‘Gamification’
A focus on Education
__________________________________________________________________________
Megan Whytcross
Student Number: s3327902
Tutorial: Friday 10:30-12:30
Websites
Hplusmagazine.com
Gamification: Turning Work Into Play
Citation: Huling, R 2010, ‘Gamification: Turning Work Into Play’ H+Magazine (Article, March 2010.) Viewed April 8 2013 <http://hplusmagazine.com/2010/03/25/gamification-turning-work-play/>
i) Summary
This interview style article identifies the application of game technology and game design outside ‘gamespace’, and the emerging acceptance of games in non-gaming sectors of society such as job training. The website is set up as an interview with David Helgason from a company called Unity, which produces game development tools for the web, mobiles and Wii.
ii) Critical Evaluation
The website addresses an audience consisting of employers or employees that have been or intend to be involved in accessing gamification as a training method for workplaces. The text is both analytical and descriptive. Mr Helgason describes the response to gaming used in training employees as both being confusing and exciting. There is a fear associated with this technological change, but also overwhelming support of essentially turning working into playing. The interview touches on the program ‘Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter’, that has been rented out by companies to use as a team-building exercise. The interview also discusses the teaching of children with games such as Sin City and The Sims that effectively communicate how society works in ‘real-life’ contexts. These methods proved to show children to retain information, but particularly illustrating excellent application of knowledge.
iii) Reflection
The interview provides expert insight into the application of gaming into the workforce as an educational and training tool. The article also discusses the response to such a design as challenging at first, but draws out great results.
O’Reilly Radar
Gaming education
Citation: Corcoran, E 2012, ‘Gaming Education: Classic ed-tech games and build-your-own methods are now joined by the “gamification” movement’, O’Reilly Radar, viewed 12 April 2013, <http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/10/gaming-education.html>
i) Summary
This text describes and separates the different classes of digital games in schools. These classes include: classic edu-tech games, students building their own games and gamification. The text suggests that education can be drastically improved through gaming classes. The text uses links to other sites to demonstrate claims made. Such as a link to the ‘Scratch’ website, a game developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT’s Media Lab.
ii) Critical Evaluation
This website offers information to an audience interested in insights and research about emerging technologies. The text is analytical of the groups of gaming that are used in schools and their effectiveness. The website points out that edu-tech games keep kids engagement and aim to entertain. Whereas, the class of students building their own games focuses on empowering students who wish to control their learning. The most recently established class, Gamification, is explained in the text as not requiring an internal motivation but rather provides instantaneous feedback, a sense of competition and rewards for progress.
iii) Reflection
This website will be directly related to gamification research as it suggests that ‘gamifying’ experiences in the classroom aren’t the only class of gaming utilised in this scene. It also provides a point of view of what gaming says about education.
Journals
Domínguez, A. et al.
Gamifying learning experiences: Practical implications and outcomes
Citation: Domínguez, A. et al 2013, ‘Gamifying learning experiences: Practical implications and outcomes’, Computers & Education , Vol 1, Iss 63, pp. 380-392, viewed 7 April 2013, <http: //elsevier.com/locate/compedu>
i) Summary
This journal conceptualizes the definition of Gamification specifically relating to the necessity to increase user experience and engagement within a technology based system. The research and study conducted involves the design of a plugin in a university course that collected qualitative and quantitative data to analyse the benefits and disadvantages obtained when using games in education. The research investigated which areas of learning were affected by using gaming as a teaching process. The journal employs textual evidence to support claims.
ii) Critical Evaluation
The text is targeted at an academic audience interested in processes of gamification in specific relation to education systems. The journal aims to provide a descriptive research into the benefits and disadvantages associated with using gaming in education. The conclusion of the research suggests that e-learning has the potential to create motivation within students when the design and implementation of the gamification process is executed correctly. Particularly the reward system of gaming, namely the progression of levels and achievement becomes a motivating factor for students. This studied showed that the advantages mainly associated with gaming in education included: immediate feedback, information on demand, productive learning, motivating cycles of expertise, self-regulated learning, team collaboration. Whereas, gamifying education also proved to show disadvantages including: learning educative content, the learning transfer, learning assessment, teacher implication and technological infrastructure.
iii) Reflection
This journal will be helpful for gamification of education research to analyse and understand the varying levels of benefits and disadvantages associated with the process in a tertiary level. In particular providing textual evidence that gaming applied in an educational setting is more beneficial for practical learning as opposed to written or traditional learning assessments.
E-Books
Kapp, Karl M.
The Gamification of Learning and Instruction
Citation: Kapp, Karl M, 2012, ‘Chapter 8: Applying Gaming to Learning Domains’, in The Gamification of Learning and Instruction : Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education, Wiley Publishing, Australia, viewed 7 April 2013, ProQuest Database
i) Summary
This book aims to show how to design online instruction that controls the best elements of online games to influence learning, retention, and application. It explains how to match different game strategies to types of learning content for the right learning outcome and discusses how gamification techniques can be used in a variety of settings to improve teaching of factual, conceptual and procedural knowledge.
ii) Critical Evaluation
The audience that this book would attract comprises of education workers and those who work in technological advancements relating to game construction and design.
The chapter specifically seeks out to answer the question of what gamification techniques and mechanics are appropriate for conveying factual, conceptual and procedural knowledge. The text explores the different types of knowledge and demonstrates which methods of gamification techniques are appropriate for those learning requirements. The book describes the different methods to apply in order to achieve the best teaching results of a particular type of knowledge. This is employed through examples of games that have been successful in demonstrating knowledge while utilising a specific technique.
iii) Reflection
This particular e-book offers insight into the teaching methods and techniques that would be used to best teach certain types of knowledge to students. This will be crucial in our research to understanding and categorising the effectiveness of different games in attempts to educate. Therefore, assisting in making an accurate evaluation of the advantages or disadvantages of gamifying education.
Bonk, Curtis J.
The World Is Open
Citation: Bonk, Curtis J, 2009, ‘Chapter 3: E-Demand Around the Globe: Opener #2: E-Learning and Blended Learning’, in ‘The World Is Open : How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education’, Normans Media Ltd, Coventry, United Kingdom, viewed 12 April 2013, ProQuest Central Database
i) Summary
This e-book aims to empower online learning. The basic information this chapter provides is how technology allows new hope for educating people. In opening up education to new possibilities, there is a chance for a more robust, educated and economically sound world. The book draws attention to education ‘trumping’ economy as a means to communicate and participate in the world. This particular chapter focuses on E-Learning and Blended Learning. The chapter employs textual evidence and statistics to support its claims.
ii) Critical Evaluation
The chapter is focused on targeting an academic audience on a global scale, concerned with technology that offers hope in better educating people.There seems to be an assumption underlying the books focus ‘anyone can learn anything from anyone anytime’. This particular chapter focuses on E-Demand around the globe. There is an explanation of how technology has allowed time and distance to exist between learners and teachers. The chapter also discusses the concept of NotSchool- to educate outside of the traditional schooling environment and system is better for society; the world is the classroom and your experiences are your education.
iii) Reflection
This chapter is crucial to research relating to education using advancement of technology, particularly the online world, to educate people. This provides a scope for understanding that the traditional classroom setting is not necessarily the most effective or suitable to the present and future world.
Books
Prensky, M.
Digital game-based learning: practical ideas for for the application of digital game-based learning
Citation: Prensky, M 2001, Digital game-based learning: practical ideas for for the application of digital game-based learning, 1st edn, McGraw-Hill, United States, p.1-19.
i) Summary
The chapter promotes the notion that neuroscientists C.Shawn Green and Daphne Bavelier suggests; playing ‘action’ video and computer games has the positive effect of enhancing students; visual selective attention. This poses an important message to parents and educators- Videogames are not the enemy, but the best opportunity we have to engage our kids in learning, through their motivational qualities. Emphasising the revolution of learning to learning that is fun- ‘Digital Learning Games’. This is described through the comparison of serious learning in schools and businesses and interactive entertainment (computer games, and video games). The text is descriptive of scenarios of training methods that cannot be said to be effective in terms of the generational digital gap to prove the point. The chapter utilises interviews with internet entrepreneurs’, university professors and workers in the gaming industry to support claims. The text also employs statistics which uphold the opinion that gamification of education is a positive system.
ii) Critical Evaluation
The chapter addresses an academic audience that specialises in the study of processes used in education and training such as business executives, school administers, trainers or teachers.. The text analyses the Sine Qua Non, a $30 billion worldwide computer and video games industry, where motivation itself is the expertise. The attitude that children have towards video games is the opposite that they have towards school, therefore it makes sense to merge the content of school with the motivation/style of games. Digital Game-Based Learning also discusses the mounting evidence that our ‘digital native’ children’s brains are changing to accommodate the new technologies with which they spend so much time. Generational understandings of what constitutes learning are vastly different. The text places focus on the language barriers associated with the older generation teaching a generation that understands and uses very different technological language and terminology. The text portrays the opportunities presented by the revolution of digital game-based learning, and produces a means for motivating educators to update their skills to suit the 21st Century.
iii) Reflection
This text would be essential in understanding the revolution of education in terms of changing methods from an older generation to a younger generation. The text sheds light on the opportunities that gaming in education would place on motivation and engagement of students and employees in a workplace training scenario.
Magazines
Cohen, A.
The Gamification of Education: Why Online Social Games May Be Poised to Replace Textbooks in Schools
Citation: Cohen, A 2011, ‘The Gamification of Education: Why Online Social Games May Be Poised to Replace Textbooks in Schools’. The Futurist, Vol 1, Iss 45, p.16-17.
i) Summary
The magazine article addresses the question as to why online social games may substitute textbooks in schools in the future. The technology driven era that the world has entered allows this to be a motivating factor to change and re-develop the educational systems from the more linear processes to multi-linear technological processes. The text suggests that addiction to gameplay could be a significant issue when transferring content from a book to online or digital games.
The magazine utilises examples of gaming used in schools such as The Oregon Trail, a historical learning game to uphold statements. The text also uses textual evidence from the book ‘A New Culture of Learning by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown to support claims.
ii) Critical Evaluation
The audience the magazine article addresses are an academic audience that are concerned with the awareness of change and development in creative solutions to learning and education. The magazine providing a neutral forum for exploration of a possible future could also interest a wider audience that wishes to understand the probability of a shift in the traditional teaching methods used in educational systems.
The texts insinuates that moving to educating students online would make textbooks more or less obsolete. The assumption is that gaming includes the three integral aspects to learning; curiosity, imagination and sense of play. Gaming in a learning environment also allows users to use methods of trial and error, exploration, collaboration and exchange of ideas to further their educational experience. There is a concern in the writing that addiction to gaming could be a major hurdle in making gamification in education a plausible and effective means for teaching.
iii) Reflection
This magazine article will be beneficial in terms of understanding the rapid shift that technological is placing on the educational systems of teaching in schools; the move from textbooks to online. The suggestion that addiction to gaming could hold back the effectiveness and success of gamified learning will also be valuable. The article is also instrumental in visualizing gamification as a development that will help resolve real-world issues through gaming.
Newspaper Articles
Mather, J.
Tablets Are Cool But Are They Smart
Citation: Mather, J 2012, ‘Tablets Are Cool But Are They Smart’, Financial Review, 8 February, viewed 10 April 2013, <http://www.afr.com/p/national/tablets_are_cool_but_are_they_smart_6yTxDkqrbjYqiXYviWSVDL>
i) Summary
This article discusses the introduction of tablets and electronic whiteboards into schools as teaching devices as opposed to traditional teaching methods. The article uses interviews with the headmaster Rohan Brown of the Trinity Grammar School in Kew, Donna Gronn, a leading expert in information and communications technology in education and Kathleen Morris, a teacher at Leopold Primary School to support claims made.
ii) Critical Evaluation
This article is aimed at parents of students in primary schools, and those interested in government funding in education. The text is analytical of the changing landscape of teaching technologies. The introduction of electronic whiteboards in schools is starting to make blackboards obsolete, which causes confusion to parents particularly as they were taught very differently. The article argues that there is still a focus on personal interaction between teachers and students as a key to good learning outcomes. There is rising concern in the interviews that using these platforms may detract attention away from content as it may become too focused on technology.
iii) Reflection
This newspaper article will be particularly helpful in research as it discusses applying advancements in technology for teaching methods in schools. This is a Melbourne based school, therefore suitable for the scope of the research.
The New York Times
Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom
Citation: Corbett, S 2010, ‘Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom’, The New York Times, September 15th, Viewed 7 April 2013, <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&>
i) Summary
An article from the New York Times, written by Sara Corbett, Published on September 15, 2010. Argues that Gamification in the classroom is more relevant to students, by being connected to the outside world; capturing the attention of children through gaming and therefore keeping them more engaged. The text uses observational material of children using a game called ‘Quest to Learn’ as teaching method, that was created and designed by Katie Salen. The article also employs interviews with experts in the field of education, psychology and gaming.
ii) Critical Evaluation
The audience that this article targets is to those who have children in schools that either use gamification as a means for teaching, or are planning to in the future.
The text is reflective of personal experience in classrooms observing gamification as a learning practice. The article uses expert opinions and supporting evidence to back up claims made through reflection on personal experience.
The article illustrates an evaluation of the gamification in education, in progressing from traditional teaching methods through an advancement in technology. The article investigates the effectiveness of gaming to teach students skills in maths, english, problem solving as a kind of ‘hybrid’ lesson.
iii) Reflection
This website will prove useful for research in Gamification as it offers an analysis of the concept in an actual classroom setting and direct reactions from students in a middle school. The article demonstrates an overview of the advantages associated with using games to teach and engage students in learning, including the exact methodologies employed in classrooms.
