Gamification, or gamified learning, is a way to create immersive, engaging, and student-centered learning environments. In a gamified classroom, knowledge acquisition can become a collective or competitive adventure. First emerging in the mid-2000s, this pedagogical approach has resurged in popularity in the recent past due to pandemic-related disengagement (Google Trends). Mika LaVaque-Manty, a faculty member in Political Science at the University of Michigan, has won national teaching awards for his use of gamification in the classroom. Mika explained that gamification in the classroom means including:
- multiple paths to achievement (not everybody has to do the same assignments)
- safe failures (students practice before high stakes assignments)
- "leveling up" instead of "getting points taken off." (adding points as assignments are completed) (Sage, 2014)
While gamification can include technology and video games in the classroom, the essence of gamification is pedagogical rather than technological because it is possible to include games without gamifying. Consider the examples of Spent, an online simulation game that can be an engaging classroom tool, and the games presented by Barnard College’s Reacting to the Past, history lessons with role-playing. By designing our courses with game elements, we can lower student stress while maintaining the same academic rigor. For more on gamification, consider attending the CCTL’s upcoming Conversations on Research in Teaching and Learning on October 31 entitled Leveling Up with Gamification: How Rigorous and Playful Learning Intersect.