29.3 What is Gamification?

Gamification in Education

Gaming is wildly popular across the globe, including with many of your students! Gamification, or incorporating gaming elements into your course, is about increasing student engagement and motivation. The goal is to make learning more interesting and engaging by using competition, creativity, and immediate feedback.

In short, gamification is the process of incentivizing what you want your students to complete. With gamified elements, you can transform learning from a laborious task to a rewarding quest!

Two video game controllers with glowing lights sit on a dark surface against a blue and green abstract background.

So, why are games so engaging?  Games:

  • are self-directed and the player can go at his/her own pace
  • provide instant feedback and reinforcement
  • offer opportunities for problem solving in a manner that matter to the player
  • offer incremental challenges
  • can have a variety of solutions
  • encourage trial and error and experimentation
  • allow players to learn from their mistakes in a non-threatening environment
  • offer rewards

 Choose your Path as an Instructor!

There are two different models for gamifying an online course:

  1. Gamify the Content: Adding elements of games to class activities, lessons, and/or assessments.
  2. Gamify the Course: Using game structure to create interactive experience that continue through the term.

Some questions you may want to ask yourself at the beginning of your gamification journey:

  • Where in your course are students disengaged?
  • What are some things you've done in your classroom to try to motivate and engage your students?  
  • Were these efforts successful?  Why or why not?

 Some Examples of Gamified Content

  • Game-based learning activities
  • Adapt old-school games, like Bingo, to your classroom environment
  • Interactive videos that quiz students as they progress through the material
  • Class-wide live competitions with digital game platforms, like Kahoot
  • Practice self-assessment opportunities
  • Low-stakes, auto-graded activities

 Some Examples of Gamified Courses

  • Choose your own adventure style modules
  • "Quests" as assignments or for learning - Individual, like a weekly reading log, or team-based, like a scavenger hunt
  • Encourage students to make an avatar that they use consistently
  • Instead of letter grades, offer opportunities for different kinds of "points"
  • Rename assignments to "Challenges" or "Encounters"
  • Use levels or checkpoints to show progress throughout the semester

Check out this Gamification Course Template in Canvas Commons as an example of a fully gamified course with levels, quests, and guilds!

 Some Examples of Gamification in Canvas

Canvas Badging:

As an instructor, you can award students badges if they complete specific tasks/challenges well, or to a certain degree. Badges can be awarded anytime, but they should only be earned through consistent and sustained demonstration of the skill or behavior.  See some sample badges below:

  • First Responder Badge:  awarded for students who consistently respond to peer clarification requests, either online or in class
  • Hero Badge:  awarded to students who thoughtfully spend time supporting others in their learning
  • Archivist Badge:  awarded to students who consistently site sources
  • Innovator: awarded to students who consistently generate creative solutions and/or products

Canvas Studio Quizzes:

Instructors can add time-stamped questions to their Canvas Studio videos. Whether its your lectures or Youtube videos, you can track students' engagement and performance while highlighting important topics. See an example of this quiz type below:

[INSERT CANVAS STUDIO QUIZ]