Presentation for award-winning paper at Edmedia 2013 (Freely downloadable from http://www.editlib.org/p/112246/). It provides an overview of the principles of gamification and motivation and contains suggestions on things to consider when gamifying education.

1. Play As You Learn
Gamification as a Technique
for Motivating Learners
Dr. Ian Glover
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
i.glover@shu.ac.uk

2. Gamification
• Using game-design concepts in domains
– Typically, but not exclusively, from computer games
• Distinct from Game-Based Learning and
Serious Games
– Gamification adds an extra layer over existing
activities
– GBL and SG uses games as the learning medium

3. Motivation
• Intrinsic
– Personal
– Strong
• Extrinsic
– External
– Weak (usually)
• Mixed motivations common
– e.g. interested in the topic, but also
want to gain recognition from peers.

4. Key Game Concepts
• Goal-focused activity
• Reward mechanism(s)
• Progress tracking

5. Goal-focused Activity
• Working towards clearly defined targets
• Large goals should be broken down into sub-
tasks
• Each sub-task should progress towards the
overall goal

7. Reward Mechanism(s)
• Different mechanisms appeal to different
people:
– Peer recognition
– Awards
– Benefits / Prizes
• Unappealing rewards have little motivational
effect
• Possibly allow learners to choose rewards

9. Progress Tracking
• Progress within overall goal, and any sub-
tasks, should be readily available
• Progress can be shown relative to peers
– e.g. Leaderboards
• Progress tracking is not a substitute for
assessment

11. Existing Uses of Gamification
Education Uses
• Open Study
• ClassDojo
• Open Badges
• Webmaker
Business Uses
• Passport to
Professional Skills
• Online Travel Training
• 'Gold stars'
Other Uses
• Academic Experts
• Chore Wars
• Crowdrise
• my1login
• RedCritter Tracker
• Badgeville
• FourSquare
• DevHub

12. Quick Exercise
How would you Gamify Edmedia?
• What would be the goal?
• What would you encourage/discourage?
• What rewards would you give?
• How would you track activity?

13. • Over-justification effect
– Extrinsic motivation can have negative effect on intrinsically
motivated learners (Groh, 2012)
• Only creates illusion of activity being
rewarding (Teti, 2012)
• Encourages addicted/compulsive behaviour?
(Zichermann, 2011)
• 'Rankings' may discourage some people
(Williams, 2012)
Criticism of Gamification

14. • Is motivation a problem?
• Are there behaviours to encourage/discourage?
• Does the activity lend itself to game concepts?
• Would this create a parallel assessment route?
• Would some learners be favoured over others?
• What rewards would work best?
• Are rewards too easy to obtain?
• Will it encourage learners to spend too long on
particular activities?
To Gamify or Not?

15. • e-Learning systems routinely capture data useful
for gamification
– Link Classroom Clickers to leaderboards
– Publicly rank learners according to grade
– Adaptively release new materials and activities upon
mastery
• Encourage cooperative/collaborative learning
– Reward contribution to forums, wikis, etc.
– Issue badges for achievement
• More ideas: http://www.growthengineering.co.uk/how-to-gamify-15-ways-to-
introduce-gaming-concepts-into-elearning
Gamifying e-Learning

16. Gamification
+ is a recent term for an established idea
+ can be a useful motivational tool
+ is particularly suited to behavioural
reinforcement
+ lends itself well to e-Learning
– isn't for every situation
– may have negative effects
– needs careful planning

17. Questions?
Dr. Ian Glover
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
i.glover@shu.ac.uk
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18. • Groh, F. (2012). Gamification: State of the Art Definition and Utilization. In
Proceedings of the 4th seminar on Research Trends in Media Informatics, 39-46.
• Teti, J. (2012). Rev. of Assassin’s Creed III. The Gameological Society.
• Williams, J. (2012). The Gamification Brain Trust: Intrinsically Motivating People to
Change Behavior (part 2). Gamesbeat.
• Zichermann, G. (2011). Gamification has issues, but they aren’t the ones everyone
focuses on. [Editorial] O’Reilly Radar.
References