The main advantages to gamification are what the creative director of MIT's Creative Arcade, Scott Osterweil, calls the "four freedoms of play". (Gamifaction and the Future of Education, 2016) These freedoms are: the freedom to fail, the freedom to experiment, the freedom to assume different identities and the freedom of effort. (Gamifaction and the Future of Education, 2016) Through the gaming environment students feel more comfortable with failure than they would in their regular school environment which leads them to feel more free to take risks and engage with subjects in a more intimate way. Gamified learning environments also lead to a more personalized environment where students take more responsibility for the pace and preferences of their learning. (Gamifaction and the Future of Education, 2016)
Two drawbacks to gamification are that it can create social tension within the classroom and make the outcomes of learning more focused on extrinsic rewards like points and badges as opposed to the intrinsic value of gaining knowledge for the sake of learning. Social tensions could be created in group activities where not all students take an equal role in participating towards a specific outcome. (Gamifaction and the Future of Education, 2016)
There are both mechanical and personal elements that can enhance the learning environment through gamification. Two mechanical elements that are beneficial to students are the use of incremental progression systems: goals, challenges, quests; and instant feedback. Incremental progression systems progress in difficulty as students master one area or skill at a time advancing in difficulty as they would advance in difficulty in a game. (Gamifaction and the Future of Education, 2016) One math website that my daughter uses is called Zearn https://www.zearn.org/, and it works exactly with this in mind. She receives rewards as she advances in concepts that tend to build on one another and is engaged and having fun at the same time.
Instant Feedback provides students with timely feedback so that they can gauge their progress continuously and in without delay instead of having to wait for a paper to be graded or for a grade to show up on a report card. (Gamifaction and the Future of Education, 2016) The class dojo https://www.classdojo.com/ provides a way for teachers to provide immediate feedback on kid's behavior issues and class participation through a system of rewards. The dojo is becoming more and more common as a tool that children respond well to if and when it is used consistently.
A personal element of gamification that kids enjoy and respond well to is the creation of a visible status: avatar. The benefits of this form of gamification are
primarily social. (Gamifaction and the Future of Education, 2016) Part of the appeal of games is
that they allow players to adopt new identities
or roles, and make meaningful decisions
in-game from an unfamiliar vantage point.
Avatars are an extension of this.
In the context of education, gamification
of this type may allow students to project a
profile of themselves, complete with relevant
scholarly achievements, to other students and
the outside world. (Gamifaction and the Future of Education, 2016) Through Class Craft https://www.classcraft.com/, students can create their own personal avatar and then earn rewards and powers from classroom activities. Class Craft seems to work particularly well with middle school students and is very engaging for them if used consistently.
Two factors that can hinder gamification are misaligning objectives and applying gamification inappropriately. Just applying visible features of gamification in the classroom while failing to meet concrete objectives will lead to a negative connotation with gamification strategies. (Gamifaction and the Future of Education, 2016) It is important that the underlying objectives are the fundamental principles guiding the gamified experience. Gamificaton is not a strategy that is suited for all content areas and should be used only when it can be done in a way that is effectively aligned with objectives.
The class dojo https://www.classdojo.com/ is the classroom gamification platform that I am most familiar with. It is primarily used for classroom management and encouraging a growth mindset within students, to empower them to succeed and take control over their behaviors and learning strategies. My daughters teachers use the class dojo at her school so I am familiar with it as a parent and have benefited from the regular communications with her teachers on anything from upcoming events, homework announcements, to -- most importantly -- constant feedback on both the positive and any negative behaviors that she is exhibiting. I also use the class dojo as a teacher at Hope Learning Academy and have benefited from the ability to communicate with parents and see how this system allows students to take responsibility for their actions by giving them a broad range of behavior consequences. The dojo works on a system of rewarding and taking points that provide students with varying incentives for positive choices. These rewards can range from anything to free time at the end of the day, lunch with the teacher or participation in class parties at the end of the quarter. Dojo, in essence, gamifies the entire school setting and makes students actively engaged in their own behavioral development.
The class dojo https://www.classdojo.com/ is the classroom gamification platform that I am most familiar with. It is primarily used for classroom management and encouraging a growth mindset within students, to empower them to succeed and take control over their behaviors and learning strategies. My daughters teachers use the class dojo at her school so I am familiar with it as a parent and have benefited from the regular communications with her teachers on anything from upcoming events, homework announcements, to -- most importantly -- constant feedback on both the positive and any negative behaviors that she is exhibiting. I also use the class dojo as a teacher at Hope Learning Academy and have benefited from the ability to communicate with parents and see how this system allows students to take responsibility for their actions by giving them a broad range of behavior consequences. The dojo works on a system of rewarding and taking points that provide students with varying incentives for positive choices. These rewards can range from anything to free time at the end of the day, lunch with the teacher or participation in class parties at the end of the quarter. Dojo, in essence, gamifies the entire school setting and makes students actively engaged in their own behavioral development.
References
NMC Horizon Report: 2014 K-12 Edition, p 38, 39.
Report: Gamification and the Future of Education, World Government Summit, Oxford Analytica, 2016.
