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How to Level Up an Assessment:
Gamification in Post Secondary Education
Anastasia KulpaOctober 18, 2012
What is a game anyways?
Basically, games have 4 elements:
-a goal, which focuses the attention of players and provides a sense of purpose
-rules which limit ‘how’ you can get to the given goal, these unleash creativity and develop strategic thinking
-a feedback system identifying how close players are to the goal, which provides motivation, and works as a promise the goal is achievable
-voluntary participation – people can choose to play, or not, and choose to willingly accept goals, rules, and feedback system – creates games as a safe, fun activity
-McGonigal, 2011, p. 19-21
Gamifying Conference Attendance
10 points is SUCCESS, 15 points makes you a SUPERSTAR
o 2 points for attending the opening reception
o 1 point for attending a presentation in each concurrent session
o 1 point for each time you tweak/change something you do as a result
of what you learn
o 1 point for each time you speak to a presenter/panelist after a session
o 2 points for each new person you meet and talk to about education
o 1 point for attending the opening plenary session
o 1 point for attending the closing panel
o 3 points for building a collaboration/arranging to share resources later
o 5 points for offering a presentation to share your knowledge
Experiencing gamified classrooms
-prior experience with games (WoW, Farmville)
-feelings of competence/mastery-cost of failure-feelings of progress
-autonomy-multiple roads to success
-student engagement-attendance-completion of work loads
Types of players
Killers
Players World
Acting
Interacting
Achievers
Socializers Explorers
Sheldon, 2010, p. 101-102
Results of a Gamified Classroom
-grades-Fs, Ds, Cs in about the same proportion-Bs almost all gone – move to A-range
-behaviour-risk-taking (oral presentations)-planning early for desired grades
-student evaluations-polarised, suggestions for implementation
-grading-spread out over the semester
Challenges with this kind of system
-design work-what does an oral presentation equal to a paper look like?
-scrutiny from colleagues-Are you just making the class way easier?-having to justify every choice you make
-student adjustment to a new system-tools for designing course engagements
-pacing-anxiety of ‘everything at the end of the semester’-time below the ‘passing’ threshold
Places to start reading:
McGonigal, Jane, 2011, Reality is Broken : Why Games Make us Better and How They Can Change the World, New York: The Penguin Press
*** Jane McGonigal also presented an amazing TED talk on the subject (with almost 2 million views) ‘Gaming can make a better world’ – available at TED.com
Sheldon, Lee, 2012, The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game, Boston: Cenage Technology
Questions? Want to read the publication when it’s done?
Anastasia KulpaGrant MacEwan University
