I am personally very interested in gamification in learning as I love all forms of games. I believe they can effective teach, translate, and share knowledge in unique and strategic ways.

There is a great article by Steven Chopade through Harbinger Group that outlines effective gamification strategies. You can check that out here.

One of the strategies addresses short attention spans which I believe is entirely relevant with the current generation. The apps of short, quick scrolling and second long videos have created shorter attention spans. Using gamification can accommodate these attention spans and introduce a lot of information in an accessible format.

I think it can also use the visual format that students are familiar with and use it to communicate content and learning.

The University of Michigan A-Game survey suggests that 66% of teachers believe that gamification in the classroom can provide useful information about student learning, and only 59% believe they can teach new content (Fishman et al., 2014).

To this point, I disagree! The quality of some games can provide a multimodal platform for students to engage beyond a textbook. Let us consider the recreation of all of Rome in Assassin’s Creed. Students can actually explore Rome from the comfort of the classroom as it was in the 16th century.

Here is a one hour walk through Rome where students can even watch videos to explore the Pantheon in its full restoration. It’s fascinating! This is an example of using game technology outside of gamification as well. The students aren’t necessarily playing for an objective, but using the advance of digital production to place themselves in the past. You could easily make it a game by including a treasure hunt for students to find certain parts of the city that connect to the content being discussed in class.

When we don’t feel like there is a consequence, we are less likely to try again. Whereas, with the Super Mario Effect (Mark Rober), students are not measured or penalized for failure, but encouraged to try again until they can achieve.

I found this video a great example of some of the educational benefits of games like Assassin’s Creed or even Civilization. I think more teachers can be including the high quality games that already exist to complement or support the content and curriculum already being used in classrooms.