2012 GEC presentation

1. Presenter:
Caryn Swark
swarkc@holyspirit.ab.ca
Transforming Your Classroom With
Games Based Learning
Image by Moroboshi on Wikimedia, lisenced under Creative Commons

2. What Games Do You Play?

3. 1. What is gamification and why use it?
2. What does a gamified classroom look
like?
3. How can I create a gamified system?
4. What are some other applications of
games based learning?
5. Where do I go from here?

4. Image by Peng on Wikimedia, lisenced under Creative Commons

5. The use of game
mechanics and game
design techniques in a
non game situation.
You do NOT have to be
a “gamer” to use
gamification!

6. Video:

7.  Memorize information  Use information
 Reiterate facts  Interpret and analyze
 Learn set topics  Explore diverse topics
 Seat work  Group work
 Lecture format  Self-motivation
 Accept teachings  Question information
 Do things the “right”  Try new ways of doing
way things
Old ways of educating The 21st Century Learner Objectives

9. Lessons from Daniel Pink’s Drive:

10. Lessons from Daniel Pink’s Drive:
-People are driven by mastery, autonomy, and
purpose

11. Lessons from Daniel Pink’s Drive:
-People are driven by mastery, autonomy, and
purpose
-Overemphasis on extrinsic rewards can backfire

12. Lessons from Daniel Pink’s Drive:
-People are driven by mastery, autonomy, and
purpose
-Overemphasis on extrinsic rewards can backfire
-Motivation comes from a state of flow:
becoming so immersed in something that you
lose all track of time

13. Lessons from Daniel Pink’s Drive:
-People are driven by mastery, autonomy, and
purpose
-Overemphasis on extrinsic rewards can backfire
-Motivation comes from a state of flow:
becoming so immersed in something that you
lose all track of time
*These factors appear naturally in games,
making games based systems an excellent option
for the 21st century learner!*

15. • Every gamified system looks different
• Meaningful gamification has to be about more
than pointsification (just using the trappings
of games to “trick” learners)
• Involves choice, freedom, and fun
• Seeks to activate prior positive associations
with games to encourage student
participation and enjoyment

16. One example of gamification

17. Students begin the year as trainees
in the kingdom of Cognosco. As the
year progresses, King Ion VI is
kidnapped by King Nocens from the
neighboring kingdom of Ignarus.
Students must try to save the king.
There are several major events
throughout the year:
• The king’s kidnapping
• Entering into Ignarus
• Storming the castle
In between, students earn
experience points (XP) and “level
up” to become stronger warriors in
preparation for the final battle.

18. Students begin the year as level one
avatars. They design their own
characters.
Each time a student levels up, they
get a gold coin for the classroom
store and a piece to add to their
avatars (extrinsic motivators).
Students choose between male and
female avatars and name them as
well as creating a back story for
them.
As with any game, levelling is easy
at first, but becomes harder as time
goes on.
Starting avatar Fully levelled avatar

19. At the beginning of the year,
students choose whether they
want to be rogues, fighters, or
mages (I use this as a jumping
off point for a story writing
introduction).
Every five levels, students earn
a skill based on their choice.

20. Experience Points help students
level up. They can be gained by:
• Completing bonus quests
• Completing assignments
• Winning them in Cognoscopoly
Skill points are also experience
points. They correspond to a
student’s grade in a subject. They
can be gained by:
• Completing exams or
assignments
In many gamified classrooms, XP = grade. Skill points are my way of addressing
how to calculate experience in a multi-subject setting.

21. At the beginning of the year,
students choose secret avatar
names known only to me. Every
week, I post a leaderboard with
the current XP under those
names.
Students can choose whether or
not to publicly display avatars,
so the experience is as public or
private as they choose to make
it.

22. Students also have the ability to
earn achievements, or online
badges awarded via For All
Badges and Edmodo.
Achievements are optional and
do not earn additional XP.
Pictured:
Jack of All Trades: Join 4 or
more school clubs
Expert: Reach level 15
Sesquipedalian: Hand in an
assignment with every word
spelled correctly
Reporter: Make 10 posts to our
class Wiki

23. Cognoscopoly is a full size
Monopoly board. On Fridays,
students who completed all
homework on time for the
entire week get to roll and
move their piece.
Traditional Monopoly locations
have been replaced with places
like “Stables” and “town
square.”
Students collect 200 XP for
passing go. They can also earn
150 XP for solving a brainteaser
if they land on Oracle’s Quest.
Landing on Treasure Chest earns
them a small prize (eg: 100 XP,
sit anywhere for a day, 15 mins
of free computer time)

24. James Gee discusses how the
best games have affinity spaces
– a culture surrounding them. To
encourage this, we also have:
• A collectible trading card
game
• Language consistent with the
game’s premise (eg: When
we do layered curriculums,
the layers are called hunting,
crafting, questing, and boss
fight)
• Medieval classroom
decorations
• Students are encouraged to
write “fanfiction” about the
kingdom of Cognosco

25. Notes:
*Results from one year only
*Have made changes to the avatars based on student feedback

26. Clipart from Discovery Education; created by Mark A Hicks

27. Games require rules. Yours can
be as simple as laying out how
you earn points and what the
goal of the game is. Players
should also know the “win
state”: how they will know
when they have achieved their
goals.
Image by Greg McMillan on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

28. An important part of scoring is
the leaderboard, or public
posting of scores. This should be
done as soon as possible
(meaning you need to stay up to
date with your marking!), but it
can be anonymous as well.
Image by spcbrass on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

29. Games should have some
element of chance. This can
take the form of…
• Rolling dice to see in what
order presentations occur
• Offering “surprise prizes”
(eg: when all students reach
level five, there is a prize no
one knew about)
• Flipping a coin to decide
between two due dates
Image by 8one6 on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

30.  Start Small! It’s overwhelming to do
it all at once
 A good way to start small: begin with a
simple shift in perspective, encouraging
students to view themselves as having
zero points and gaining more rather
than having 100 points and losing them
as they make mistakes.
Clipart from Discovery Education; created by Mark A Hicks

31.  Choose a setting Start by choosing a
setting or theme for your game
 Most common settings are fantasy or sci
fi, but you can adapt them to your class.
For example, if teaching a history class,
it only makes sense to set your game in
a historical context!
Clipart from Discovery Education; created by Mark A Hicks

32.  Lookfor simple ways to gamify what
you’re already doing
 InThe Multiplayer Classroom, Lee
Sheldon relates the story of a high
school biology teacher who uses the
classroom skeleton and pet turtle as key
NPCs (non player characters), making
them “quest givers.”
Clipart from Discovery Education; created by Mark A Hicks

33.  Decide how involved you want to get
 If
you’re feeling unsure, you may want
to keep things simple: not worry about
having a storyline and simply focus on
integrating some gaming terminology. If
you’re more comfortable, by all means
create a story your “players” can get
involved in.
Clipart from Discovery Education; created by Mark A Hicks

34. Clipart from Discovery Education; created by Mark A Hicks

35. A few examples of ways to learn with games
Image by JacobMetcalf on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

36. FOR…
• Math/Language Arts:
• Scribblenauts (Nintendo DS, iPad)
• Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo DS)
• Science:
• Portal (Xbox, PC)
• Social Studies:
• Sim City (most systems)
• Civilization (most systems)
• Phys Ed:
• Anything with the Wii or
• Xbox Kinect

37. • Gamestar Mechanic: www.gamestarmechanic.com
• Brain Pop: www.brainpop.com
• Games for Change: www.gamesforchange.org
• Nobel Prize Educational Games: www.nobelprize.org/educational
• Darfur is Dying: www.darfurisdying.com
There are lots of great educational games online – these are just a
few!

38. Clipart from Discovery Education; created by Mark A Hicks

39. Books and websites on games based
learning and gamification

40. 1. My blog: www.gamifymyclass.blogspot.ca
2. Mozilla Open Badges: www.openbadges.org
3. Games MOOC: www.gamesmooc.shivtr.com
4. Coursera’s Gamification Course: www.coursera.org (search for
gamification)
5. Kill Screen Daily: www.killscreendaily.com
6. Deep Fun: www.deepfun.com
7. Twitter: www.twitter.com
Use hashtags: -gbl (games based learning)
-gamesmooc (games mooc)
-edapps (educational apps)

41. Lee Sheldon
The Multiplayer Classroom
Karl M. Kapp
The Gamification of
Learning and Instruction
James Paul Gee
What Video Games Have to Teach Us
About Learning and Literacy

42. Caryn Swark
swarkc@holyspirit.ab.ca
www.gamifymyclass.blogspot.ca