What is Gamification in Education?

What is Gamification in Education?

Firstly, Gamification is the merging of game elements into non-gaming settings such as learning and education in the classroom.  Its main aim is to make learning fun by involving engaging games into education, thus motivating students to learn better, and to promote an improved school experience.

Nowadays schools are finding it harder to create student motivation and engagement which can really have a negative effect on a pupils learning.

This winning combination of combining fun games with learning is on target to become a thriving industry in the near future of education, and will make up a big part of people’s daily lives.

The new era of technology that we are now becoming accustomed to, already proves that Gamification plays a part in our lives, although we may not even be aware of it.  For instance, in the promotion of businesses and products, people can use their smartphones to earn discounts and incentives for visiting real high street shops and establishments, via FourSquare and thus receiving perks and titles.  Foursquare helps you explore the world around you, meet up with friends, discover new places, and save money using your internet smartphone.

Another popular example of Gamification is ‘Chore Wars’ – This fun website allows you to claim experience points (EP’s) for household chores.  The concept being where other people in your household or office sign up to the site, here you can assign EP’s rewards to individual tasks and chores, building up your levels and status.  Two testimonials taken from the website state….

1)            "The house is so completely sparkling clean! All we had to do is make it a competition! The guys are so obsessed with beating each other! Whoever has the most points at the end of the week gets a six pack."

2)            "I sat down with the kids, showed them their characters and the adventures and they literally jumped up and ran off to complete their chosen tasks. I've never seen my 8 year old son make his bed!"

This is a perfect example of how Gamification can really play a big part in our lives.

Although Gamification’s goal is to take the ‘power’ of gaming to better influence and promote healthy lifestyles, and marketing strategies, the aim of Game to Learn is Education.

As you are probably aware, ‘game’ elements are currently used in schools and have been for quite some time.  By this we mean, students receiving points and badges upon correctly completed assignments and projects, and rewarded for good behaviour by way of a Homework break for example.  Although these ‘game’ elements are commonly used they tend to lack engagement with pupils, whereas virtual worlds and video games prove extremely well at promoting and maintaining interest.

Another example of Gamification that is linked to the real world is FarmVille which was developed in 2009.  Gameplay involves various aspects of farm management such as ploughing land, planting, growing and harvesting crops, harvesting trees and bushes and raising livestock.  As with other Gamification trends, players can earn EP’s for performing certain actions.

A reported 63 million people play FarmVille on a monthly basis, although they are not all farmers in the real world!

Game to Learn, a new UK based development uses games design as its structure for teaching and learning.  The games designers are working closely with education professionals, teachers and tutors to develop the site and incorporate fun online games into the complete school day, week month and year. 

Pupils will use the system to learn about school rules, social roles, understand the main topics of what is being taught in class, and receive rewards and EP’s.  They will enter virtual worlds and complete homework’s in a fun and engaging way.

Game to Learn is the most comprehensive platform for education within primary schools. It is the main hub for the complete learning solution incorporating Key Stage One, Key Stage Two, and Tutors Market into one easy to use package. Our aim is to bring children’s learning into the 21st century as gaming can improve performance, through increased engagement within young people of primary age.

The system is currently being trialled in 35 UK schools and will be operational from early 2012, but in the meantime, please visit http://www.gametolearn.net to learn more!