A Powerpoint Presentation accompanying a talk I gave at Hack The Classroom, Loyola Marymount University, September 28, 2013.

1. David Mullich
@David_Mullich
davidmullich.wordpress.com
Hack The Classroom
Loyola Marymount University
September 28, 2013

2. About Me

3. Gamification
The use of game design techniques in non-game
activities (e.g., work, exercise, education, etc.) to
improve engagement, participation, and learning.

4. Examples of Gamification

5. The Core Drives of Gamification
 Meaning
 Empowerment
 Social Influence
 Unpredictability
 Avoidance
 Scarcity
 Ownership
 Accomplishment
WHITE
HAT
BLACK
HAT
LEFT
BRAIN
RIGHT
BRAIN
Yu-Kai Chou

6. Epic Meaning and Calling
 Fill the room with visuals that focus on the primary subject or
provide inspiration and encouragement
 Create a Student Hall of Fame
 Provide real-life examples
 Give students quests or challenges instead of assignments
 Allow for early successes or award “free” extra credit in
ways that make students feel special
 Participate in projects that assist a charity
 Create a subject-themed “Wikipedia” that is maintained
across many classes
Use the narrative effect of storytelling and motivate
students by making them feel engaged in something
bigger than themselves.

7. Empowerment and Creativity
 Create an ala carte menu of course projects and
assignments
 Reward success by unlocking a more difficult challenge
 Reward risk-taking, creativity, experimentation and
creativity
 Give students the tools to design and build what you
hadn’t thought of
 Turn your classroom into an Etch-A-Sketch
 Make your classroom interactive
Make objectives clear, and offer students multiple ways
to accomplish them. Allow kids to be creators of their
own knowledge, with the teacher becoming an assistant
to the child’s learning journey.

8. Social Influence
 Collaborate with others to achieve goals
 Engage students in competitions
 Use project-based learning where students design
the entire process from brainstorming to publishing.
 Put students works on public display
 Create assignments designed to go viral
 Have ahead of pace students mentor below pace
ones
Use both collaboration and competition between
students, encouraging teamwork and preparing them for
real-life situations.

9. More on Teams
 Form Mixed Ability Groups
Age / Major / Achievement / Diversity
 Help Groups Bond into Teams
Create a Team Flag / Build Trust / Listen and Participate
 Tinker with Struggling Groups
Ask If They Need Help / Teach Active Listening
 Instill Competitive Unity
Earn Bonus Points For Unity / Create A Reason to Win
Students can participate in teams to enhance learning,
Healthy teams challenge each other, spurring each other
on to deeper learning.

10. Curiosity and Unpredictability
 Tease or preview the content without
giving the whole story
 Give out assignments by lottery
 Give out unexpected rewards
 Use humor and suspense
Introduce an element of chance into the curriculum. As
the instructor, you are in charge of this designed
experience and chance doesn’t have to be random.

11. Loss and Avoidance
 Trophies Given To New Winner
 Lost Progress
 Lose Turn / Grounded
 Sunk Cost Tragedy
 Scarlet Letter / Dunce Cap
 Guilting
 Coupons with Expiration Dates
Students must work to avoid losing something they have
gained or an unpleasant result. This “Black Hat”
technique must be done with humor or in a game context
so that it is not demoralizing or humiliating.

12. Scarcity and Impatience
 Give a reward to the first 5 students who complete an assignment
 Create a “Rewards Card” with special privileges given to students
who have earned a required amount of points
 Students must make appointments or check in at fixed intervals to
receive new challenges, missions or announcements
 Students must wait a minimum amount of time before they can try a
challenge or assignment again
 Create a sense of urgency or immediacy in completing an
assignment
 Tackle challenges in a limited amount of time
These techniques emphasize the human desire to strive
and compete for things that seem unavailable in
quantity.

13. Ownership and Possession
 Build Items from Scratch
 Complete Collection Sets
 Recruit Other Students to their Project
 “Purchase” Items to Customize Their Workspace
 Create Their Own Avatars that Appear on Class
Bulletin Boards
Give students malleable learning tools and resources
that they can customize, or “upgrade” to fit their
approach to learning.

14. Development and Accomplishment
 Add a progress bar to online tests
 Break large assignments into smaller
deliverables that can be mastered
 Turn grades into achievements
 Award experience points, badges and
even titles to recognize achievement
 “Level up” to unlock content
 Post a leaderboard of high achievers
Design learning experiences so that students see visible
progress on a daily basis.

15. Badges For Your
Classroom
Pick Some Targets
 Specific Targets
 Random Targets
 Extraordinary Targets
Create Badges
 Make Them Yourself
 Use Stickers
 classbadges.com

16. Youtopia.com
 Classroom management site to help
gamify your classroom
 Activities, badges, points, and
leadership boards to motivate and
engage students
 Pre-built templates for customizable
lessons
 Free for teachers with up to 50 students

17. Edmodo.com
 Social networking site for classrooms
 Put students into groups in which they can socialize
with each other
 Post questions to the group during specific hours
 Post interesting articles or video clips and have
students respond by posting comments
 Post quizzes and award the top score a badge
 Create a scavenger hunt by having students
complete tasks (send a post, reply to a poll, collect
polls, find images)
 Sign up for free

18. Play.annenberginnovationlab.
org
 Create canvases for self-expression and
learning
 Circulate content to encourage shared
knowledge networks
 Connect with other learners of shared
interests
 Collaborate to foster co-learning and
collective intelligence
 Sign up now to become a beta tester

19. Final Points
 Mentoring is at the heart of gamification
 Emphasize skills and knowledge over information
 Design with iteration in mind: one skill builds on the
next, and students need it all to succeed
 Call upon students to perform their way to
competence
 Create a plan for constant and frequent feedback
 Make space work in your favor
 Gamification is not a quick fix
 Adding gamification elements can be fun!

20. Thank You!
Session Survey
http://goo.gl/nNkJ9b
My Newsletter
http://bit.ly/1agkGrj
David Mullich
@David_Mullich
davidmullich.wordpress.com