Adding Gamification Elements

When considering which elements to use in gamification it is important to keep in mind what you are aiming to achieve. Different game elements have different outcomes such as increasing focus, perspective, difficulty, and cooperation. Below I have taken a list of elements that can be picked from when gamifying a lesson plan.

“Here are some elements of gamification that drive learner motivation and engagement. Determine which one or combination of the elements makes the most sense for your gamification effort” (Kapp, 2014)

Element	Description	Considerations
Goals, Rules, and Objectives	Goals adds purpose, focus, and measurable outcomes. A goal also helps learners to measure their achievements and progress Rules are a necessary part of any gamified situation. Rules help ensure that goals are obtained fairly using the proper parameters as defined by you. Objectives differ from goals. Goals can be abstract and pertain to any number of elements. Objectives on the other hand are what the learner aims to achieve as a result of the lesson	Ensure Goals are clear and concise. Everybody taking part should know what they are aiming for.       Rules should be clear and as simple as possible. This stops anybody becoming confused which will lose focus.            Remember Goals and Objectives do not need to be the same.
Conflict, Cooperation, and Competition	Conflict is a meaningful challenge provided by either an opponent or the gamification experience itself. A player must actively defeat the player or the game. Cooperation is working together with others to achieve their mutual goal or objective. This is the social aspect of gamification. Competition occurs when the opponents are unable to impede each other’s progress and instead focus their effort on optimising their own performance.	Competition and cooperation are the most effective from an instructional perspective.            When deciding on the number of learners competing against each other, keep the numbers relatively small            Consider fostering cooperation among players.            Team competitions can be more motivating then for competing individuals
Feedback	Conformational Feedback is designed to indicate the degree of “rightness” or “wrongness” of a response, action, or activity. Corrective Feedback guides the learner towards the correct instructional outcome. Explanatory Feedback is corrective but with the addition of the correct answer. This can also include relevant information backing up the correct answer. Diagnostic Feedback attempts to diagnose why the incorrect response was chosen. This is used to attempt to correct common misconceptions or ideas. Natural Feedback is when the learner receives feedback in the form of text or an explanation that would be in the natural world. Artificial Feedback is the opposite of natural feedback and provides a response that would not be found in the natural world.	Chose the feedback carefully by deciding how much feedback is required.            Determine if a combination of one or more types of feedback are required.            Often it is a good idea to include a mix of feedback.            Choose a combination of natural and artificial feedback.
Rewards and Achievements	Measurement Achievements are given to the learner for completing a task certain level or checkpoint. Completion Achievements are awarded for completing a task or activity. This is not used for measuring the quality of the completion.	Use measurement achievements instead of completion achievements to increase intrinsic motivation through feedback.            Don’t provide too many rewards as it can actually demotivate the learner in terms of exploring the leaning environment.
Points, Badges, and Leaderboards	Points help a player identify how far they have progressed through the gamified experience. They can literally be points or can have another abstract value attached to them such as coins, money or objects. They are a visible sign of success or progress. Badges are awarded for non-linear accomplishments. This can be a scoring streak or it can be for collecting items that are not essential to winning. These can also be rewards for learning certain non-essential information to encourage intrinsic leaning. Leaderboards display who has earned the most points or awards in the gamified environment. This can help engage students who focus on mastery and competition.	Allow Leaderboards to be personalised by the learners.            Keep the point system simple.            Use points as currency to give learners more autonomy over how they are rewarded for their efforts.            Making earned achievements visible to other learners is a powerful incentive.            Badges are good for showing non-linear progress through content.
Levels	Basic is the first level of the gamification experience. It guides the learner and sometimes teachers the learner. Intermediate level is designer to be not too hard and not too easy. The level where most learners will participate in the experience. Hard is the most difficult. With no help or guidance the learner must know what they are doing.	Create beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.            Allow the learner to choose a level to enter the game.            Start the gamification effort with a tutorial level.
Storytelling	Storytelling provides context for the learning and should include characters, plot, tension, and resolution	Make the characters in the story similar to the learner.            Create a clear beginning, middle, and end of the story.            Provide enough detail to allow the learner to become immersed.            Instructional stories used for learning should end happily and on a positive note.
Failure and Replayability	Failure provides the learning with the freedom to explore the learning environment and the motivation to experiment with different or unusual things without the fear of dire consequences. Replayability adds the chance to try something again from another angle or difficulty level. It helps the learner to reconsider their approach to mastering the content or winning.	Let the learners know at the beginning of the session that they will receive multiple chances for success.            Don’t make failure permanent and make this fact clear to learners.            Provide multiple paths to success.
Scoring	Scoring allows learners to judge their progress and how much effort they want to put into a particular activity.	Make scoring and winning transparent.            Use scoring to drive behaviour.            Consider more than one dimension for scoring.            Try the score to learning improvements, not just the game activities.

Using this information we can quickly choose which elements are most suited to our leaning outcomes and objectives laid out in the previous mapping stage. Below is the planning items again, this time stripped back to just the tasks. With each task/objective I will add in the game elements I wish to include. Note that some of the elements on the previous map are already present either prior to mapping, or added as suggestions by myself during the mapping process.

Each lesson should also be encompassed with a structure which includes a lesson leaderboard. This leaderboard should have individual learner’s names as moveable plaques which can be placed in descending point order on the leaderboard. Learners should be allowed to customise their own name plaque. This leaderboard should be used on a lesson by lesson basis with the score wiped clean each lesson.

Alternatively this score can be carried over for an entire term or even the year, however this style of structural gamification will be covered at a later date.

Opposing Forces

Demonstrate Newton’s theories by dropping an apple and discuss gravity with the class.	Explanatory Feedback (Natural) Points for correct facts Story (of the apple falling on his head).
Draw an object on a table and show what forces are applied to that object.	Goal (to draw an accurate/correct diagram of forces) Cooperation (have small teams complete the task) Corrective/Diagnostic Feedback Completion Achievement Difficulty Levels (basic = on a table, intermediate = on other surfaces such as jelly, advanced = on a hill or ramp) Points (for each correct force arrow) Badges (for identifying additional information such as extra forces being applied to the object) Replayability (give groups a chance to have another go with a different difficulty level)
Show students how the ground is strong enough to counter gravity and how a weaker surface can break due to gravity.	Explanatory Feedback (Natural) Points for correct facts or answers to questions posed (what would happen if I stood in quick sand and why etc.)

Friction

Objectives	Elements
Discus the results of the car experiment	Explanatory Feedback (Natural) Points for correct facts or answers to questions posed.
Discuss and compare different surface types to test a sports shoe grip on. (Combined with) Test students shoes with the newton meter	Objective to find the tread with the most friction Rules students must (after discussion) individually or as groups choose which tread will have the most resistance. Students can only make one choice and cannot change it once it is on the board. Competition is created between students as each shoe is tested. Explanatory or Diagnostic Feedback to help explain why one shoe is better than another and if required, diagnose why some students may have predicted wrong. Points for correct answers. Consider a podium system with 3 points for the winners, 2 for the 2nd, and 1 for the 3rd shoe with the most friction. Replayability if student would like to take another selection of shoes and try again.

Air Resistance

Objectives

Elements

Experiment with paper-clips and spinners to show how shape, size, and weight distribution can change the effects of wind resistance

Goal to keep the spinner in the air the longest (longest time from release to it touching the ground) Rules all spinners will be released at the same height, they cannot exceed one A4 piece of paper, Must only use paper clips as extra weight. No throwing of spinners. Competition as students cannot affect each other’s outcomes and thus can only improve their own mastery of their design. Cooperation can be used if groups are used rather than individuals. Explanatory Feedback to justify why some spinners succeed and others fail. Points earned by the winning students or teams for their leaderboard. Replayability is created by letting students have test flights of their spinners while creating them. Scoring is done via times. The highest score wins.

Water Resistance

Objectives	Elements
Demonstrate how different liquids have different properties on small objects such as pennies (Combined with) Drop two balls from the same height on to the table. One through air and the other through water (via tank) to show the effects of up thrust	Objective is to show learners that different liquids have different up thrust and therefore oppose gravity to different degrees. Competition students will predict which liquids will have a greater resistance to gravity (cause the penny to drop slowest) Explanatory Feedback NO POINTS as this would undermine the value of point acquisition. Story/Narrative could be of benefit here however this will be covered off at a later date.
Design I boat that both floats, and moves the fastest/farthest when pushed through the water.	Goal to create a boat that both floats indefinitely and is able to cross the greatest distance with a single push start. Rules are important here as there are a lot of variables. Firstly the push should be done by the teacher to keep it as close to fair as possible, this is not a contest of strength. The boat must be made from a pre-selected assortment of materials (wood, plasticine, tin foil etc.) Cooperation by having teams work on the task together. Competition again through only having control of their own mastery of the task as opposed to conflict. Diagnostic Feedback is required here to explain and diagnose why some boats fail where other succeed. Completion Achievements for any team that complete the task. Badges for any student that manages to beat a pre-determined distance (it should be an exceptional distance bench marked prior to the lessons start. Points and Leaderboards again for the students who come in first, second, and last. Failure is easily worked in here as it allows for students who “sink” their boats to try again at the end. This can also be worked in as a round system with points awarded for each round with the ultimate winner being determined at the end by the score. This works in Score and Replayability.

Taking all of these elements forward I will new begin on refining these elements and where necessary adding a narrative into the gamified experience. This will serve to increase engagement. I will then take everything I have a reform it into an executable lesson plan.

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: 22 March 2016).