Why (and how) Gamificationcontributes to education.

Roman Rackwitz

roman@engaginglab.comengaginglab.comromanrackwitz.de

@RomanRackwitz

/rrackwitz

"In games we are chasingour better selves." - Roman Rackwitz

From the series ofGamification & education: The horizontal approach.

G A M I F I C A T I O N &E D U C A T I O N :In games we are always chasing our better selves.The human desire to be involved & engaged in agame-like situation is what made us to succeedall the challenges that we faced sincethe beginning of human kind.

We are natural learners. But tounfold this skill we need toconsider a few conditions.

Gamers voluntarily investcountless hours in developingtheir problem-solving skillswithin the context of games.

- J A M E S P A U L G E E , 2 0 0 8

They [the gamers] recognizethe value of extended practice,and develop personal qualitiessuch as persistence, creativity,and resilience throughextended play,

- J A N E M C G O N I G A L , 2 0 1 1

Replace 'gamers' with'students' and it becomesobvious why games couldbe a great partner for oureducational systems.

THE BIG QUESTION IS:

"HOW DO WE EDUCATE OURCHILDREN TO TAKE THEIR PLACE INOUR GLOBAL SOCIETY, GIVEN THEFACT THAT WE DON'T KNOW WHATTHE FUTURE AND ITS ECONOMIES,CULTURAL IDENTITIES, AND GLOBALCHALLENGES WILL LOOK LIKE AT THEEND OF NEXT YEAR?"

ROMAN RACKWITZENGAGEMENT DESIGNERFOUNDER & CEO ENGAGINGLAB GMBH & RACKSOCIAL

WWW.ROMANRACKWITZ.DE

HOW?W H A T S C H O O L C A N L E A R N F R O M G A M E S !

Agent Principle

In good learning the learner must know, that what he learnsmatters. A person's time and 'brain-resources' are scarce. So, it isnecessary to make it obvious to the student, that by participating in this particular topic, he won't wasted his time.Games make you an agent by letting you co-design the game whileplaying it. The player's actions and his decisions affect the game.There are choices, decisions & actions to take and so, the gamer isco-designing the actual performance of the game.

("No, just to earn good grades, or to avoid bad ones, is not meaningful enough!")

Customization

Every student is different the same way every gamer has adifferent set of skills and experiences. Good learningenvironments need to find a way to customize difficultyindividually thus allowing you to solve problems inmanifold ways.

"In games we are always chasing our better selves.This is why we need to provide an individual 'Path to Mastery'."

- Roman Rackwitz

Identity

"The beginning of learning is to know:Who am I gonna be?"

- James Paul Gee.

Games are great in creating an identity: Why the gamer is actingand who he is going to be. Learning has the same potential ofbeing an invitation to become a new kind of person with his ownset of skills, goals and possibilities.

Problem Solving

The difference between games and school is that theformer is more about problem solving, the latter

more about learning facts.- Roman Rackwitz

We know that problem based learning is already well-known but there is still a long way to go when it comes to its

implementation. Teachers often don't have the time to wait forindividual solutions.

"There is just enough time for the geek to get it."

Sequencing problems

In games sequencing problems is level design.

"Early problems set the player up for later success."- James Paul Gee

The human mind works best by breaking down problems inorder to solve them. This way people go from step by stepsolutions to solving the overall complex problem. Therein liesthe vast potential of using problem sequencing in school.

Pleasantly frustrating

It is interesting that we love to face challenges and even tofail by trying to overcome them, when we think aboutactivities that we are doing voluntarily. E.g.:

Why is that? Because this is what our brain is designed for:to learn! By failing within a particular environment(see the slides: we experienceit rather as progress than failure. Without failing first, thereis almost no way to experience the pleasure of finally'getting it'.

Games, Sports, Hobbies

The 5 Pillars of Gamification)

keep the challenge at a 'cutting edge.'

HOW TO GETSTARTED?

A F I R S T S T E P

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discipline-mentality Story driven Divergent Thinking

Let's start by changing the perspective from rather thinking about educationas a knowledge delivery system of separated disciplines and head over to lookat learning as a process of progress within a given story or question.Stories create a context that trigger curiosity, set the stage of why to deal withcontent and make it easier to relate to the given situation individually.

Story A

Story B

Story C

switch 90°

WWW.SIRKENROBINSON.COM

WHAT ISDIVERGENT THINKING?

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Divergent Thinking-mentality

Story A

Story B

Story C

Diversity

Mas

tery

School designed with a divergent thinking approach means to begin theschool year rather by looking at a complex challenge than just followingthrough a timetable made up by separate disciplines. The goal is to solve thischallenge, provided by the story. To be able to do so, students need to use alldifferent disciplines together and so, to think divergently and more problemsolving orientated.

Divergent Thinking-mentality

creates a meaning to deal with the school material, given by the story --> meaning of school

it lets students chose, to a particular degree, how to 'finish the story'. Theylearn that there are often numerous solution for one problem. They choosetheir own 'role' within the story --> Agent Principle

the dependency of expertise in different disciplines enhances the need tocollaborate. Great learning happens with others --> relatedness

The horizontal journey of the students...

Journey through a storyFrom the point of view of a student.

Story A Story B

Physic

Geography

History

Level B

Level A

Level C

This is how most of the most engaging experiences - like playing games,performing sports or just following your hobby - are designed from the usersperspective. By knowing where to start, and to see the different possibilities ofprogress within a given context, it creates some kind of ownership of whatever isgoing to come.

OUR BRAIN IS A PURE LEARNING ENGINE. IT IS ALWAYSLOOKING FOR BROKEN PATTERNS AND HOW TO FIX THEM.THIS IS THE REASON WHY WE LOVE TO EXPERIENCE THEFAMOUS 'AHA-MOMENT'.

BUT IT IS IMPORTANT TO US THAT THE ACTUAL LEARNINGIS ALSO MEANINGFUL. SO, WE PREFER TO KNOW A STORYAROUND THE TOPICS WE NEED TO LEARN INSTEAD OFJUST BEING TOLD FACTS TO BE MEMORIZED.

IF WE NEED TO MASTER OUR OWN JOURNEY WITHIN THATSTORY, THERE IS A REAL CHANCE TO GET HOOKED ON IT.

ROMAN RACKWITZ | @ROMANRACKWITZ | FACEBOOK.COM/RRACKWITZ