Gamification and Game-Based Learning

Games can introduce goals, interaction, feedback, problem solving, competition, narrative, and fun learning environments, elements that can increase learner engagement and sustain motivation. This teaching tip discusses the difference between gamification and game-based learning, the pedagogical values these two strategies can bring to instruction, and game elements appropriate for face-to-face and online courses.

Gamification vs. game-based learning

Gamification and game-based learning are similar in that both strategies promote engagement and sustained motivation in learning. However, gamification and game-based learning can also be usefully distinguished:

Gamification is the integration of game elements like point systems, leaderboards, badges, or other elements related to games into “conventional” learning activities in order to increase engagement and motivation. For example, an online discussion forum for a Physics course might be gamified via a badge system: students might be awarded a “Ptolemy” badge after they have made 10 postings, a “Galileo” badge after 20 postings, “Kepler” after 30, “Einstein” after 40, and so on. In ideal gamified learning environments, students can see the online badges that their peers have earned to create a sense of comradery or competition.

Game-based learning, in contrast, involves designing learning activities so that game characteristics and game principles inhere within the learning activities themselves. For example, in an Economics course, students might compete in a virtual stock-trading competition; in a Political Science course, students might role-play as they engage in mock negotiations involving a labour dispute.

In short, gamification applies game elements or a game framework to existing learning activities; game-based learning designs learning activities that are intrinsically game-like.

Gamification and game-based learning both promote engagement and sustained motivation in learning, but they do not necessarily result in improved learning outcomes. For a detailed explanation between these two approaches, and for helpful videos and other resources, consider looking at GOBLIN (Games Offer Bold Learning Insights Nowadays) Education.

Game elements and their pedagogical role

Most games feature elements such as rules, goals, interaction, feedback, problem solving, competition, story, and fun (see Vandercruysse, Vandewaetere, & Clarebout, 2012). Though not all of the elements are needed to successfully gamify a learning activity, carefully selecting those elements that help meet the learning objectives of the course can be useful. The pedagogical value of game features often associated with gamification are discussed below.

Points or experience systems

Similar to conventional grading schemes, game points or experience (XP) systems reward students for completing various tasks, assignments, or assessments. Game or XP points can introduce some useful affordances to learning environments, including:

Limitless points:whereas traditional grading schemes collect artifacts of learning which accumulate to 100% of a course’s grade, points or XP systems accumulate points with no fixed end in sight.
Flexible goals: students are presented with a wealth of possibilities to earn points, and instructors can structure the course so that they either accumulate as many as they want, or they complete a certain number of tasks to reach a desired point total.
Student choice: choice is crucial to the success of a points-based system. For example, students might be able to earn points by focusing on reflection activities, or by opting to complete a number of tests, or any other activity relevant to the course.
Tracking: you can track points by using LEARN’s gradebook feature with points instead of percentages, or Google Drive to share the results with the entire class.

Points can also be supplemented by academic rewards: when a certain point threshold is reached, a student might be given an extra week to submit an assignment or bonus questions on the next test.

Badges

Badges are a digital way to acknowledge student work. For example, students might receive a badge if they achieve certain levels of success on assignments, or if they do additional work, such as submitting a draft or sharing notes with another student. They may even be the result of simple participation: accessing the course through the LMS five times a week over the course of a semester could earn a badge. Student badges may be displayed to other learners in the class as a means to encourage competition or to demonstrate the variety of badges which can be earned.

Create your own badges for your course with free programs such as Credly or OpenBadges.

Leaderboards

Competition can motivate students and can be leveraged by leaderboards that showcase the distribution of point totals that students have accumulated through various learning activities. However, caution must be taken when constructing leaderboards because displaying all students in order of point totals can be a disincentive for students at the bottom (Farzen, DiMicco, Millen, Dugan, Geyer & Brownholtz, 2008; Landers & Landers, 2015). Consider using a system in which students see only the two students who are directly above them and below them, in order to foster a healthy sense of competition without discouraging students who are performing poorly.

For examples as to how to create a leaderboard, see How to Create a Leaderboard for eLearning with Google.

Online gamification strategies

Discussion boards

Students may be incentivized to discuss readings before or immediately after class by making them optional but allotting XP points for each post or reply to another post. Points earned could go towards additional help on an assignment (such as allowing a draft to be reviewed first, or having an automatic extension granted), or to completely bypassing an assignment (if the student reaches a certain number of points, they no longer have to complete a specific assignment in the course). You can also facilitate real-time discussions using tools like Padlet, which allow students to make anonymous contributions.

Quizzes

Rather than presenting a set of seemingly unrelated questions, consider creating a narrative or quest that draws learners in and helps them see the consequence of their responses. Think of your quiz as an interactive narrative: each question leads into the next, and may build upon previous answers, all the while being part of a larger narrative or story that compels the learner to remain engaged. You may even include hints that the learner can choose to use or not. Be cautious of making these high-stakes assessments – the game-like features of the task will be mitigated and potentially impaired should learners be focused too much on the grade attached. An alternative method is to have students complete a quiz in the online environment, and then come to class, form groups, and complete the same quiz, but now try to convince one another of the correct answer. This can be facilitated through Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT) cards too.

In-class gamification strategies

Jeopardy

Creating Jeopardy-style games for review of chapters or in preparation for a midterm can provide enjoyment and interaction with others in a familiar game structure. Create a game using PowerPoint, or use a free Jeopardy game creator like Instant Jeopardy Review.

Classroom response systems

Gathering responses from an entire class can be difficult, but doing so with classroom response systems like Kahoot or TopHat can encourage participation through game elements like points and competition between individuals.

Out-of-class gamification strategies

Game-based learning environments

These include any game designed for educational purposes such as Trivia Crack. As an instructor, you can make learners aware of these educational games, but the game itself acts as the educator.

Game-enhanced learning environments

These environments employ commercially-available games that are designed with entertainment in mind. Learners play these games for fun, and must then be provided or find means by which to discuss gameplay experiences with like-minded individuals. As an instructor, your role can be to provide or invite examples of games that are related to the discipline, and importantly, provide the space for learners to reflect on their gameplay. Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games like World of Warcraft or Second Life are great for immersing language learners in another language, or games like SimCity can help understand economic principles.

Some final notes

Incorporating games, gamification, or game-based learning into your teaching doesn’t require a monumental shift in your teaching. Many activities or active learning strategies that you already use likely contain some of the game elements listed above and, with some modifications, can be modified into even more effective learning tools. At the same time, gamification and game-based learning should not be implemented in a cavalier manner, but should be thoughtfully integrated into a course.

Some gamification and game-based learning tools

Duolingo – gamifying language learning by having students complete drill-and-kill grammar and vocabulary exercises while receiving experience points to gain levels and access more difficult exercises
Minecraft – a vernacular game that has been adapted for learning environments by giving students a sandbox to build and construct their own virtual worlds
Second Life – a virtual world where students can create their own avatar and embody a 3D space, which can in turn promote easier communication through text and reduce anxiety to speak
Coursera – a platform that provides free educational courses for anyone who is interested, but to promote interactivity and retention, badges and other reward systems are implemented for participants
Brainscape – improved flashcards that promote retention of knowledge using what they call “confidence-based repetition”, designed to be more appealing and fun to use to also assist in retention
Kahoot – a classroom response system that is free to use and doesn’t require student sign-up; simply create a game of Kahoot, enter in questions, and supply the provided pin to your students, who will then use their phones or laptops to play the game and answer questions
Credly – an open-source badge making tool to create badges for tasks in your course, with the ability as well to distribute badges to students as well
OpenBadges – another open-source badge making tool, like Credly, but is more complex to create badges with
Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT) – the IF-AT provides immediate feedback to learners on multiple choice questions by having a card that learners scratch to determine the correct answer; allows for collaboration when answering questions and provides a sense of excitement when scratching the card
TopHat – a classroom response system, like Kahoot, that allows students to provide responses to questions in the class anonymously; unlike Kahoot, this has a fee associated with it, but it allows for better integration in the LMS for grading purposes, and has a tournament mode to encourage competition in-class

Support

If you would like support applying these tips to your own teaching, CTE staff members are here to help. View the CTE Support page to find the most relevant staff member to contact.

References

Farzan, R., DiMicco, J. M., Millen, D. R., Dugan, C., Geyer, W., and Brownholtz, E. A. (2008). Results from deploying a participation incentive mechanism within the enterprise. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, 563–572.
Landers, R. N., & Landers, A. K. (2015). An empirical test of the theory of gamified learning the effect of leaderboards on time-on-task and academic performance. Simulation & Gaming, 45(6), 769-785.
Vandercruysse, S., Vandewaetere, M., & Clarebout, G. (2012). Game-based learning: A review on the effectiveness of educational games. In M. M. Cruz-Cunha (Ed.), Handbook of research on serious games as educational, business, and research tools (pp. 628–647). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Resources

CTE teaching tips

CTE blog

Other resources

Moore-Russo, D., Wiss, A., & Grabowski, J. (2017). Integration of gamification into course design: A noble endeavor with potential pitfalls. College Teaching, 1-3.

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