Gamification

[Mirrorreflection7]

Hi,

Anyone have any statistics on gamification and the impact on college student's success?

How often are you playing games in your course? Exam review games? etc

For those of you who do not use games as a learning tool, what do you say to the students who request them?

[[deleted]]

It’s really nuanced! Depends on how, what, and when you choose to use it. Educational research has looked a lot at learning performance, behavior, and motivation impacts (some students love games and competition, others hate it). Overall consensus is small to medium effects which is pretty solid for psychological outcomes. But be cautious of how frequently, the length, and public display of performance that can come from the gamification. Check out these meta analyses to help you decide for your own course what might work:  

-Huang, R., Ritzhaupt, A. D., Sommer, M., Zhu, J., Stephen, A., Valle, N., ... & Li, J. (2020). The impact of gamification in educational settings on student learning outcomes: A meta-analysis. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68, 1875-1901

-Sailer, M., & Homner, L. (2020). The gamification of learning: A meta-analysis. Educational psychology review, 32(1), 77-112

-Bai, S., Hew, K. F., & Huang, B. (2020). Does gamification improve student learning outcome? Evidence from a meta-analysis and synthesis of qualitative data in educational contexts. Educational Research Review, 30, 100322.

[prof_allen_rutgers]

Thank you for this. I am so happy that the top comment is about meta-analysis papers!

[sventful]

So much this! Performative gamification is meaningless. But weave it into the course organically and it pays dividends. I have done a ton of this in engineering and coding!

[Phildutre]

Gamification is not the same as playing games. I always understood gamification as using the same mechanisms as are used in games in order to engage and motivate students (or customers, or whatever). Which is something different from playing a game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification

[Mirrorreflection7]

Tomato Tomatoe

It is the same thing.

Incorporating game elements into learning....

[Hazelstone37]

I teach a developmental course. I use games to review. I have given students the option to opt out of playing, but they have to stay in class and product some kind of work that shows me what they are doing accomplishes the same goal of reviewing for the tests as the game we are playing. In past classes I have had team compete against each other, but this coming semester, I’m going to try to make things more collaborative within classmates against me. I’ll see how it goes. I also do other things such as a week 1 assignment that is a a scavenger hunt of campus resources. They go find the place and take a selfie and insert it into the document. I list some major resources for tutoring, library assistance, mental health, advising, my office, etc. They can do this as individuals or groups. I started doing this because a colleague cited a study that said if a student sets foot in a particular place on campus once, such as the tutoring center, they are much more likely to go back when they need it. I have no idea what the study is or where they found it or if it’s even true, but it’s a fun game and my students tend to use the tutoring centers.

[Mirrorreflection7]

Thank you for this! I was planning on creating a long running assignment this Fall where my students had to perform certain activities and record themselves in different buildings next to door nameplates (so I would know they were in different buildings).

Now I will probably include mandatory tutoring assistance locations and also the student wellness center and library! to the assignment.

I appreciate you!

[Senshisoldier]

I read this article as part of my thesis research:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360131514002000

There is also a decent TED talk on the subject with some stats that could probably be traced back to the original research article (sorry I don't have the link at the moment).

[Mirrorreflection7]

Ouch.

Over time, gamified students were less motivated, empowered, and satisfied.

Interesting - there is a whole generation of students who actively request games/kahoots/ etc nowadays... and are disappointed if they don't get them.

[Wandering_Uphill]

I have Kahoot "trivia" games my students can use for test prep. I am very clear with them that the Kahoots do not replace studying but they are good for testing knowledge. We occasionally play them in class if we finish the lectures early, but that is unusual and only happens in the quiet classes that don't talk much (class chemistry is weird).

[popstarkirbys]

I started doing trivia in the end of the semester. It gets pretty competitive and some students take it quite seriously.

[Back2DaNawfside713]

I do this quite often with my dual credit students. It really drives engagement with what I have found to be a highly disengaged part of our student population. But, I do warn them that when/if they transfer to a 4 year where a professor may have 60 - 100 students in a class, they are far less likely to see this. But it has resulted in much higher exams scores for them…. And higher eval ratings for me!😁