Here you will find examples and resources on how to implement gamification into traditional classroom lessons! I chose these specifically because they are easy to understand and provide good quick references to examples and information you might need! Feel free to scour the internet for other good resources! Feel free to send me links to important information or other applications so that I can build this list! Examples of Gamified Curriculum:
ClassDojo is an AWESOME application for educators, students, and parents to communicate and stay engaged in the classroom! It can be downloaded and used on any device, especially smartphones for easy access and use!
You can transform your classroom by giving instant positive feedback, encourage any skill or strength you find important in your class, easily communicate with parents using ClassDojo messaging, and help students see their progress in a simple report.
Parents can engage with their child's education anytime and anywhere, instantly communicate with teachers, see exciting moments from school with instant photo uploads, and help their child view their strengths and weakness and build on them at home.
Students can see how well they are doing in class with feedback from their teachers, view and celebrate all the good things they've accomplished with their parents, and create and customize their own avatar to represent them to the class
KnowRe is a free cloud-based math curriculum that uses a game-like environment to engage students. Students use a map to guide them through their lessons and obtain gamified achievements for their success, such as coins and stars, and also a quest-like assignment system to guide them through the map.
Please visit their site and watch the videos they provide for more in depth information on how they utilize gameification as a motivational tool!
Zondle is an online interactive site for teachers to build their lessons and students to log in and complete them. It is a web platform built for teachers to teach young kids by using a Game Based Learning environment and using the concept of personalized learning. The platform supports individual student progress tracking and the teacher can focus on how to interact with the students and their weak areas are. The platform is built with its focus on GBL so all the teaching, assignment and other activities are carried out through games, and the content is delivered in form of questions and quizzes.
Zondle is a bit overwhelming at first, but may prove to be an excellent tool or guide to building a game-based lesson.
EdTechReview (ETR) is a community of and for everyone involved in education technology to connect and collaborate both online and offline to discover, learn, utilize and share about the best ways technology can help improve learning, teaching, and leading in the 21st century
Top Hat built an engaging platform for university instructors to deliver their lectures and lessons. Their delivery platform has been used by over 500 universities and half a million students around the world (tophat.com/about). Clicking on the section title above takes you to their blog spot, specifically a section about gamification and modern uses. For your convenience, here is the main points in the Top Hat blog:
This is a blog on Educatoral, a "blog to reflect, share and learn about this wonderous thing called education. (@educatoral)." Here you will find links and posts detailing this educator's journey to developing a game-based classroom. He includes his layout and plans for his entire school year for several different grade levels and also how to implement several different online platforms. He has some great information and personal experiences!
1. Gamify grading: One success story is Lee Sheldon, a professor at Indiana University, who gamified his course by abandoning grades and implementing an “experience points” system. Students’ letter grades are determined by the amount of points they have accumulated at the end of the course, in other words, by how much they have accomplished. Because of the extracurricular interests of the current college-age generation (games!), Professor Sheldon attributes success to the fact that “the elements of the class are couched in terms they understand.” Students are progressing towards levels of mastery, as one does in games. Each assignment and each test feels rewarding, rather than disheartening. Using experience points allows educators to align levels with skills and highlight the inherent value of education. 2. Award students with badges: For each assignment completed, award students with badges. This may seem like a regression back to Kindergarten stickers of gold stars, but it’s working for Khan Academy. As students watch instructional videos and complete problem sets, Khan Academy awards them with points and badges to track progress and encourage perseverance. Western Oklahoma State College is implementing this form of gamification into their technology classes, with badges like “Moodle Noob No More,” or, a personal favorite “Drop It Like It Hot” to indicate mastery of Dropbox. However, as previously noted, it’s important to add value to the badges, like bonus points, skill levels, etc. 3. Integrate educational video games into your curriculum: The use of games allows students to fail, overcome, and persevere. Students are given a sense of agency—in games, they control the choices they make, and the more agency students have, the better students do. Instantaneous feedback and small rewards (or big ones, like winning) are external motivators that work. Case in point, Mr. Pai, a 3rd grade teacher on a mission to make learning fun. He disrupted the traditional classroom setting by introducing the Nintendo DS, among other technology, into his daily curriculum. Students practiced math and language through the use of computer and video games. In just eighteen weeks, his class went from a below 3rd grade level to a mid fourth-grade level.
4. Stir up a little competition: Top Hat is adopting game mechanics by including a “tournament” module in our platform. Professors have found that the tournaments incentivize students to learn the material and practice. After all, everyone wants to see his or her name on the leaderboard, right? Celine Petsche, a teaching assistant in the School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University, uses Top Hat’s tournament module to engage her students. Previously using iClicker to quiz her students on the assigned reading, Celine found that the use of the tournament function egged on some competition, boosted morale and got her students excited about demonstrating their understanding. Celine additionally noted that the tool worked as a great equalizer among students. Introverts were able to demonstrate their knowledge of the material and participate without having to raise their hands. Most of all, “gamifying” the review of readings simply boosted the general energy of the class. Something that can be particularly challenging during the early morning seminars!