Week 3 Literature Review: Gamification in Education

I remember this from 3rd grade,
but no high school math

A few days ago I walked into the class across the hall while John (who teaches American history to 9th graders) was in the middle of teaching class.  He asked me “what do you know about the Oregon trail”, I replied “I know even if you hunt 900 pounds of meat you can only bring 100 back to your wagon”.  It was a reference to the old educational gameThe Oregon Trail.  He laughed understanding just what I had meant and I left, smiling.  A few minutes later I found a site where you can play it online and let John know once his class finished.  We reminisced about how awesome this game was and how much we retained from it, even though nether of us had played it in over 20 years.  Ironically, one of the first articles I found researching for this post referenced the Oregon Trail.  I was stunned, but shouldn’t have been, gamification is a topic many education professionals are talking about and for good reason (from the Oregon Trail article): 

 “According to research cited by MIT, students can remember only 10 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they hear and 50 percent of what they see demonstrated. However, when they actually do something themselves, such as in a game or virtual world, the retention rates skyrocket to 90 percent”

I always wanted to attend class in tiger stripes

I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of gamification in the classroom.  The idea that instead of just talking to students while they sit in their chairs, you get them actively engaged in what you are teaching.  They create their own personal avatars for your class, who can join groups, level up when they participate,  or when they do well on assessment, and earn badges.  Students can see a tangible growth of their knowledge manifest itself though those same dynamic avatars and virtual rewards.  It makes sense since most kids are already gaming in one way or another plus, they are clearly intrinsically motivated to play video games in the first place.

The more I read  the more excited I got.  Then, on a Sweetseach I found Classcraft.  

I signed up for free and within minutes dreaming up ways of implementing it in my classroom.   I even tweeted about how cool I thought it was using the hashtag gamification, and I got a new follower who I ended up following back.  One step toward building a new professional learning community that I can rely on for support in my new endeavor.

Classcraft may be a bit too robust for everyone. In most of the articles I read, they suggest to start off small.  It is important to remember this is not about revamping what you teach, only your approach to teaching. 

I also found an article on how to make gamification work though your class website.  Why? The benefits here are that students can stay connected to their work and access it whenever the want.  I like to think of it as education on demand.  This crucial because you need to be able to reach out to students in many various ways.  Perhaps in class they be too shy to answer questions or get involved, but though the site they can actively participate and be an essential part of the classroom community.

I know this is a long post but I’m just so exited, I can’t stop thinking about the potential.  In closing, gamification may not be right for every educator because everyone has different approaches.  But, if we are willing to take a risk I believe that there will be a payoff where students are more actively engaged in their learning,are retaining much more information, and feel like they have an investment in the time they spend with their teachers.  I look forward to implementing it in my classes and will he happy to share how it goes here.