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Gamification is a way to encourage participation and engagement through educational games.  After reading this article, I learned that students are most commonly divided into 4 types.  However, I was a little disappointed to find that the link to the external article was not there to tell me exactly what 4 types there are.  Nonetheless, the article keeps telling us that students play games in the classroom for different reasons. It is not always for the grade, or to "win".  Sometimes it is from the cause behind it.  For example "world changing games".  It also explained that you cannot always trust Apps.  They have a group of students testing each game and rating them on a scale of 1-30.  None have passed 20 thus far, on an education level.

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Games are generally for fun. Gamification takes that sentiment and wraps it into learning objectives into the game model. The internal motivation is a strong driving force to get students through the objectives. Grades aren't always the motivator.

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Badges are a way to show off the accomplishments of learners.  They are outside of the grade as grades aren't a motivator for all students.  This article broke down specific times to award points when used as motivators.
1. Specific Targets
2. Random Targets.
3. Challenging Targets.
Badges are the reward.

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ACRL- Keeping up with Digital Badges for Instruction

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ACRL- Keeping up with Digital Badges for Instruction

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This article really dives into the purpose behind badges and what they mean, and how we, as teachers, should give them value.  Are they going to be there to showcase a knowledge that is required?  Or one that is learned by choice?  Teacher's have to decide the value behind a badge, and use them for good.  They are also a way for students to gauge their knowledge and set goals for themselves.

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This article makes a great connection to learning and the learning process connected with modern technologies.    The concluding paragraph summarizes well a salient point "We are at a time where both children and adults spend hours at a time on games. There is evidence that this may have led to changes in the brain functions."

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In this video Jane points out the aspect of failing, and learning from failing. This is huge in our district, so it really spoke volumes. A huge difference between gaming and testing, is that in gaming you learn when you fail right away, and can try again. Whereas in assessments, you may not know for several days. So while you are still engaged, you do not have to opportunity to learn and try again. It's such a great way to think about this.

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This article breaks down several points to consider about Gamification. Gamification can benefit instruction by introducing a bit competition to boost motivation. Some benefits include dynamic instruction, engagement, potential of spurring interest and concentration. Cons include: Stakeholders believing that game elements trivialize the information, sometimes gamification can be difficult to employ.

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This concise article discusses ideas for offering badges and sites to create badges. My question is, where would you post the badges? Would you just create a Google Classroom where students check in once a week or something?

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This article speaks to Gamification's ability to reach people of diverse learning styles. It also discusses the  evidence that with the digital revolution our attention spans have decreased and gamification can harness our attention with short effective tasks and visuals, promoting engagement.

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The choice is yours really. You can post them wherever and whenever works best for getting the information out to the students. I like the set-up we used with a google slide that allows you to copy, add, and work with the badges digitally. It can also be added to google classroom easily. Plenty of options though!

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The example of the course at Penn State in which students earn "capital" by doing well on assignments and purchasing a grade at the end of the course reminded me of how my alternative high school students would always tell me they'd do their work if they got paid for it. I wonder if a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" scenario would have motivated them to try a little harder. I also thought the Dartmouth photo tagging project was interesting. The college basically got a bunch of students to work for them for free.

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I was a Girl Scout, and I did really enjoy earning and wearing my badges. I am not motivated at all by digital badges, however. Maybe it's because they don't appear anywhere "important" like on a Brownie sash, and adults may be more concerned with how achievements earn them more money. I will definitely use the article's suggestion to build in unexpected reward opportunities when I set up the Goosechase-based lesson I'm planning. I've seen first-hand how my son loves the silly challenges in Fortnite.

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How Does Gaming Affect the Learning Process?

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How Does Gaming Affect the Learning Process?

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I am a little disturbed by the statement that attention spans have decreased by 4 seconds since the "digital revolution" happened. I know that mine has decreased, but I was hoping it was an aging problem rather than a societal one. I don't think the authors of this article see it as a problem since they see gamification as a way of increasing neurotransmission in the brain in order to make learning easier. They also don't seem to mind the fact that video game playing provides dopamine and stimulates the hippocampus since, according to them, memory improves afterward. I agree that we should always strive to engage students in their learning, but I don't agree that it always has to be "fun" in the way that video games are fun for kids. Sometimes learning is just plain hard work, and you have to learn how to be intrinsically motivated to do it even if you are not getting any extra dopamine from it.

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Students seem to feel highly motivated by earning something. I think about how many times I have told my students that school is their job! Any other job you get paid, so badging might be a "Gateway" into them learning about getting paid/budgeting and actually earning a grade in a tangible way!

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I wonder if you feel incentivized by badging programs through apps like Starbucks, Fitbit and other programs like this that are digital? I do agree that the actual badges, like those on a Girl Scout sash seem to hold more value!

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The Definitions of Gamification (author:Ludas)

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The Definitions of Gamification (author:Ludas)

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What is "Play"?- something that is done spontaneously and for it's own sake. "play" is a free movement within a more rigid structure.
What is a "Game"?- A system is which players engage in artificial conflict and conquest. "One element that games have but PLAY doesn't is that of a quantifiable outcome." (Kapp, 2012).
So, "Gamification" is a fairly new term: it's really the use of game elements and gaming design techniques that are used in a non-game context. -Lisa Miller

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Digital Badges: A simple way to motivate (EdTech)

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Digital Badges: A simple way to motivate (EdTech)

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Digital badges are like a new paper certificate for students. Kids care about these badges because they're playing for badges in video games already by completing a task, earning coins, etc. And these allow for student motivation. How do you create badges??? Here are a few great websites: Credly, OpenBadgeDesigner, BadgeList, Makewav.es
What are some badges you could create? Hardworker, SuperReader, Super Citizen, Perfect Attendance, and Problem Solver Badge. I liked this article because it was very straightforward and gave many useful day-to-day ideas.-Lisa Miller.

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This article really touches on the different learning styles that we are teaching to, and understanding the Gamification may facilitate learning systematically. Using Gamification in Education may: 1) optimize the brain's processing of new info, 2) improve motivation and engagement for kids, 3) modify the brain's reward and pleasure center. The article states that this new approach to learning goes hand-in-hand with the new digital era. Embrace it :) - Lisa Miller.

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I did not understand that gamification was different than simply instructing using games. I fully appreciated how game elements improved classrooms with " feedback, learning reinforcement, and a more lively classroom". I had never considered how doing a game could be a kind of formative assessment.

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I liked the counterargument to the claim badges decrease intrinsic motivation, that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are not binary and therefore badges aument motivation rather than cancel out one type.

The further reading and endnotes in this article are awesome.

I did have to look up the use of the vocabulary word "metadata" to understand how it relates to badges.

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I particularly liked the diagram and lists of specific definitions for underlying dynamics and "game design principles".

I feel like I want to put a poster in my office that says "Blissful Productivity" and "Urgent Optimism"!

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#1-I would never have thought that a simple progress bar could be linked to motivation via simplified gaming.  However, I really like to have everything check-marked in D2L so that I know I have visited that layer within the module and downloaded or completed the task.
#1-2-4 All indicate that feedback is a part of the hook of gamification, even at the college level. This is a revelation and provides new purpose for me relative to finding ways to gamify feedback at the high school level. Classroom games, in the traditional sense, usually don't involve any feedback for individuals or groups.

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I was hoping for links on how to create digital badges, and this article had a few to look at. With simple and free tools, I could see having students design badges for their groups, sports, lettering, activities, clubs, etc. We also have a soft skills component to student assessment, and this could be an opportunity to track students across all classrooms (high school): a visual representation of achievement and skills.

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Three fantastic reasons to incorporate gamification:
autonomy, value, competence.
All of these impact the grit, the perseverance with which a student approaches an educational learning opportunity -- which eventually determines a student's self-efficacy. That gaming strategy provides freedom to fail is another attractive aspect. So many students focus on being right, getting the right answer, or that being wrong is the only other option; gamification provides the pathway to attempt something again and again (natural to sports but not so natural to academics).

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As I read this article and skimmed the other two as well, I was reminded of two social studies units I taught in my 4th and 5th grade classrooms, which were favorites for both me and my students. I used simulations from the Interact Company--The Civil War unit in 5th grade and Apple Valley School (one-room school house in 4th). The simulations had a "gaming" feel to them and used a combination of fate cards (random points gained or lost not determined by skill or effort) and points awarded for particular skill sets/work completion.  These were definitely games, they just weren't digital.  Gaming increases engagement and enlivens instruction.

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I have always liked the system the scouts used for badging. I like the elements of choice and variations of difficulty with badges. I was thinking how easy it would be to create a badge using the ISTE student standards or the WI ITL standards (they have downloadable icons & images) --However, just having the badges available for the students to earn doesn't seem very motivating. I do think they need to be part of an engaging and interesting process in order to hold any valuable meaning to the students. One teacher mentioned he printed badges out for students (who put them on folders, etc.) and some award them digitally. I think they would need to be displayed somehow where others can see them.

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1. Autonomy-students feel as if they're in charge of something (the element of choice is always important).
2. Value- if students think a goal is important or of value, they're more likely to complete it.
3. Competence- if one knows something takes hard work (instead of talent), you're more likely to keep trying and over time become better at it.
I think a gamification/badging system for my 5th and 6th graders would be a blast. I'd probably want to start small with one unit, like digital citizienship, but I can see students completing some cool projects in order to earn an innovative designer badge, too. Anyone know if something like this already "exists" somewhere for students at these grade levels? Thanks in advance!

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I agree with your three reasons to add gamification to curriculum.  Autonomy and having the student drive their own learning is almost like a "buzz" phrase in education now. Students having the opportunity in taking an active role in their learning will definitely produce a better outcome. Value is an obstacle for the educator and making sure the journey/task/quest is of value and supportive of the curriculum. Additionally, I like the competence assessment and that it allows students to make mistakes and have failures and enables them to be resilient and incorporates higher thinking so they don't make that mistake again.

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Great video interview of why gaming concepts should be introduced to the classroom. "Kids are extremely engaged by games, so we need to create that same type of engagement in our schools, or in our ‘real lives’.

When you’re engaged, you’re more curious, determined, optimistic, we learn faster from our mistakes. More resilient in the face of failure. Need to bring these positive qualities to the classroom. Get some of the same positive emotions."

It was interesting to note that Quest to Learn (a charter school in NY City) is still around, but...has a 4/10 rating on Greatschools.org (https://www.greatschools.org/new-york/new-york/13275-Quest-To-Learn/), and only got a 2/10 on student progress from year to year, which I think is the most important measure.

She's a big proponent that students can keep taking the test until they get the grade that they like. That's currently a big point of contention among our three math teachers at the high school...a lot of students will simply retake the test without doing any additional studying. Some teachers require a test retake ticket, that documents what they’ve done in the meantime, so their grade should improve on the retake.

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Educause presents a great article that highlights 7 things to know about gamification. The article includes information on what gamification is, how it's used, benefits of it, struggles with implementation and where the future is predicted to lead to with gamification. This is a quick, helpful read with lots of answers to basic questions regarding gamification. It was a great beginner resource for me, as an individual who is fairly new to gamification.

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The article on Badges from Edudemic pointed out the common places badges have been used for so long. Scouting, military, and video game uses are all familiar with badging and understand the benefits of it. Badging is a way to "track" user progression and know what the next task is, a sort of leveling in a way. The part of the article that was most helpful for me was the end, where the types of targets for badges are listed. This was helpful because the focus was on motivation or how to encourage students t work harder. This is a fun way to engage kids!

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The Ted Talk video with Jane McGonigal was my choice for learning about how gamification affects learning. I have a book of hers in my library and have skimmed it many times, but haven't completely read it. It was nice to hear her describe gamification. Jane talks about failures in regards to gamification, and important issue this is often overlooked.

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This was the most informative article for me, out of the three that I read! Some really great info in here! “Gamification is the application of game elements in non-

gaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior.”

Gamification is a great method to use when asking people to essentially do a scavenger hunt, with no possible way they can find everything. I like that in this plant find example, there are rare plants worth more points, and bonus points for ones found in bloom. Points are also given for correct identification, along with other metadata.

The Metadata Games that was created at Darmouth College reminds me of the Google Image Labeler game that came out in Nov. 2006 where you and another anonymous person on the internet tried to come up with the same term for an image that randomly appeared. You got more points for more descriptive and longer words, and also got scored for how many total images you were able to label within the time frame. Did anyone else play it when it first came out? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Image_Labeler

This article also had a terrific list of pros and cons of gamification, such as "rewards or the spirit of competition will spur students’

concentration and interest and lead to more effective learning."
One con I kind of agree with is that gamification could reveal student's difficulties in understanding the content to the rest of the class. Therefore, you might need to keep the badgers/progress private, but then that eliminates the competitive aspect of gamification.

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“A digital badge is a visual representation that signifies a specific achievement with detailed metadata attached.”

method of visually tracking progress.

I like that they mentioned that with badges, "You know exactly what they’ve learned along the way, unlike a certificate, that doesn’t itemize all the skills included with that credential."
I'm glad they addressed the potential con of "intrinsic motivation being depleted by using badges as a controlling form of extrinsic motivation", and said you "can negate this by making the badges form a meaningful connection to course material."

Going along with another con of gamification, Accelerated Reader kind of reminds me of the gamification process, as you get points for the books you've read after you pass a knowledge quiz. But a teacher I really respect from reading her blog (Pernille Ripp - https://pernillesripp.com/2017/10/29/on-accelerated-reader-and-all-the-other-computer-programs/) detests Accelerated Reader, as for reading, she says, " Reading was never meant to be about points.  Or scores.  Or correct answers. It was never meant to be about levels or data or rewards for goals met. " Reading should be, " a complex process in which we discover parts of ourselves that we didn’t know before.  A process that brought us closer together as a community of learners, as we felt the growth we made not because a test told us but because the very book we just finished was an accomplishment in itself."

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I'm really not motivated by earning points through apps. I am most motivated to do something when I find value in it...intrinsically vs. extrinsically. I totally agree with Pernille Ripp about AR.

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That truly is an interesting piece of information!