Games, gamification, and game-based learning have entered into the vocabulary of trainers, eLearning developers, and instructional designers over the past few years. But the influx has left many questions: What elements from games should be used in learning design? How does one seamlessly integrate story, challenge, badges, and points into the learning process? Does competition help or hurt learning? What research exists to support game elements for learning? This interactive presentation includes many examples of using game elements for learning. And, yes, you will play a game during this session. Discover how research-based game thinking and design can be leveraged to create effective, engaging instruction.

1. By Karl M. Kapp
Bloomsburg University
Gamification of Learning &Instruction
EMAIL: kkapp@bloomu.edu
TWITTER: @kkapp
BLOG: http://karlkapp.com/kapp‐notes/
Welcome to the Session 207:
Leveraging Game Elements
for Learning, Engagement and
Fun

2. Ripped from the pages of “The
Gamification of Learning and
Instruction” and the “Gamification of
Learning and Instruction Fieldbook”
Bring this presentation to your organization:
contact Karl at
http://karlkapp.com/contact/

3. Covert Takeaway Challenge

4. Notes
Slides
Additional Ideas
www.karlkapp.com/kapp-notes

5. Profiting Pirates Design Challenge

6. You are a game designer at WildGames
Corporation which is a great job.

7. Except the company has recent hit on some hard
financial times.

8. It is Friday at 4:55 PM and you only have two things
on you mind…

9. Hey, someone
wants us to
create a game
called “Profiting
Pirates”

10. We are competing internally for the
project. Winning team earns the
right to work on the project.

11. Two Development Teams
teama teamb

12. Rules
• A statement is presented
– Choose the best response
• Text Keyword Response:
– To 37607
Take out
your text‐
machines
Standard Texting Fees
Apply!

13. How To Respond via Texting
1. Polleverywhere has no access to your phone number
2. Capitalization doesn’t matter, but spaces and spelling do
TIPS
Amaze
Inamaze
alright
Amaze

14. Each team will be confronted with a
series of questions. The team that
correctly answers the questions wins
the work.

15. What about the other team?

16. Losers are assigned to
the “watching grass grow”
project.

17. Wow, I heard about that
project, its almost as fun
as… never mind. Profiting
Pirates is much better.

18. Ok, first decision. We want to
increase competition.
Should we increase or decease the
number of people competing against
one another at any give time?
Aahh…
Increase
or
Decrease?

19. Garci, S., & Tor, A. (2009) The N‐Effect: More Competitors, Less Competition, Psychological Science, Volume
20—Number 7
Decrease….people finished a timed quiz
faster, trying to be in top 20%, if they
believed they were in a pool of 10 versus
a pool of 100.
Average test scores fall as
the average number of test takers at
test-taking venues increases.
Called the “N-Effect”

20. Next decision. Do we use badges or
levels to show linear progress to the
player?

21. Use badges to show non-linear
progress and use levels to show
linear progress. Use levels as
“Scaffolding?”
What is
“scaffolding”?

22. Scaffolding: Process of controlling the
task elements that initially are beyond
the learner’s capacity.
Guided Practice. Step-by-step instructions
and then fading of instruction.

23. The value, or size, of an anticipated reward
influences the motivational signal sent to the
brain only within the contexts of the reward
system.
Howard-Jones. P.A., & Demetriou, S. (2008, September 11). Uncertainty and engagement with learning games.
Instructional Science, 37, 519-536.

24. Use coins, points and rewards to provide
feedback on performance, updates on progress,
level of correctness and to show Mastery.
Kapp, K. M. (2012) The Gamification of Learning and Instruction. New York: Pfeiffer. Chapter Four. Pages 89-98.

25. Do not use just to show
completion, that “shiver’s me
timbers.”

26. Next decision about this pirate game.
How do we start the game? What
should the players first in-game
experience be?

27. You have two choices:
Tell the player three important things about
being a pirate ship captain.
or
Open with player steering a ship through a
rocky shoreline being fired upon by cannons.

28. Why does this answer make
sense?
Not Sure?

29. Good game designers know that games
are engaging because they require action
right away.
Action draws in the player and
encourages further engagement. Start
by steering the ship.

30. Research indicates that learners who
used interactive games for learning
had the greater cognitive gains over
learners provided with traditional
classroom training.
Vogel, J. J., Vogel D.S., Cannon‐Bowers, J., Bowers, C.A., Muse, K., & Wright, M. (2006). Computer gaming and
Interactive simulations for learning: A meta‐analysis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 34(3), 229‐243.

31. Too often instructional design is about
the content and not about the actions
that need to occur.
Game Design is about action. Let’s
create action.

32. Ok, next decision.
Provide a map with the location of all
the treasure.
or
Create mystery and curiosity
concerning the location of treasure.

33. It is always a good idea to build curiosity and
mystery into a game. Reveal locations of treasure
gradually throughout the course of the player’s
journey.

34. Malone’s Theory of Intrinsically
Motivating Instruction
Challenge Fantasy Curiosity

35. Fantasy– There are both cognitive and emotional reasons for
evoking fantasy. Cognitively a fantasy can help a learner apply
old knowledge to understand new things and help them
remember the content. Emotionally, a person can connect
with the experiences and not bring with it “real-world”
concerns or fears.

36. Here are some of my
notes on the subject.

38. A sense of suspense, mystery
and intrigue draws people into
games and can draw them into
learning as well.

39. OK, next decision, should we:
Make the game easy so we don’t discourage the
players.
or
Make the game challenging, knowing some
players will fail the first few times.

40. Look! Things that are too easy or too difficult
will not pique a learner’s interest because they
lead to boredom or frustration.
Research has shown that challenge is correlated
with both intrinsic motivation and motivation
related to the desire to seek competence and
self confidence.
White, R.W. (1959) Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66, 297‐333.

41. This is known as the
flow state.

42. What elements
contribute to flow?

43. Achievable Task
Clear Goals
Control Over Actions
(Autonomy)
Concentration

44. Ok, that’s flow But…
how do we build
intrinsic motivation to
learn?

45. Challenge, Curiosity, Control, Fantasy,
Cooperation, Competition and
Recognition.

46. Hey, that’s Malone’s Theory
of Intrinsically Motivating
Instruction

47. Yes, and keep in mind, intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation can be viewed as two largely mutually
independent constructs rather than the opposite
ends of a single dimension.
Research indicates that in the classroom
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation do coexist.

48. Well, the next decision, should we:
Put the player at risk, they could die at any
moment.
or
Let the player safely explore the environment.

49. Seriously, you are asking me
this question. The player needs
to be at risk.

50. No risk, or danger equal no skin in
the game.
Get the player emotionally involved
by putting him or her at “mock”
risk.

51. In games, failing is allowed, it’s
acceptable, and it’s part of the
process. Games accommodate
failure with multiple lives, second
chances and alternative methods of
success.

52. Do you punish failure in your
learning design or do you allow and
encourage the freedom to fail?

53. Also, failure or earned success can
lead to emotion which leads can lead
to Episodic Memory.

54. Next decision, should we:
Give player choices about what level to enter
the game.
or
Create one path for every player.

55. Choices, players need choices. Look,
let me tell you what motivates
people.

56. People are motivated when they have
autonomy, mastery and relatedness.

57. Hey, isn’t that the Self-Determination Theory?

58. Why, yes…yes it is.

59. When given control over their learning, research
has shown that learners invested more and
attempted more complex strategies than when
they had no control. So give learners control
and choices.
Cordova, D.I., & Lepper M. R. (1996) Intrinsic motivation and the process of learning: Beneficial effects of
contextualization, personalization and choice. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 715‐730

60. Another decision, should we:
Create a game that can be played in one
sitting?
or
Create a game that is played over time?

61. Let’s make it so the game is played
over time.

62. Dobson, J. L. (2013) Retrieval practice is an efficient method of enhancing the retention of anatomy and physiology information Advances
in Physiology Education 37: 184–191, 2013; doi:10.1152/advan.00174.2012
One study revealed retention benefits of
between 35% and 61% with average of
41%. When learning is spaced over time
and learners were tested on the content on
a regular basis.

63. Another example: a study using a randomized
control group conducted a trial between Aug
10, 2009, and Nov 30, 2012, at ten sites in
southeast India with over 500 subjects.
Working Indian men (aged 35—55 years) with
impaired glucose tolerance were randomly
assigned to either a mobile phone messaging
intervention or standard care.
Ramachandran, A. et. al. Effectiveness of mobile phone messaging in prevention of type 2 diabetes by lifestyle modification in men in
India: a prospective, parallel‐group, randomised controlled trial The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, Early Online Publication, 11
September 2013 doi:10.1016/S2213‐8587(13)70067‐6

64. Ramachandran, A., et. al.., Effectiveness of mobile phone messaging in prevention of type 2 diabetes by lifestyle modification in men in
India: a prospective, parallel‐group, randomised controlled trial The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, Early Online Publication, 11
September 2013 doi:10.1016/S2213‐8587(13)70067‐6
“Use stairs instead
of an Elevator”
“Avoid snacks while
watching TV; you may
overeat.”
Such as…

65. Lowered risk of developing
Type 2 diabetes by 36%.
Ramachandran, A., et. al.., Effectiveness of mobile phone messaging in prevention of type 2 diabetes by lifestyle modification in men in
India: a prospective, parallel‐group, randomised controlled trial The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, Early Online Publication, 11
September 2013 doi:10.1016/S2213‐8587(13)70067‐6

66. Wow. You have provided me with a
lot of information, thanks. So let
me ask one more question.

67. Rrrrr, who won?

68. Ugh….

69. How about a re-cap…

70. 1) Keep the number of competitors low
2) Use rewards to motivate performance, not
completion
3) Begin with activity
4) Create curiosity, mystery, intrigue
5) Create a challenge for the learner
6) Put learners at “mock” risk
7) Give learners meaningful choices
8) Give learner a choice of where to “enter” the
learning
9) Have games played over time rather than all at
once
Tips to leverage game elements for learning:

71. Copy of Slides and Notes available at
www.karlkapp.com
Contact Karl at:
kkapp@bloomu.edu