Tips, Tricks, and Tools to Help Busy Educators Create Game-Inspired Learning Experiences. Presented at the #PiedmontDLC

1. Beyond Gamification
Tips, Tricks, and Tools to Help Busy
Educators Create Game-Inspired
Learning Experiences

2. Lucas Gillispie
Director of Academic
and Digital Learning
Surry County
Schools
@lucasgillispie

4. This session is also a game!

5. To Play:
1. Go to: http://www.edurealms.com
2. In the article about this session, on the front page, look
for the link to your game board.
3. When you have completed a quest, put an X in the cell.
4. There are hints on some slides that connect to specific
quests!
5. If you don’t have Twitter, use the backchannel:
https://todaysmeet.com/Game2Learn
https://tinyurl.com/pdlcgame

6. Your Play Board

7. 19
@alicekeeler
alicekeeler.com
Shout Out!

8. www.edurealms.com
2

9. What is a game?
12

10. Common Elements of Games
Goals
Rules
Artificial Barriers
Voluntary
Participation
Feedback
SystemStory
Win-Loss
Challenge
InteractionCompetition
Chance
Conflict/Cooperation
Fun
10

11. Jane McGonigal

12. Jane McGonigal
Goals
Rules
Feedback
Voluntary Participation

13. “A game is a system in which
players engage in an artificial
conflict, defined by rules, that
results in a quantifiable
outcome.”
- Salen and Zimmerman

14. “Games are engines for
Engagement!”

15. Learning Spaces
as
Game Spaces

16. Games
vs
Gamification
14

17. The Application of Game-
like Mechanics to
Non-Game Situations
14

18. Basic Gamification
Badges
Leaderboards
14
Levels

19. It’s Not A Magic Pill 15
20
But It Is A Rabbit Hole!

20. Taking Learning Beyond Simple
Gamification

21. What can we learn from good
games?

23. Fortnite’s Perks

24. Fortnite’s Perks

25. Rewards and Feedback
Provide feedback early and often. Rethink failure.
If a student fails can they re-try?
How can I help student-players gain a
vision/desire for how to “win the class?”
Questions to help:
Is progress toward goals
visible/tangible?
Do rewards impact the
experience?16

26. Be Careful With Rewards…

28. Story Elements and Role-play
Identify your learning goals in the context of a real/fictional
story world.
If this lesson/unit were a movie or
fictional novel, what would it involve?
Plot? Theme?
What roles will/can my learners play?
How can I guide and move the story forward?
Questions to help:
23

29. Of course…

31. Chance and Uncertainty
Incorporate elements of uncertainty, novelty, mystery, and
surprise into the lesson/unit.
What aspects of the lesson are non-negotiable? What aspects
can be randomized?
What actions will trigger chance events?
Questions to help:
Are there opportunities for elements that are
simply fun or silly?
29

33. Choice and Pathways
Design in such a way that learners have multiple pathways
that lead to the same learning outcomes.
How can I design the lesson in such a way that learners can
customize their own experience?
Does the experience have to
be the same for every learner?
Questions to help:
Can I incorporate
bonus/side options for
learners who wish to go
deeper?

34. Technology Not Required!

35. But it can help!

36. Here Are Some Tools!
22

37. Google Apps!

38. Badging Tools

39. Classroom Tools

40. Productivity/Apps

41. …and a not-so-techy tool.
11

42. …sometimes, we need excuses
to be silly.
28
Clown-ification!?!
(The Twitter Bomb!)

43. A Great Example…

44. Paul Darvasi (@pauldarvasi)
English Teacher in Toronto,
Canada
Created The Ward Game
based on Kasey’s One Flew
Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
“I saw an incredible level of
engagement. Some of my
students became obsessed by
the game.”
18

45. Let’s Watch The Video!
https://vimeo.com/85625959

46. Start Small!
Capitalize on your passion!
Leverage your students!
Experiment and iterate!
Re-think assessment, grades,
and failure.
Have fun!!!
TIPS

47. Other Books to Read

48. Questions/Comments/Push-
Back?