Gamification in Education and the Workplace

Gamification in education has been a hot topic among educators and employers for over 4 years. The term gamification was coined by Nick Pelling, a computer programmer and inventor in 2002, but the term did not become popular until 2010. The concept of gamification is to take a series of tasks or skills and put them into a game to make completing the tasks more enjoyable. Marketing companies have been employing this concept for many years. You can find gamification in earning frequent flyer miles, earning cash back through your credit, and winning gold or silver coins at the register (slot machine) at Big Y.


The inforgraphic I created using Infogr.am.com, highlights the enormity of the gaming industry today among kids and adults. In the US alone there are over 183,000,000 gamers, playing an average of 13 hours a week! It's no wonder that educators around the world are beginning to gamify their classrooms. 



Much research, many articles, and intense debates have occurred over the past several years over the validity, value and use of gamification in schools. But with such a large population of adults and students gaming, (91%) it is time for schools to move into the new (now a decade old) millennium. One researcher offers his perception of gamification of society:

Gamification, as the name implies, evolved out of the world of video games, where they have mastered the art of data-driven motivation. Think about it – from the days of Pong in the 70s to Call of Duty and World of Warcraft now, video game designers have lived in a world rich with data on user activity – they know every move you make, and every breath you take. And over the last 40 years they’ve honed and refined the techniques for using that data to motivate better performance in their games.  RAJAT PAHARIA  2013

Education today is decades behind, and is not teaching our students to be creative, critical thinkers and problem solvers. Gamifying curriculum would enable teachers to:

• Meet every student where they are developmentally and allow them to work and progress at their own pace.
• Provide instruction based on student's interests.
• Provide opportunities for autonomy and responsibility for own learning.
• Provide immediate positive feedback for encouragement.
• Increase challenge level as student masters skill level.
• Allow for failure without cost of grade or embarrassment, thereby encouraging/developing persistence.

In their paper “Gamification in Education: What, How, Why Bother?”   Joey J. Lee, Ph.D and Jessica Hammer state gamification can be applied to three different learning areas:

• Cognitive Benefits: Cognitive’ benefits include the development of problem-solving skills. This is perhaps the most obvious of the benefits, but the next two may be of equal, perhaps greater importance.
• Emotional Benefits: Gamification can be a powerful tool in addressing the child’s ‘emotional’ needs. Games have the unusual ability to turn positive emotional experiences into positive ones. Simply put, in order to achieve success in games, failure must be experienced several times first.
• Social Benefits: The ‘social’ benefits of gamification may not be immediately apparent, since gaming has a rather unfair image of being an antisocial activity as games are often played alone.  Joey J. Lee, Ph.D and Jessica Hammer, 2011  http://knowledgeempowered.com/gamification-of-education/

The infographic I created goes on to show how corporations are using gamificattion to motivate their employees. Gamification is big business in the corporate world with more than 30% of employers adopting health-focused gamified strategies for their employees, and offers suggestions on how to gamify a classroom.

There are many sides to the gamification argument, however, being the parent of a digital native who thrives at home, gaming on-line, creating worlds, architectural designs, and graphic art; who is sought out by his peers for his knowledge of technology, has a YouTube account he creates for with a professional partnership; who has built his own computer and helped his friends build their own as well, yet is an average, often frustrated and disconnected student... I am a proponent for gamifying education. I know my son would have an entirely different educational experience if he were allowed autonomy, and the ability to drive his own learning based on his many, varied interests from art and architecture to music (performing and production), writing fiction, horticulture, astronomy, video game design, cooking, wood working, and electronics. Much of this could be achieved online, with guidance form a teacher, some through gamification, and some with funding for courses that have been cut from most school budgets.

If you haven't decided where you stand here are several excellent articles:

• 3 WAYS TO USE GAMIFICATION AND BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES
• This is not a game: Why gamification is becoming a multi-billion dollar way to motivate people
• Dice 2011 Hot Topic: Gameplay vs. Gamification
• Can Digital Natives Level-Up in a Gamified Curriculum?
• Hiding the Broccoli: Why Gamification Can't Replace Game Based Learning

Here is the link to my infographic: Gamification in Education and the Workplace