Gamification: Understanding Its Intrinsic Challenges and How To Face Them in the Classroom
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This document discusses the challenges of gamification, particularly in education. It defines gamification as using game elements in non-game contexts. While gamification can be motivating, it faces intrinsic challenges because real life and games have different characteristics. Work is not play. True games involve choice, mastery, and social elements that are difficult to replicate for real-world tasks. In education, the flipped classroom approach allows for more intrinsic motivators by giving students choice, a sense of mastery through practice, and a social community for learning. Providing both traditional and flipped classroom options can help accommodate different learners. An engaging teacher remains the most important factor for classroom success.
Gamification: Understanding Its Intrinsic Challenges and How To Face Them in the Classroom
- 1. Gamification: understanding its intrinsic challenges and how to face them in the classroom Dr. Roberto Dillon Associate Professor James Cook University Singapore roberto.dillon@jcu.edu.auroberto.dillon@jcu.edu.auroberto.dillon@jcu.edu.au Twitter: @rdillon73Twitter: @rdillon73Twitter: @rdillon73
- 3. Overview • A quick introduction to Gamification and its intrinsic challenges. • The Classroom • Rethinking a gamified classroom for motivating students
- 5. Gamification “The use of game elements and game design techniques in non- game contexts” Useful to motivate people subconsciously… – Consumer Gamification • Shopping, self inprovement – Enterprise Gamification • Business, productivity, work environment
- 6. Most common game elements PBL triad
- 9. I’m skeptical... Gamification has some intrinsic problems that are too often ignored
- 10. Let’s go back to the definition: “The use of game elements and game design techniques in non- game contexts” Ok... What characterizes a game and a playing activity exactly?
- 12. Huizinga identifies 5 characteristics that play must have: 1. Play is free, is in fact freedom. 2. Play is not "ordinary" or "real" life. 3. Play is distinct from "ordinary" life both as to locality and duration. 4. Play creates order, is order. Play demands order absolute and supreme. 5. Play is connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained from it
- 13. Huizinga identifies 5 characteristics that play must have: 1. Play is free, is in fact freedom. 2.2.2. Play is not "ordinary" or "real" life.Play is not "ordinary" or "real" life.Play is not "ordinary" or "real" life. 3.3.3. Play is distinct from "ordinary" life both asPlay is distinct from "ordinary" life both asPlay is distinct from "ordinary" life both as to locality and duration.to locality and duration.to locality and duration. 4. Play creates order, is order. Play demands order absolute and supreme. 5.5.5. Play is connected with no material interest,Play is connected with no material interest,Play is connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained from itand no profit can be gained from itand no profit can be gained from it It is very challenging to have a real playful activity if this becomes real life and involves work!
- 14. “Work” is not “Play”! • Require different moods and mindsets
- 15. Play has to be “fun” • “Fun” is very subjective. No “game” will be fun for everyone, ever.
- 16. The Challenges • “real life” and “playing” are separate. • Specific activities may be fun only for a certain group of people – Setting up and scaling up a gamified system for enterprises employing many different people is extremely challenging!
- 17. The Classroom • Unique environment: – Are students like customers? – Are students like employees?
- 18. The Classroom • Already has PBL built in: – Study and get points accordingly!
- 19. The Classroom • Already has PBL built in: – Badges!
- 20. The Classroom • Already has PBL built in: – Public Leaderboards (in some countries only)
- 21. The Classroom • For many people not so effective: – It’s still real life, no sense of “playing”! • How can we improve it? • We need to understand: – Difference between Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivators.
- 22. Motivators • PBL are Extrinsic Motivators: – They encourage us explicitly to do something – Motivation comes from a reward “I do this to achieve a goal/win a prize”
- 23. Motivators • Intrinsic Motivators: – Much more difficult to define – Need to engage people naturally and subconsciously “I do this... because I like it/feel to!”
- 24. Motivators • Sense of Choice / Agency – Feeling in control of what we are doing
- 25. Motivators • Sense of Competence – Becoming a master at something
- 26. Motivators • Sense of Relatedness – Relate to others: • Involves a social setting, with friends with whom sharing experiences – Relate to some important issue: • Doing something for a higher purpose, “making a difference”
- 27. How to implement this in a classroom?
- 29. The Flipped Classroom • Sense of Relatedness • Sense of Mastery Practicing and improving together
- 30. The Flipped Classroom • Sense of Agency: need to provide choices... – Semi-linear level design approach
- 31. The Flipped Classroom • Sense of Agency: need to provide choices... – Semi-linear level design approach – Build subjects around fundamental/core and optional topics
- 32. Conclusions • Key is to drive engagement viaKey is to drive engagement viaKey is to drive engagement via intrinsic motivatorsintrinsic motivatorsintrinsic motivators • Flipped classroom • Exercise in class, workshops and tutorials with lecturer (sense of(sense of(sense of mastery)mastery)mastery) • In groups (relatedness)(relatedness)(relatedness) • Choice of topics : semi linear level structure (sense of agency)(sense of agency)(sense of agency)
- 33. Conclusions Anyway... •No system can accommodate all – Ideally, both traditional and flipped versions of subjects should be offered. – A good teacher is always the most important component!
- 34. Thanks for your kind attention! roberto.dillon@jcu.edu.au