This document discusses using gamification to increase student engagement and performance in post-secondary classrooms. It notes that today's students have grown up with technology and are avid video game players. While video games could engage students, they may be too time-consuming for classroom use. The document then introduces gamification as a way to incorporate elements of games, like points, leaderboards, and badges, into educational activities to motivate students in a more time-efficient manner. Examples of gamification in education are provided. The conclusion suggests gamification as a way for the professor to engage students without using full video games in the classroom.

1. Gamification
Impact on student engagement and performance in post-secondary students

2. Today's classrooms are filled
with pedagogy that is "stale,
bland, and almost entirely stuff
from the past"
Prensky, 2005, p. 62

3. Today's Students...
So the real mystery is.... how do
we engage today's learners in
boring classrooms of the past ?

4. “They won’t put down their
smartphones!! How can
we compete with their
technology rich lives for
their attention to our
material?”

5. To learn the answer to our
question, we must first learn
more about our students…
So I knew someone on campus
would know about our
students… I sat down at my
computer to compose an email
to Gordon Ellis…

6. It didn’t take
long… and I
had new mail…

7. Percentage of Canadians Playing Video
Games
90%
59%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
6-17 18 - 34
Percentage
Percentage of Canadians Playing Video Games
Our Students are
Playing Video
Games
Entertainment Software Association of Canada, 2013

8. Time Spent Playing Video Games
 According to the 2010
Health Behaviour Survey
conducted by the World
Health Organization,
Canadian children age
10 – 16 years are
spending an average of
1 hour and 51 minutes
each day playing video
games.
Active Healthy Kids, 2014

9. Canadian Video Game Players by Sex
Male
54%
Female
46%
Male
53%
Female
47%
Economic Modeling Specialists Intl., 2014Entertainment Software Association of Canada, 2013

10. These are all
interesting facts,
but I figured I
needed some first
hand information
so I took a walk
through the
college to see
what students
were really up
to…

11. Well they say… if you can’t beat
them… join them. Can we really
use games in classrooms to
teach?

12. Games in Education
Video game and serious game research tells us that:
 Are effective in promoting learning (Annetta, Minogue, Holmes & Cheng, 2009;
Barab, Thomas, Dodge, Carteaux & Tuzun, 2005; de Frietas, 2006; Ke, 2009; Liu et
al., 2014; Moreno, 2012; Papastergiou, 2009)
 Should be motivating and provide encouragement through very short-term goals
 Should allow for failure with opportunities to try again until students succeed
(O’Donnell, Gain & Marais; 2013)

13. I knew that I couldn’t tell the professor
that the solution was for him to use
video games in the classroom… he
would never buy into that… there had
to be a way…

14. Video games in our classrooms….
They take too
long to play…
How does
World of
Warcraft relate
to my content?
I don’t have
time to find
video games
that work…
I don’t know how
to make video
games…

15. Gamification
Gamification involves incorporating elements of games into a
non-game context such as a classroom to increase user
experience and engagement.

16. Gamification
Typically, these game elements include items such as:
 Points
 Leaderboards
 Badges
Game elements can also include:
 Avatars
 3D environments
 Immediate Feedback
 Ranks
 Levels

17. Ga
http://www.yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/top-10-education-gamification-examples/#.VGEVp8klp2p
Gamification has
been used in a
variety of settings
including
healthcare,
business,
education and
productivity.

18. How will you use Gamification in your next project?
Need help, contact me for assistance.
Meaghan Lister Consulting
https://mlisterconsulting.wordpress.com/