How Can I Gamify Education in Learnline?
Games can’t replace good pedagogy, but can be used to enhance the overall learning experience,
increase motivation and engagement.
From de Byl, P. and Hooper, J. (2013). Key Attributes of Engagement in a Gamified Learning
Environment. 30th Ascilite Conference, Sydney. (PP 221-230)
http://www.ascilite.org/conferences/sydney13/program/papers/de%20Byl.pdf
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1. Rewards/ achievements
Use adaptive release to move a through gamified activity and release rewards/achievements.
Can use assessments, discussion boards, “mark as completed”, wikis and lots of other tools.
Create a content area called Achievements or Rewards or whatever you like. Create
your rewards or prizes as individual content items.
Photo: Flickr Pink Sherbet
Photography by D Sharon Pruitt
http://bit.ly/1FCuNYb
Photo: Flickr slgckgc
@ http://bit.ly/1cYE9n4
Use creative commons images (don’t forget to attribute any images that are not
your own, and include the licence so they can be ‘re-shared’) or use your own
drawings, photos or whatever to depict the content. Maybe it is a Caramello
koala… and you start with one, and end up with a whole bag, maybe it is letters
of the alphabet that, when you have them collected them all, create a secret
word that unlocks access to something that your students would value....maybe
special exam tips, or a 30 minute question session one-on-one with the lecturer,
or the receiving of a certificate you create that they could use in their CV or
portfolio….or whatever it is that would motivate and engage your students. As
students reach certain levels, maybe they become eligible for a 1 – 2% additional
grade or a days’ extension on an assessment item of their choice, just think about
what would work best with your students, or give them a choice of rewards.
Photo: Flickr Peter Leth @ http://bit.ly/1FWsAtN
Photo: Flicker Matthew Hurst @ http://bit.ly/1dwpXTd
If you think a visual Leaderboard would motivate your students…..if you have
items that are graded, simply download the grade book, copy the grade
column/s related to your activities and put them in an Excel Spreadsheet or
something similar and ask it to rank from Highest to Lowest, label it
‘Leaderboard’ and then you could post it in your Announcements each week, or
at specific times to increase motivation and engagement.
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2. Gamify grading
By implementing an “experience points” (XP) system, students’ grades are determined by the
number of points they have accumulated at the end of the course, in other words, by how much
they have accomplished. Students progress towards levels of mastery. Using experience points
allows educators to align levels with skills and highlight the inherent value of education.
Using a point or scoring system to gamify your unit
It would have to be made clear to the students up front about how the unit was going to be
‘assessed’ overall (they need to know the rules). In this particular example, students have to earn or
gain a minimum of 500 Experience Points (XP) by completing certain quests – activities/tasks.
However, they can choose how they want to earn them. Mini/Boss Challenges are the larger, more
highly weighted tasks.
Required
XP
500
350
200
100
0
Required
XP to
progress
XP
Total
XP
Mini Quest
50
Mini Boss Challenge
50
Mini Quest
50
Mini Quest
50
Mini Quest
75
Mini Boss Challenge
75
Mini Quest
50
Mini Quest
50
Mini Quest
100
Mini Boss Challenge
75
Mini Quest
75
Mini Quest
75
Mini Quest
100
Mini Boss Challenge
100
Mini Quest
100
Mini Quest
100
Mini Quest
Mini Quest
Mini Quest
Mini Quest
50
50
75
100
Quest Weighting %
100XP
200XP
350XP (Mini Boss Challenge)
500XP
Boss Challenge
501-750XP (Optional)
751 - 1000XP (Optional)
10%
10%
20%
10%
40%
5%
5%
Total
XP
Cumulative Quest Weighting %
10%
20%
40%
50%
90%
95%
100%
This way, you can still get an HD (85% - 100%) even without completing Optional XP.
Note that the way any student gains the 500 XP could be any combination of 50,75 or 100 XP quests,
but it will include at least one mini-boss challenge in which a student could be potentially required to
attain a certain percentage (see note below…maybe 85%) (after any number of attempts) to gain the
XP allocated to that quest/mini-boss challenge.
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So, you all start with a score or XP of 0.
To earn your first 100 XP and get started on your mission you will need complete either 2 x 50 XP
quests, or a 50 + 75 XP quest or a 1 x 100 XP quest. All quests that you are then eligible to choose
from will be opened for you. You can maximise your XP and ultimately your score and grade by both
completing additional quests and/or, completing those for which you earn higher XP (these will be
more challenging). Then you can choose any quests in the chain that you have earned sufficient XP
to unlock.
The Mini Boss Challenge is a Quiz or Test that will show you how you are progressing with your
learning quest. You are able to attempt each of these Mini Boss Challenges more than once. (Note:
Potentially you could say that a result of 85% or over for any one of these Mini Boss Challenges will
gain the XP allocated to that quest). So, the way the grid is set up, attempting one of these is a
‘compulsory’ mini-challenge.
So the idea is that they start with an Icebreaker type mini -quest to get them going, and then they
can choose from quests of their interest surrounding the topic being taught. The degree of difficulty
and/or time requirement should be reflected in the amount of XP earned on completion. Students
can choose to do all four quests at any level to both increase their XP and the depth of knowledge
about particular aspects of the course. In this way, students pick what quests they want to complete
based on their skill, knowledge, interest and time. The Boss Challenge is the final exam or
assessment.
Using a combination of good pedagogy, existing Blackboard tools and adaptive release, gamifying
your unit is easy, regardless of whether you choose to use a gamified point or scoring system.
Regardless of the scoring system you use, you still might want to create a ‘Leaderboard’.
Using Blackboard Rubrics to support and make grading transparent in a gamified system would be a
terrific idea for supporting feedback and learning.
3. Gamify the content – create interesting missions/quests/mysteries
Students are given a sense of agency—in games, they control the choices they make, and the more
agency students have, the better students do.
4. Stir up a little competition
Gamifying activities into a competition can boost energy levels of a class eg, “gamifying” the review
of readings
Other ideas:
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5. Implement a class-wide/groups rewards system
Encourage camaraderie among students by setting up a rewards system where students achieve
something as a team or group. That way, students are working to master the material together
instead of competing, and the highest-achieving students will help those around them.
6. Gamify study to encourage informal learning
Ultimately, educators hope that games translate learning into informal environments. There simply
aren’t enough hours in the day for an educator. Games allow the curiosity—and the learning—to
continue after formal classes. How about a treasure hunt? Quests?
Blackboard Tools for Quests
Depending on your students, quests could utilise the following BlackBoard Tools and have rubrics
developed that award marks/grades or Experience Points (XP). For example:
Journal: Student contributions/reflections to a personal diary only seen by lecturer
Discussion Board: Organised collaborative Forums
Blogs: Shared online diaries – could be related to groups within units/courses, or whole student
cohort
Wikis: Collaborative spaces where students can view, contribute and edit – groups or whole cohort
Tasks: Could be assigned to a group or individuals
Groups: Could be used
Types of Quests
These depend on the nature of the course/unit, materials, requirements, level of unit/course and
the experience of the lecturer in Blackboard, online facilitation and with technologies.
The quests could be made up of things like:
Smaller number of marks/50 XP :
 Start your journal and write a minimum of X number of words about X
 Create at least two entries in your journal this week….and additional parameters could be
included to make it more engaging
 Contribute to a forum on the Discussion board – again, could be more prescriptive about
what you actually want students to do….
 Reply to so many other students contributions to a forum (or more than one forum)….etc
 Contribute to a blog, or your group’s blog – again, could add parameters
 Contribute to the wiki – again, additional parameters could be added – number, time, about
what, include different media
 Edit other students’ contribution to the wiki – again, add parameters
 Create webquests, or get students individually or in groups to create these and get others to
comment on these
 Complete a specific task, or a specific number of tasks assigned…either to a group or
individual
 Quiz, test or survey – either used for marks/XP but not graded, or self-assessed only
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Use Mashups and encourage students to as well – You Tube, Flickr, Slide Share, others
Use technology/applications where you are confident , or perhaps your students are
confident – give the students choice in the media they use to contribute or be assessed–
VoiceThread, Infographics, Voki, FlipBoard, any sort of movie making, screen casting app,
Poll Everywhere, Prezi, Padlet, Tricider…list goes on and on…
Post a ‘Muddiest Point’ (what students have least understood this week) quest in the blog or
as a forum in the discussion board and get students to respond….( for more points, students
could contribute to the ‘answer’)
Use a wiki page to do a ‘Plus/minus/interesting’ - use three columns and get students to
write down the respective points about a particular topic or experience – in groups, or as a
whole – evaluate a text, issue, debate
Do a ‘Think-pair-share’ – students think individually about their response to a question, then
share with another student - maybe from their group and then open their thoughts up to
the wider group – justify decisions and then post to the whole cohort – could be done faceto-face or online
Use the tools to do some brainstorming
Medium number of marks/75 XP:
 Similar to above but increase the number, increase the depth required, ask to include
specific things – like contributing to new knowledge, interesting websites, journal articles,
news items, video clips, - students to watch and comment on media, critically reflect on their
own thoughts and those of others, web searches and create a FlipBoard, post to a
Padlet….or just use the wiki etc etc..
 Give additional XP when they choose to use different technologies to showcase and share
work, assist others, work well in groups…etc….etc
Highest number of marks/100 XP:
 Similar to above but increase the number, increase the depth required, increase the
complexity of the task, or the holistic nature of the task.
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Rubric Examples
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