Gamification is the use of game-like features in non-gaming contexts. Points, badges, and leaderboards are used to motivate participation and recognize skills and achievements. Feedback is important for learning as it allows students to assess their understanding and progress. Gamification techniques can be effective motivators if the rewards appeal to users and encourage behaviors that support learning.

1. Gamification is not the creation or use of games in learning. Rather,
it’s the use of game-like features in non-gaming contexts.
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A lot of students have the wrong idea about grades and learning. They
think they start with 100 percent and lose points for wrong answers. In
reality, it’s just the opposite. All students, in all classes, really start at 0
and work their way up. [TELL STORY ABOUT CRISTIAN AND HIS
COMMENT ABOUT HIS CHINESE QUIZZES]
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3. How many times have you heard students say something like this?
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Points are a way of motivating individuals to participate. For some this
may be motivating in and of itself [TELL STORY OF SAMUEL AND
POINTS FOR MULTIPLICATION GAME]. Points for the sake of points,
however, seems to be a weak use of the notion. Rather, use points for
a currency replacement.
[PROZ.COM example] BROWNIZ. Give back to community
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DuoLingo
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Points are a way of motivating individuals to participate. For some this
may be motivating in and of itself [TELL STORY OF SAMUEL AND
POINTS FOR MULTIPLICATION GAME]. Points for the sake of points,
however, seems to be a weak use of the notion. Rather, use points for
a currency replacement.
[PROZ.COM example] BROWNIZ. Give back to community
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6. Badges are a way of recognizing people’s efforts for the skills they’ve
obtained. They may not only be used as a way of showing what skills
one has obtained, but of providing access and privileges to different
parts of a site
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http://erinknight.com/post/
29830945702/webmaker-badges
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Badges might come together to form constellations
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8. The IP&T courses for technology integration in teaching have
incorporated a badging system composed of smaller challenges,
amounting to larger challenges.
http://iptedtec.org/tsa_1/IP&T EdTec
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9. Challenges encourage users to take on extra tasks.!
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10. DuoLingo
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DuoLingo is a great example of
Gamification. In addition to
points, badges, and challenges,
here we see how they incorporate
the notion of a leaderboard. We
can see here that in my own
private circle, my brother is kicking
my trash in his language practice
(granted, he’s practicing a
language he already knows and I’m
learning a new one ;)
So, how well do these gamification
techniques work? Here are a few
testimonials from today’s public
forums
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We’ve used rewards since we were
children. Through the use of stars,
stickers and the like. The same
principle can be used with learning
environments. BUT, the rewards
need to be something the group
will actually want to seek after.
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I’m going to pull out my Ed. Psych
background on this one to provide
an example of why feedback is so
important in the learning process.
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Recent research has shown that
students are not good at
predicting what study habits will
most benefit them. Though they
feel that recall will be the least
effective, it is shown time and
again to be the most effective. The
message? Learners need to be
quizzed on their understanding
and get feedback on their progress
as often as possible.
Several years ago Richard Swan
(BYU) studied game mechanics to
find out what we could learn from
games that would be useful in
learning. One idea he uncovered
was that of feed-forward.
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16. Swan, R. H. (2008). Deriving operational principles for the design of
engaging learning experiences. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY.
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Predictive feed-forward systems
are like sprinklers. They predict
when they’ll be needed and fire at
a designated moment.
Preventative systems seek to
anticipate a user’s actions and
intercept those.
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Feedback
[TELL STORY OF IT STUDENT WHO
NEVER KNEW HIS GRADES]
Purdue—Course Signals detects
early warning signs and provides
interventions to students who may
not be performing to the best of
their abilities before they reach a
critical point. The Course Signals
program works best when
instructors want to provide
A third, more complex form of
feed-forward is the adaptive
system. Consider the new Student
Assessment of Growth and
Excellence (SAGE) that is being
used in Utah. Computer-adaptive
tests have been in existence for
decades, used in graduate-level
tests such as the GRE, LSAT, and
MCAT.

18. Mastery learning
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Mastery learning may require that
we allow students to fail. This
often means more work for the
teacher, so caveat emptor.
Consider the difference between
these two scenarios [SHARE 20%
WILL FAIL vs. YOU GET A SECOND
CHANCE story]
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19. I offer my students the opportunity
to re-do their assignments. This
means more work for me. But
what it means for my students is
that, if they mess up the first time,
there is redemption, IF THEY ARE
WILLING TO WORK FOR IT.
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Avatars and instructional agents
(Clark and X book). Mike Griffiths’
experiment with video.
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20. Avatars are a way of motivating
people to put a little bit of their
personality into their own learner
profiles. It’s amazing the time
people will spend working on their
avatar. My own experience with
this has been mixed.
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Pedagogical Agents or guides, on
the other hand, have been shown
to make a significant difference in
learner engagement. For
example, researchers found over
multiple studies that learners
presented with a pedagogical
agent produced 24-48% more
correct answers on transfer tests
than those presented the same

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Encourage exploration (Easter
Eggs). Easter eggs are hidden
items that someone needs to go
the extra mile to look for. Hiding
an easter egg adds a component of
exploration to learning that
encourages learners to go beyond
their normal behaviors and try to
find interesting or new
information. One way of hiding an