Gamification in the classroom, sadly for some students, doesn't mean a few games of Call of Duty and calling it a day.
Gamification takes many faces. Essentially, it's taking elements of gameplay like rules, competition, and point scoring and applying them to seemingly unrelated avenues. Your Starbucks Rewards card is gamification. Your Chipotle Rewards section of your app is gamification.
We could keep going, but you get the picture. And you can probably tell why it works so well for engagement. That dopamine hit you get when you spend $100 (we're guessing) or more on a Starbucks and get your 150 stars for a free Frappe Mocha Choca (whatever they're called) is enough to make you feel like the money you've spent is worth it.
There's more we could say about how businesses have mastered the concept of gamification. Instead, let's bring it back to the classroom.
Read on to learn more about the concept and benefits of gamification and how to implement it in the classroom.
What is Gamification in the Classroom?
We'll keep this section short and sweet—we've already touched on the concept in the introduction.
Gamification isn't about throwing out your curriculum; it's about enhancing it. In the classroom, gamification is about transforming the learning environment, moving away from the standard and now almost prehistoric death by PowerPoint style of learning, and making it fun again. It doesn't matter what age, kindergarten or college student, education has to be an enhanced, mentally stimulating experience.
It can be done through simulations, point-scoring systems, quizzes, leaderboard prizes, etc. Obviously, tailor it to your audience. We could have suggested handing out badges, but we're not sure that university and college students would appreciate that.
Using gamification—whether they're engaged in a business simulation or using Kahoot for an interactive quiz—stimulates the mind in ways simply relaying information from a PowerPoint can't and, more often than not, links it to real-world scenarios.
A business simulation, for example, mirrors the competitive landscape to the last detail—how can you do that without gamifying the learning experience? Send them out into in-person work experience, which creates anxiety and stress and, most of the time, leaves them sitting around all day or making coffee.
How to Implement Gamification in the Classroom
Introducing gamification into the classroom isn't difficult. We have three examples of gamification in the classroom that we think work well.
Simulations and Real-World Scenarios
Simulations and real-world scenarios are one of the best examples of how to use gamification in the classroom. Some subjects are more suited to a practical, more hands-on approach. In fact, we'd argue that all subjects are suitable for a real-world, hands-on approach—what are they studying for if it isn't to apply it to the real world? One of the most tangible is business simulations, allowing students to see how their actions would reflect against the actual market conditions to changing market forces. Their "success" in the simulation (profit, customer satisfaction, etc.) prepares them for real-life scenarios.
Point Systems and Rewards
A simple point-based reward system can work well. You can assign points for discussion participation, completed assignments, or high quiz scores. But we're talking about higher education students here—make the points worth it. Bring some chocolate in (or any food), a new notebook, or anything that's a minimal expense but feels worth it.
Interactive Tools
Platforms like Kahoot, Quizlet, and Poll Everywhere are some of the best interactive tools. Active participation in quizzes is an excellent way of keeping students engaged throughout a lecture. These platforms are engaging, provide instant feedback, and create a fun learning experience that breaks up a standard lecture flow. It's perfect for those lecturers when you have no choice but to show students a PowerPoint but don't want them falling asleep after the first slide.
Collaborative Challenges and Group Competitions
One benefit we'll give you (in the next section) of gamification is that it creates a collaborative environment. You can divide your students into teams and create collaborative projects or case studies for them to work together to complete—making their progress a competition gamification.
The Benefits of Gamification in the Classroom
There are so many benefits of gamification in the classroom. Let’s put the benefits into easier-to-digest bullet points before we go into the statistics and numbers:
- Better engagement
- Better student retention rates (32.9% of college students drop out every year).
- Brings the real world into learning
- Creates collaboration
- Enhances and improves the learning experience
- Makes learning fun again
In the US, almost half of high school students experience classroom boredom. That statistic continues into higher education, where another study found 40 to 59% of students experience boredom, depending on the lecturer and the subject. Every professor or higher education professional has looked around the lecture hall to see this in action. Disengaged students on their phones, staring into space, or, more ego-damaging, falling asleep.
Those statistics right there show you the benefits of gamification. Something had to change, and we think gamification is the answer. It's a way to fuel that inner desire to learn using a method that doesn't even feel like learning.
And don't just listen to us; we have more statistics and studies for you. A study published by the National Library of Medicine unanimously found gamification can effectively improve the learning attitude of undergraduate students (the study was specific to medical sciences). Another study found that 68% of students felt more motivated and engaged when using gamified learning.
We could keep giving you case studies and survey reports that highlight the benefits of gamification in learning. Read them for yourself here.
In case you feel like we haven't summarized it well, we'll finish by simply saying gamification is the future of higher education learning and engagement. It's so essential to find new ways of creating and enhancing engagement with students. And considering that college and university students have gone through an entire lifetime of learning, not all of them (naturally) will feel inspired by the classroom!
For most, learning is a means to an end rather than a passion, and we think gamification can change that.
