are instead motivated to perform well due to the compelling nature of the reward scheme. In this way any kind assignment could be considered grinding if we describe grinding as ‘engaging in tasks, before and long after, they have lost their appeal’, however the participants are compelled to engage in those tasks, in order to achieve the reward.
I feel that intrinsic motivation is something that can be controlled through how the task/homework/assignment/quest presented. While extrinsic motivation is carrot on the stick that will pull students from kindergarten to retirement.
There are some interesting points raised in this blog.
The idea of gamification in education could prove useful. Just expanding from the first comment. Extrinsic motivation, which involves a reward system, would play a major role in gamification. As receiving rewards such as experience and levels are a stimulant for extrinsic motivation. This would cause competition in the class. As in games you always want higher levels and better gear than any one else. Gamification could also cause a within-class competition.
I would disagree though with the use of gamification for the long term. Incentives and rewards are only useful as weak reinforces for the short term. As for long term education incentives and rewards actually inhibit motivation (Benabou and Tirole, 2003). If there was a way to incorporate gamification with intrinsic motivation this strategy could work really well.
Although extrinsic and intrinsic motivation are important factors, I think there are more important factors, as extrinsic motivation can lead to intrinsic given the correct conditions (or enthusiasm and interest to engage in a topic). I believe the focus should be on goal orientation, specifically engagement and academic performance.
Harackiewicz, Barron, Tauer, Carter & Elliot (2000) show evidence that if an individual is mastery-goal-orientated, this will predict the subsequent interest they will have in a subject but not their exam grades. However if an individual is performance goal-orientated, this will predict their grades.
Gamification would be unnecessary for those mastery-orientated individuals as they already have the necessary motivation, yet it might promote their achievement through (already mentioned) competition instead of purely just interest in the area of study.
For those high-attaining achievement-orientated individuals it would promote a more intrinsic interest in the subject, although whether this would be detrimental to academic achievement is another question altogether.
Gamification may also benefit other goal-orientated behaviours identified by Harackiewicz et al. For example work-avoidance-orientation may be lessened as gamification may promote engagement, as Chiron suggested.
Either way, gamification appears to be an interesting topic in regards to education, increasing engagement with a topic. Motivation must be taken into account, as must goal-orientated behaviour, but this new and (as shown by massively multi-player online games) addictive domain may be a step in the right direction.
Thanks for sharing Chiron, I’ll be keeping an eye on gamification from now on!
Great points, especially about in class competition. I definitely agree that competition is a large aspect, not only of many games, but also in regular classrooms. Because of this competition could easily be encouraged in classrooms in order to increase engagement (Messina, 2011). Perhaps by keeping class wide track of achievements students have gained, or through the use of leader boards. However, I would hesitate to encourage competition between individual students and would only apply these mechanics between groups. This could encourage competition and cooperation, both of which are powerful enforcers of engagement.
Regarding the use of gamification for the long term, I presume this is in regards to single tasks, spanning over a long time? I agree that a single reward at the end of such an assignment would not yield the compulsion needed to maintain engagement. However, this is not how I would see gamification methods implemented within schools. Gamification specializes in using those operant conditioning techniques that keep tasks engaging long after the initial task has lost it’s appeal (Skinner, 1938). Rather than reward students for reaching the end of the road, students are rewarded for each step in the right direction, and prevented from ceasing their engagement. Simply through acknowledging and rewarding student progress we can compel their engagement. Anything from receiving a bonus for a first draft, to progress bars indicating their word count, can drag engagement on for a very long time.
Messina (2011): https://www.politesi.polimi.it/handle/10589/22961
Interesting idea Chiron! One that i totally agree with. I remember reading about a teacher called Ananth Pai who ‘gamified’ his third grade class, the results were outstanding! In 18 weeks the children went from having below average third grade results to mid fourth grade level results, and thats only 4 months of this!
Gabe Zichermann did a talk about gamification and he was talking about a ‘generation G’, a generation where the primary form of entertainment is video games. Their desire for video games should be jumped upon by educators and parents and not feared as being a distraction from their real education. Parents seem to automatically jump on video games and label them as bad, but what people need to realize is that the world is changing and the kids of today are nothing like past generations. Children no longer see relaxing and reading a book as satisfying, they would much rather go play on video games as a relaxation! A couple of extremely great videos to watch about the concept.
Gabe Zichermann – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2N-5maKZ9Q
Ananth Pai – http://fora.tv/2011/09/16/Ananth_Pai_Gamifying_the_Classroom#Schoolteacher_Ananth_Pai_Gamifies_His_Classroom
Your idea of the “gamification” of education is interesting with some valid points, I do not personally appealing. I also appreciate that there is a large population of students who enjoy gaming and would encourage this method as a learning tool for the future, with a lot of evidence out there to indicate that it is an effective learning tool (Wideman, Owsten, Brown, Kushniruk, Ho & Pitts, 2007). I however, am not one of them, my idea of education does not include spending endless hours in front of a computer screen trying to gain XP to feel as though I have achieved something, I would lose motivation and probably would not carry on with the task at hand.
The education system at this present time is out dated and does need a radical shake-up, and computers and the internet will play a large part of education of the future. My idea of the education system of the future would involve experiential learning (learning by experience Klob, 1994) as I feel this style of education is more advantageous and motivational to a larger population of students.
Sorry I have had to repost this comment as for some reason the first time I have posted it has shown me as Anonymous.
Your idea of the “gamification” of education is interesting with some valid points, I do not personally appealing. I also appreciate that there is a large population of students who enjoy gaming and would encourage this method as a learning tool for the future, with a lot of evidence out there to indicate that it is an effective learning tool (Wideman, Owsten, Brown, Kushniruk, Ho & Pitts, 2007). I however, am not one of them, my idea of education does not include spending endless hours in front of a computer screen trying to gain XP to feel as though I have achieved something, I would lose motivation and probably would not carry on with the task at hand.
The education system at this present time is out dated and does need a radical shake-up, and computers and the internet will play a large part of education of the future. My idea of the education system of the future would involve experiential learning (learning by experience Klob, 1994) as I feel this style of education is more advantageous and motivational to a larger population of students.
I’m sorry you do not find gamification to your taste. Personally, I have been captivated with it for the last few months now, and I feel that it may be something not only used in education but may eventually show up in all facets of life. Please see Designing Outside the Box (http://www.g4tv.com/videos/44277/DICE-2010-Design-Outside-the-Box-Presentation/) for ways gamification might be used.
In regards to your queries with gamification, I feel I have perhaps not explained it well enough. While, I am sure that many people would indeed rather spend their time playing games than studying I must say that, for the purpose of education, I have no interest in playing games nor keeping gamers happy. Gamification is not about playing games. Rather it is about looking at how games are designed, taking those game mechanics that keep players compelled and implementing these mechanics within education. No time need be spend in front of a computer in class. Game mechanics that keep players engaged in games such as World of Warcraft often use a type of operant conditioning (Skinner, 1938), in the form of points, levels, progress bars or any number of things. Using these kind of mechanics in class, students are being conditioned to perform tasks such as doing tests, giving presentations or even writing online blogs.
As to your preference for experiential learning (Kolb, 1984), I can see how this might be thought to be effective. As one of the prerequisites of experiential learning is that the student is motivated, teachers using the experiential learning method might want to use several gamification methods in their classes. While Kolb (1984) himself states that experiential learning is a very different philosophy from skinner’s (1938) type of learning, it is worth noting that gamification does not simply reward students for when they have learned. Rather, gamification can be used to compel students to engaging in learning. Either through experiential learning or any other kind.
Thank you for your interest, I hope that makes things clearer.
Kolb: academic.regis.edu/ed205/Kolb.pdf
Skinner 1938: http://www.worldcat.org/title/behavior-of-organisms-an-experimental-analysis/oclc/553295
Really interesting blog Chiron! I had never heard of any real situations of ‘gamification’ in education. I’m afraid I have yet to form my own opinion as i’m still trying to digest all the information and valid points you have made, and other people have commented! Still, very thought-provoking!
I really like this idea Chiron, but I think this may be a little too narrow to be a viable solution to our education problem.
At the moment, many students are highly motivated for success. Currently, an ‘A’ grade at GCSE, or an A grade at A-Level doesn’t actually distinguish you from a huge number other candidates for a job or university course. Vasagar (2011) reported in the guardian that 8.2% of candidates achieved an A* at A-Level.
But along side this, we have a record number of students becoming disengaged with the system. Paton (2009) reported in the telegraph that one in six pupils leaves education at 6 without a single C grade GCSE. This leaves 20% of our young people in the dustbin; as a C grade in Maths and English is a minimum literacy and numeracy standard that can be expected of employees in many jobs. Popular media also report large organisations having to retrain graduates, for example in the Telegraph (2011), as they lack key skills required for the workplace.
Therefore I think this idea of ‘Gamification’ could present some options for helping our education. It would help with motivation over a longer period of time, for students to see a progress bar, and would especially help those students who are close or who are disengaged with the system, and have lost sight of their ultimate goal. This was shown by Amir and Ariley (2008), who suggested that when progress towards aim is uncertain; discrete progress markers, which would be what the gamification brings in, can help increase performance. However, there research shows that it could also increase complacency; so this could be an issue amongst the high performing students.
In conclusion, I’m not sure. I would say it is too ‘one sized fits all’ to suggest that gamification is a solution to motivation- we are all different people and we all need different solutions.
References (In order of appearance)
Vasagar, J., (2011) A Level Results- 2011: Pass rates hit new record high. Retrieved from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/aug/18/a-level-pass-rate-hits-new-high, Jan 31st, 2012
Paton, G., (2009) One pupil in six leaves School with no good GCSE. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/4240513/One-pupil-in-six-leaves-school-with-no-good-GCSE.html, Jan 31st 2012
British Graduates not fit to Start work say majority of Bosses (2011). Retrieved from:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8819425/British-graduates-not-fit-to-start-work-say-majority-of-bosses.html Jan 31st 2012
Amir, O., & Ariley, D., (2008) Resting on Laurels: The effects of Discrete Progress Markers as Subgoals on Task Performance and Preferences. Journal of Experimental Psychology. 34 (5) 1158-1171. doi: 10.1037/a0012857.
Apparently I can’t do maths either. Just noticed I said 1 in 6= 20%, sorry! 1/6=16%!
I very much enjoy your perspective, and you make really interesting points regarding the downside of gamification.
I do however feel that Amir and Ariley’s (2008) point of discrete progress markers being demotivating would also be relevant in the current education system. They suggest parents should downplay the achievement of a child’s performance after a midterm exam, in order to prevent complacency.
It would also be useful to note that through the gamification of education we can provide much more than simple discrete progress markers. As stated before, gamification is the use of game-design in non game situations and rather than using discrete progress markers, we could use continues progress markers. Amir and Ariley (2008) also found something else, though it was not the highlight of their study. In their study, participants played a game; walking a miner as fast as possible from one side to the other. They found that participants played more and longer, when they could see the miner move to the destination, than when they couldn’t. This very concept is something that can be incorporated within education. For example showing a student exactly how much he/she has completed with his/her assignment (progress bar) or showing him/her exactly how much further this gets him in terms of grades (experience, level system). Finding and incorporating these elements is what gamification is about.
And while indicating the participant’s progress till the completion of as task is an important part of gamification, rewarding and compelling task completion is an equally important part of gamification. Like the rat in Skinner’s box (Skinner 1938), students are conditioned to perform tasks or complete assignments through the use of rewards (levels, achievments, bonuses or points).
While we may never find the one size to fit all, perhaps someday we will be able to measure exactly which game-mechanic each individual needs to ensure the greatest amount of compulsion and motivation.
Very interesting! By any chance, did you take Evidence based educational methods? The headsprout learning programme is very similar to what you have talked about, with progress maps, games and levels which differed from space to dinosaurs to beach settings to motivate learners to reach higher levels.
Making learning ‘fun’ is something that has been advertised for years. One of my brothers used the ‘leapfrog/leap pads’ to learn to read and write, and found it much more interesting than the way he was taught at school! My other brother is a whiz at using an Ipad and has several apps (the names currently escape me) that he uses to get ahead of his friends.
I’m glad it peaked your interest. No, I didn’t take Evidence based educational methods, but it sounds very interesting.
However, as we come near the point where I doubt I’ll get many more comments on this blog, I do feel obligated to say that, at least in my mind, claiming that gamification would make education more fun, would almost be immoral.
While I am hugely enthusiastic about gamification, but my main reservation lies in it’s ethics. It must be said that, if gamification is successful it is not because students are having fun.
As you can see from how often I quote skinner (1938) in the comments, many mechanics focused on in gamification rely strongly on operant conditiong. Operant conditioning, conditions the participant to complete and repeat a task. It is a powerful force within both gambling and the lottery (http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/schedules.htm). Which can be so compelling that we have to wonder whether it is in fact an addiction. It is also these methods that can make games so compulsive, (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3085/behavioral_game_design.php?page=1). And it is exactly these mechanics that gamification focuses to make non gaming systems like education more engaging.
The question then becomes; is it moral to expose children to such mechanics?
More on this in next week’s blog.
The success of this adaption appears to act as additional evidence for the effectiveness of tracking progress in encouraging motivation (Binder, 1996). As Snider (2006) had pointed out, the benefits of academic work may not be as salient as the benefits of practice in such activities as music. Hence, an advantage of this method is its ability to make the usually less overt benefit of academic evident for motivation. Still, the method of progress tracking alone is not motivating enough for all learners (Binder, 1993). In these cases, other reinforcers may still be needed (Binder, 1993), which this method allows. It appears to be an effective method. Thanks for sharing!
References
Binder, C. (1996). Behavioral fluency: Evolution of a new paradigm. The Behavior Analyst. 19, 163-197.
Snider, V. (2006). The myth of fun and interesting. In Myths and misconceptions about teaching: What really happens in the classroom (pp. 45-59). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.
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