Level Up Learning: Let’s Gamify Your Classroom

Purpose & objective

Purpose: Gamifying a classroom can provide a motivating learning environment, but it is not an easy thing to do. Many educators want to introduce structural gamification into their classrooms but don’t know where to begin. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the attendees to the basics and then start them on the road to gamifying their classroom.

I will provide background and examples of gamification in the classroom. Teachers will share their gamification experiences through videos or Zoom. I developed the Classroom Gamification Template to provide educators with a series of steps and considerations when gamifying their classrooms. During this "Participate and Share" forum, I will introduce the educators to using the Template to organize their ideas about gamifying and provide directions for making it happen.

The attendees will not be able to complete the whole Gamification template, but they will have an opportunity to work with others to begin the process. I will recommend that they find a “Gamification Buddy” at ISTE for support as they develop their classes.

Objectives: At the end of this session, Attendees will be able to:
1. Discuss the meaning of Gamification and how it can apply to learning
2. Explain the difference between Game-Based Learning and Structural Gamification
3. Identify the basic elements of Structural Gamification.
4. Share what they learned through various case studies presented in the session.
5. Begin planning a Gamification structure for their classrooms.

Outline

The times in this outline are based upon the Participate and Share (Forum) format with 150 min. If it is changed to a shorter format, the sections will be pared down appropriately.

Introduction (10 min)
Provide the basics of Gamification
Distinguish the different types of Gamification. (Game-Based Learning vs Structural Gamification)
Overview of the process of organizing your class for gamification

Examples (10 min)
Provide examples of successfully gamified classrooms
Use these examples to model the various parts of a gamified classroom
Clips of teachers and students sharing their experiences (Clips of teachers and students will be included throughout the whole forum at appropriate times.)

Using our Structural Gamification Template for Gamifying your classroom
Review the template (10 min.)
" I plan to introduce the template after seeing the examples and before we explore each of the structural parts. This will give them an opportunity to begin filling out the various sections as we move along. They will not be able to complete this the first time through, but it will make it more interactive so they will already have visited the various sections when they begin working on it on their own at the end."

Explore the Structure of a Structurally Gamified Classroom. (Total: 75 min.)
"I will introduce each of the parts. Will connect each part with the examples that were already introduced. Specific examples will be used for each part to help guide them along the way. The times that are given for each section include work time to begin working on that section.”
Identifying a theme or narrative (10 min.)
Building teams and teamwork within the class. (10 min.)
Identifying levels and the processes needed to achieve them (10 min.)
Developing a relevant XP or Rewards system for achievement (15 min.)
Organizing a badging system to recognize accomplishment. (15 min.)
Creating and maintaining a leaderboard (15 min.)

Hands-on Activities. (30 min.)
The attendees will each partner up with at least one person and they continue completing the template and providing each other feedback.
This will not be just a lengthy amount of work time. I will work with others who will interact with the attendees and we will share people’s progress along the way.

Conclusion (15 min.)
We will finish sharing some examples of what the educators accomplished.
I will provide an open Google Doc where they have the opportunity to post a link to their Gamification Plans if they want to share.

Supporting research

Christensen, K. P. (2021, October). Gamification elements in the classroom: A review. In SITE Interactive Conference (pp. 216-222). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

Dehghanzadeh, H., Farrokhnia, M., Dehghanzadeh, H., Taghipour, K., & Noroozi, O. (2023). Using gamification to support learning in K‐12 education: A systematic literature review. British Journal of Educational Technology.

Gachkova, M., Somova, E., & Gaftandzhieva, S. (2020, June). Gamification of courses in the e-learning environment. In IOP conference series: Materials science and engineering (Vol. 878, No. 1, p. 012035). IOP Publishing.

Hanus, M. D., & Cruz, C. (2018). Leveling up the classroom: A theoretical approach to education gamification. In Gamification in education: Breakthroughs in research and practice (pp. 583-610). IGI Global.

O'Brien, N. (2021). New Trend or a Reimagining of the Familiar? The Use of Gamification Strategies in K-12 Education (Doctoral dissertation, Howard University).