evaluating the impact of gamification in high school library media centers
TRANSCRIPT
Ariel Dagan
Research and Evaluation in Library and Information Services
Contents
Impact
Buy-in
Project Design
Evaluation Methods
Definitions
IntendedAudience
Project Sample
Previous Research
Need for New Research
Research Questions
Ethical Issues
Confidentiality
Personnel, Time, and Budget
Communications Plan
References
Definitions
Alibrary media center may also be called a library, media center, resource center, information center, instructional materials center, learning resource center, or some other name is an organized collection of printed and/or audiovisual and/or computer resources which is administered as a unit, is located in a designated place or places, and makes resources and services available to students, teachers, and administrators. (Ingels et al 2004).
Gamification is best defined as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts (Deterding et al. 2011). Gabe (Zichermann, 2011) defines it as "the process of game-thinking and game mechanics to engage users and solve problems”. It is used where the goal is to create greater engagement, fun or motivation among users of a tool or interface.
IntendedAudience
School administrators and educators may use study results for understanding what actions motivate patrons to increase their use and access of resources available to them through the school’s library media center.
Analysis of the data will help administration better understand whatfunctions performed by patrons and designed for this purpose, wereaccessed and completed by the greatest number of users.
Once data has been analyzed internally it can be shared with other school districts who may want to conduct a similar survey within their high schools. Should the data reflect a significant increase in use of library resources it would be beneficial to share the finding with American Association of School Librarians.
Project Sample
This project is seeking to obtain user feedback from staff
and students of a vocational high school with population
from the following communities in Massachusetts:
Franklin, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, North
Attleborough, Plainville, Seekonk, Sherborn, Walpole and
Wrentham who represent voc public high schools in US
Participation in the study is dependent on voluntary
participation in part 1 and 2 of RQ3. RQ1 and RQ2 cant
be implemented without user input for RQ3.
Previous Research
Many authors have referred to the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report for
higher education and mention that implementation will be evident within two to
three years (Johnson et al., 2013). One might conclude that colleges are
designing gamification because of its natural tendency for teaching and learning.
Liz Danforth (2011) describes collaboration between University of Michigan's
School of Information and George Mason University's Center for History and
New Media. Librarians created BiblioBouts (http://bibliobouts.si.umich.edu/),
where students collect database resources to enhance their information literacy
skills. .
According to Kim Bohyun, (2012) NCSU Libraries added gaming elements to
their orientation by creating a Mobile Scavenger Hunt; and the University of
Huddersfield Library in the UK designed "LemonTree”.
Need for New Research
Farkas (2014) describes how UCF Orlando provides its students badges when they
complete information literacy missions throughout their college experience. She notes
thatALAYALSA will be rewarding badges for YA librarians who master competencies.
Because: “students are expected to think critically in order to solve problems, game-like
simulations can be leveraged in any discipline to reinforce the real world applications of
concepts” (Johnson et al., p. 21).
This study aims to explore
Usage of Library Media Center and its Resources by Vocational Technical
High school community
Impact of gamification on circulation
Impact of gamification on interaction of patrons with LMC and its
resources
Research Questions
Has gamification lead to a gradual increase in circulation of library
collection?
Has gamification increased the amount of visits a patron makes to
the library media center?
Do the answers on the exit questionnaire show a significant
increase in use of library resources as compared to the numbers
recorded on the entrance questionnaire?
Need for New
Research
In their report (Braun et all, 2014) ALA leadership
presents facts that require educators to think critically
what role they might need to take with regards to the
findings in their report.
This study intends to explore if gamification, as used in
higher education, might be applied to high school
library media centers for the purpose of
change.
behavioral
Ethical Issues
User identification – Since online
use of avatars, a person might not
Confidentiality – knowing what a
accesses may violate MA General
Section 7.
gaming permits the
be identified.
user reads or
Laws Chapter 78
Free from academic/shop requirements – gamification
activities must remain a non required activity to
enable valid measures of research goals.
Confidentiality
Leaderboards will feature student ID numbers to maintain privacy of users.
In order to use this gamification element in the research at the library media center, the new social media policy will need to incorporate the elements that will permit social media sharing through gamification.
Study finding will need to address permission to release users data. It will be up to Stephen Dockray, District Superintendent to share the finding with any institution outside of his District
Impact
The findings resulting from this research will enable to
evaluate if the method users take in interacting with the
resources may help them take a different approach on how
and why they use the media center and what resources
they engage with. .
The study will evaluate, based on successful
implementation in higher education, if enabling
gamification in the high school library media center using
game elements can achieve behavioral changes outlined in
research questions RQ1 and RQ2.
Buy-in
In their book (Salen and Zimmerman, 2004) the authors explain that rewards are used to engage people and motivate them to complete target behaviors. Kim (Bohyun, 2012) mentions that everyday activities in the nongame context can turn into gaming opportunities that can in turn be rewarded with badges, points, rankings, and statuses.
Studies have shown that the awarding of virtual badges forcompletion of learning modules can have a positive impact onstudent learning and the overall student experience (Phillips &Popovic, 2012, and Shin, Sutherland, Norris, & Soloway, 2012)
Project Design
RQ3 - Project will analyze user data collected from
questionnaire that will be implemented at start and end of
research period.
RQ 1 & RQ2:
Design gamification frame that will enable exposure to
the behavior that could lead to independent action by
the users.
Analyze user data collected.
Write up report and submit to stakeholders.
a.
b.
Evaluation
Methods
Prior to the end of the current academic year students and staff
will be asked to complete an online questionnaire. The
questionnaire will feature questions that have to do with
their current use of the library media center and its
resources.
Prior to the end of the academic year or research period,
students and staff will be sent a second questionnaire. The
questionnaire provides the data needed to answer RQ3. *It is
important to note that both questionnaires will not be linked to
the gamification design. No badges, rewards or points will be
awarded for participating in this part of the research.At end of academic year data collected from gamification will help answer RQ1 and RQ2.
Personnel
Project Leader - Ariel Dagan
Library Media Center Clerk for project- TBD.
Consultants: Rick Mitchell, Jay Aguiar and DJ Johnson
gaming professors at New England Institute of
Technology
Mark Leblanc, Tri County RVTHS Director of
Technology- IT liason
Time
RQ3 (part 1) two weeks prior to end of school year.
End of - Start of school year - design, build and script the
platform.
Gamification design is not simple as many items need to be taken into
consideration. The most successful examples of gamification are those that are
mindful of their audience and focus on achieving concrete benefits from the first
moment of consideration through the implementation of the final product. The
design strategy of gamification needs to make typically boring tasks fun by
transforming labor into an action oriented and interactive game.
Start of - End of school year: gamification data collection
RQ3 (part 2) two weeks prior to end of school year.
End of - Start of school year - Data analysis and report write up.
Budget
$XX,XXX will cover:
$XX,XXX part time LMC clerk at 20 hours per week
$XX,XXX designcost.
$XX,XXX data analysis and report writeup
Communications
Plan
Dedicated webpages to host gamification plan and stats.
Written report submitted to all stakeholders upon
completion of project.
Additional communication of project outside of Tri-
County District subject to approval from District Director.
ReferencesBecker B. W. (2013) Gamification of Library Instruction, Behavioral & Social
Sciences Librarian, 32:3, 199-202
Bilandzic, M., and D. Johnson. (2013) “A Hybrid place making in the library: designing digital technology to enhance users’ on-site experience” The Australian
Library Journal, Vol. 62, No. 4, 258–271
Bohyun Kim, (2012) "Applying Game Dynamics to Library Services," ACRL TechConnect Blog, acrl.ala.org/techconnect?p=1333.
Bohyun, K. (2012): “Harnessing the Power of Game Dynamics: Why, How to, and How Not to Gamify the Library Experience.” ACRL TechConnect 465–469.
Bohyun Kim, (2012)"Why Gamify and What to Avoid in Library Gamification" ACRL Tech-Connect Blog, acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=1633. 2. American
Library
Braun, L., Hartman, M., Hughes- Hassell, S., Kumasi, K. (2014) “The Future of Library Services for and with Teens: a c Call to Action” ALA.org-
YAFORUM-Project Report
Danforth, L. (2011): “Gamification and Libraries.” Library Journal 84
Deterding, S., D. Dixon, R. Khaled, and L. Nacke. (2011). “From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining ‘Gamification’.” In Proceedings of the 15th
International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments. Tampere: ACM.
Gates B. & M. Foundation (2011), 'Gates Foundation Announces Portfolio of Innovative Grants to Develop New Teaching and Learning Tools that Support
Teachers and Help Students', http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ press-releases/Pages/common-coretools- 110427.aspx.
infolit.ucf.edu/faculty/badges
Ingels, S. J., Pratt, D. J., Rogers, J. E., Siegel, P. H., & Stutts, E. S. (2004). Education Longitudinal Study of 2002: Base Year Data File User's Manual. NCES
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ReferencesJohnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Estrada, V., Freeman
, A., & Ludgate, H. (2013). NMC Horizon Report: higher education edition.
Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium
"Lemon Tree," University of Huddersfield, https://library.hud.ac.uk/lemontree/leaderboards. php.
McGonigal J. (2011), Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World .New York: Penguin Press, 3, 311
Phillips, V., & Popovic, Z. (2012). More than Child's Play: Games Have Potential Learning and Assessment Tools. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(2), 26-
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Priebatsch S.(2010), "The Game Layer on Top of the World | Video on TED.com,"
www.ted.com/talks/seth_priebatsch_the_game_layer_on_top_of_the_world. html.
Salen, K., and E. Zimmerman. 2004. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sheldon L., (2012) The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game (Boston: Course Technology/Cengage Learning), 6 and 26.
Shin, N., Sutherland, L. M., Norris, C. A., & Soloway, E. (2012). Effects of Game Technology on Elementary Student Learning in Mathematics.
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Zichermann G. and Cunningham C., Gamification by Design: Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps. Sebastopol, CA:
O'Reilly Media, 2011, xiv.