{"id":9856,"date":"2016-07-22T12:21:40","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T17:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/?p=9856"},"modified":"2019-12-17T11:16:55","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T17:16:55","slug":"why-use-gamification-in-your-courses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/why-use-gamification-in-your-courses\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Use Gamification in your Courses?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by Janice Florent<\/p>\n<p><div align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/board-game-competition-strategy-761586\/\" title=\"game board\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2015\/05\/10\/21\/16\/board-761586_960_720.jpg?resize=480%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"game board\" height=\"360\" width=\"480\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Gamification is making a boring process interesting by using fun elements from games. Gamification is not the same as playing a game. Educators have been using gamification even before there was an official term for it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/yukaichou.com\/\">Yu-kai Chou<\/a> (2015) defines gamification as:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The craft of deriving fun and engaging elements found typically in games and thoughtfully applying them to real-world or productive activities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Why Use Gamification?<\/h3>\n<p>Clearly gamification is a motivation tool. So why would you take the time to set-up a gamification component to your courses? In an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.learndash.com\/6-gamification-benefits-you-should-know\/\">LearnDash blog post<\/a> Justin Ferriman lists some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.learndash.com\/6-gamification-benefits-you-should-know\/\">benefits of gamification<\/a> to consider. Those benefits are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Provides Instant Feedback<\/strong> \u2013 learners instantly receive feedback on their understanding of the course content which in turn highlights what they need to spend more time reviewing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prompts Change in Behavior<\/strong> \u2013 Certain behaviors are reinforced by granting learners the ability to earn points and badges. This is even more true if these points and badges can be \u201ccashed in\u201d for something tangible or real.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Better Learning Experience<\/strong> \u2013 Gamification offers the opportunity for learners to engage with the content in various ways.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Safe To Fail<\/strong> \u2013 Gamification isn\u2019t always about rewards but can also incorporate the \u201closs\u201d of a reward. This makes it safe for people to fail and to learn from those mistakes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What is considered as fun in games?<\/h3>\n<p>Winning or beating an opponent is an obvious answer. However, pleasure is also derived from activities such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>problem-solving<\/li>\n<li>exploring<\/li>\n<li>creating<\/li>\n<li>imagining<\/li>\n<li>collecting<\/li>\n<li>role-playing<\/li>\n<li>collaborating<\/li>\n<li>simply chilling out<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What gaming elements can be used in the learning process?<\/h3>\n<p>Gamification strategies include elements such as gamifying grading, incentivizing students with rewards and adding competitive elements such as leaderboards. From the non-exhaustive list of gaming components and mechanics, here are a few from a <a href=\"http:\/\/brightclassroomideas.com\/2016\/01\/17\/what-is-gamification\/\">Bright Classroom Ideas blog post<\/a> by Savas Savides, which can be particularly useful to educators:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Narrative<\/strong> - Nothing can beat a well-told captivating story, whether you are a child or an adult. Text, audio, video, cartoon, they all have the same denominator: a storyline.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Progression<\/strong> - Learners need to know they are acquiring skills and getting better. Student portfolios and \u2018can-do\u2019 statements help them reflect on their own learning.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenges<\/strong> - Tasks should be easy enough to tackle, but hard enough to challenge and motivate. And, following the previous point on progression, they should have a gradually rising level of difficulty.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Competition<\/strong> - Motivates students to perform better. Through competition, students not only do what is required to accomplish the required goals, but also do the best they can do. Competition allows the students to come forward with better ideas and clearly highlight their skills in front of their teacher and classmates. Competition is closely linked to rewards.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cooperation<\/strong> - Apart from competing against each other, students also like working together. Never miss an opportunity to form pairs or groups to work on a project. It is more fun than working alone.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rewards<\/strong> - With tangible rewards there is always the danger that they may substitute for the intrinsic motivation. It is better to use intangible rewards (e.g. points). Remember that the game is ultimately its own reward.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Win States<\/strong> - When the outcome is a winner.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Achievements<\/strong> - Create tangible things that serve as proof of student achievement. They can be certificates, posters, photos, videos etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Badges<\/strong> - Another tangible proof of individual achievement. They can be stickers, stamps, even your own drawings on the board.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Leaderboards<\/strong> - A classification of all learners-participants according to their performance. A really powerful motivational tool.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Points<\/strong> - Instant intangible rewards that help create leaderboards.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Teams<\/strong> - Either working with each other in a team or cooperating to beat another team, students can overcome shyness and benefit immensely.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A well-designed gamified course can grab and keep students\u2019 attention, improve students\u2019 knowledge retention, and improve students\u2019 overall success in the course. Gamification may not suit everyone. But for those who use it, the benefits of gamification can be substantial.<\/p>\n<p><small>Image credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/board-game-competition-strategy-761586\/\">image<\/a> by Skitterphoto from <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license\/\">Pixabay<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Janice Florent Gamification is making a boring process interesting by using fun elements from games. Gamification is not the same as playing a game. Educators have been using gamification even before there was an official term for it. Yu-kai Chou (2015) defines gamification as: The craft of deriving fun and engaging elements found typically <a href=\"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/why-use-gamification-in-your-courses\/\" class=\"more-link\">...continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \"Why Use Gamification in your Courses?\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[120,358,240],"class_list":["post-9856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-online","category-teaching","tag-elearning","tag-gamification","tag-pedagogy","h-entry","hentry","h-as-article"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p82MQk-2yY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15324,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/icymi-why-use-gamification-in-your-courses\/","url_meta":{"origin":9856,"position":0},"title":"ICYMI: Why Use Gamification in your Courses?","author":"Janice Florent","date":"May 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Gamification is making a boring process interesting by using fun elements from games. Gamification is not the same as playing a game. Educators have been using gamification even before there was an official term for it. Yu-kai Chou (2015) defines gamification as: The craft of deriving fun and engaging elements\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning&quot;","block_context":{"text":"CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/online\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"backgammon game board","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pixabay.com\/photo\/2016\/12\/13\/12\/03\/backgammon-1903935_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10979,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/gamification-in-faculty-development\/","url_meta":{"origin":9856,"position":1},"title":"Gamification in Faculty Development","author":"Janice Florent","date":"September 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Gamification is making a boring process interesting by using fun elements from games. Educators have been using gamification even before there was an official term for it. Gamification gets people excited like no other strategy does, probably because it holds the promise of fun and engagement, and extraordinary results. Research\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning&quot;","block_context":{"text":"CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/online\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"board game","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/board-761586_640.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11023,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/gamification-pitfalls-to-avoid\/","url_meta":{"origin":9856,"position":2},"title":"Gamification Pitfalls to Avoid","author":"Janice Florent","date":"September 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In my blog post on using gamification in your courses, I wrote about why educators are using gamification in teaching and learning. If you are considering using gamification in your courses, beware of pitfalls. In a recent eLearning Industry blog post, Srividya Kumar wrote, When gamification is not thought through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning&quot;","block_context":{"text":"CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/online\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"pitfall street sign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pitfall-street-646.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10145,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/online-teaching-strategies\/","url_meta":{"origin":9856,"position":3},"title":"Online Teaching Strategies","author":"Janice Florent","date":"September 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Janice Florent Are you thinking about how to deliver your online course for maximum success? In an Inside Higher Ed blog post, Andrea Zellner provided some strategies to make your online teaching better. Andrea's strategies are: Technology should help and not hinder. Expect things to go wrong, and do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning&quot;","block_context":{"text":"CAT &amp; Mouse: E-Learning","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/online\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"laptop computer and cup of coffee on the top of a desk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/computer-and-coffee.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11834,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/brightspace-tip-27-gamify-your-courses-training-recap\/","url_meta":{"origin":9856,"position":4},"title":"Brightspace Tip #27: Gamify Your Courses Training Recap","author":"Janice Florent","date":"April 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This week\u2019s \"Get Your Game On: Gamify Your Brightspace Courses\" training focused on how using gamification can engage and motivate students. This training session also covered how instructors can selectively release content to students using release conditions. In case you missed this week\u2019s training session or if you attended the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brightspace Small Plates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brightspace Small Plates","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/brightspace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"keep calm and let's recap","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Keep_Calm_Lets_Recap.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12717,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/gamifying-grammar-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":9856,"position":5},"title":"Gamifying Grammar, Part I","author":"Jason S. Todd","date":"September 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month, I wrote about setting up my classes in Brightspace before the semester had begun, in part because I was in the process of gamifying my advanced grammar class. 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