Structural Gamification

Karl Kapp (2015) states that "structural gamification is the application of game elements to propel a learner through content, with no alterations or changes to the content". This means that structural gamification is formed around pre existing content in order to help motivate an engage learners within both within the class room and outside the class room.

Common game elements linked with this form of gamification are points, scoring, levels, badges, and accolades. These can be seen all over everyday life and most of which, will be overlooked as they have been carefully applied in an intelligent and meaningful way. A good example of this would be store club card points. These points are usually accumulated by purchasing items in store or online with points directly linked to the amount spent. You are then rewarded with money off or other incentives when you reach certain goals. These types of elements should be used to unlock or gain additional things and not a requirement, else the learner feels punished for not knowing the answer and it will inevitably lead to loss of interest and engagement.

Some of these elements can be applied outside of the classroom to homework or other activities. An example given again by Karl Kapp is to have an app on the learners smart device or computer which offers a question a day. If the learner gets the question right they earn points which are posted to an online leader board that the students can keep track of. If the learner gets the question wrong however, they would be immediately presented with a short instructional piece or slide on the topic. This activity need only take 30 to 60 seconds each day, can be performed as part of a lesson or outside of class, and can be used to see where problem areas occur in the form of compiled feedback from the apps.

As easy as structural gamification may seem to add on to materials points badges and leader board's (PBL's), when applied liberally with no thought or intelligence it will quickly become boring and ultimately short lived. Doing five 30 second quiz's every day would rapidly become a chore as would earning points for every little thing you do. Learners points and scores require meaning. A learner should be proud of their points and wish to share them with friends both in and out of school, this is perhaps the hardest mentality's to nurture and therefore great attention should be given when applying such theories into practice. Learners should be encouraged via these PBL's to engage with internal learning while being externally incentivised to increase motivation.



References

Kapp, K. and Learning, G. of (2014) Gamification of learning. Available at: http://www.lynda.com/Higher-Education-tutorials/Gamification-Learning/173211-2.html (Accessed: 9 December 2015).

Kapp, K. M. (2012) The Gamification of learning and instruction: Game-based methods and strategies for training and education. 1st edn. San Francisco, CA: Wiley, John & Sons.