As someone who has experience with Inquiry-based learning and project-oriented learning, I looked into gamification, to see how closely this idea related to the more hands-on projects I’ve been developing.

Turns out, gamification is similar to both of these strategies, but perhaps “leveling up.” (See what I did there?)

“While ‘making learning fun’ can sound vague or cliché, research has shown that gamification in schools can help students with issues related to:

Focus — Students who have a hard time focusing may find it easier when tackling an engaging topic.
Skill-Building — Students can shy away from building certain skills until they see the relevancy.
Content Delivery — Students may have trouble processing content presented through traditional methods, such as textbooks.”
https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/gamification-in-education/

The roots of gamification relate directly to the types of assignments I give my students in project-oriented or inquiry learning: students have choices, and different pathways to achieving their grade/goal/success.

I grew up with games that taught the player how to play. Maybe I feel like this because my sisters were older, and not much into explaining things. But how many times has someone introduced a new game, but then falls back on, “You’ll get it when we do it.” And we do! We learn through experiencing.

“Examples of applying the principle “Freedom of choice” include the possibility for students to choose: what type of challenges to complete, for example, writing traditional essays, completing an open-ended group project, completing an open-ended individual project, or contributing to the class blog (Holman, Aguilar, & Fishman, 2013); writing academic papers, creating an instructional YouTube video, or developing an educational game design (De Schutter & Abeele, 2014); taking tests or completing artistic assignments (Mak, 2013). Other examples include choices of specific challenges to complete” (https://tinyurl.com/Gamification-in-Education).

This is very much in the vein I approach my classes in project-oriented learning. Here’s a variety of things, choose one that you are most intrigued with, choose a group, or not, choose how to present.

Gamification seems to draw not only on the project, but how students progress through the project. Instead of straight-forward grading (percentages, letter grades), or strict do-or-die deadlines, gamification allows students to find their own way, and experience success more immediately, and with more tangible benefits to their learning.

“As to levels, (Kapp, 2012), for example, considers three types of levels: game levels, playing levels, and player levels. Goehle (2013) recommends choosing levels so that initially levels are earned quickly but become increasingly difficult to obtain later on. Examples for using virtual (in-game) currency include spending it on puzzle hints, assignment extensions, quiz do-overs (allowing the buyer another three chances at a quiz) (O’Donovan, Gain, & Marais, 2013), or getting help on certain homework problems, extending a due date with no penalty, using a larger index card for notes on a test (Goehle, 2013), etc. Type of application.” (https://tinyurl.com/Gamification-in-Education ).

The biggest obstacle I’ve encounter in classes in the past few years is engagement. Students want to do anything other than read, or participate, or pay attention. A continual variety of feedback in different formats can help keep students engaged.

“Students’ letter grades are determined by the amount of points they have accumulated at the end of the course, in other words, by how much they have accomplished” (https://tophat.com/blog/gamification-education-class/).

Another facet of gamification that relates to engagement is the type of gamer a student is. Richard Bartle developed a classification of types of gamers (Killers, Achievers, Explorers, Socializers), to categorize what kind of people enjoy what facets of game play. Here’s a quiz:

https://matthewbarr.co.uk/bartle/index.php

This was fascinating to me, because not only can we design projects for students, and choose-your-own-adventure curricula, and differentiated assignments; but we can design these projects in ways that appeal to ALL types of “gamers,” read: learners!

Why are students disengaged? Besides the endless appeal of Snapchat and Twitch, even projects students choose may not press the right buttons for them. But if we have a facet of a project (or different projects/assignments) that appeal to the explorers, the killer, the achievers, and socializers—I think this adds an amazing dimension to learning.

“According to Lieberoth (2015), it might not be the game itself that stimulates individuals, but rather the packaging: the fact that an activity resembles a game. The simple framing of an activity as a “game” can potentially alter an individual’s behavior.”

https://educationaltechnologyjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41239-017-0042-5#Sec12

Another facet of gamification is an explanation of progression learning. The clearest example of this I can think of is in math, where students are taught things piece by piece, and then in a few weeks, they are solving equations. While students may be confused or disinterested by this piecemeal process, if they understand that this is a “stage” of a larger concept, they may have more patience for it and themselves.

“On the other hand, it may be natural for students — especially gamers — to understand that to reach the next stage you have to overcome precursory challenges.”

https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/gamification-in-education/

Lastly, the idea of helping students to track their progress, not with a percent from a weekly quiz, but with XP or progress graphs, will help engagement by sparking their need for completion, and for some, competition.

“Displaying student progress and how much they’ve achieved since the start of the year is a social element of gamification in education, promoting a sense of student community.” https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/gamification-in-education/

Gamification can appeal to students’ needs, and help disengaged students to engage, as well as helping students to commit to, and develop, their own skills in education.