6 Ways Gamification Is Being Used Right Now. In an unplanned series of sorts, we’re showcasing a couple of posts about the 2013 NMC/EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Horizon Report for Higher Education . We’ve already talked about the key trends in the report and some challenges we face in implementing education technology , so we’re ready to take a look at the six technologies highlighted in the report as being game-changers for education. We’ve already looked at MOOCs and tablet computing. Educational Games and gamification were identified as part of the ‘second horizon’, (or entering mainstream use in a two to three years). Gamification is not a new topic for us at Edudemic , though it is definitely a concept that only a small percentage of teachers out there are actually using.
The Horizon Report showcases a number of different examples of institutions using tablets of all kinds to supplement learning in a variety of subjects. Global Social Problems Open Orchestra Queen’s University “Exergames” Social Media Innovation Quest. Clark Aldrich Designs: Using Serious Games and Simulations: A Quick and Dirty Guide. In This Post: Learn what simulations are and aren’t.Understanding where they fit in an organizations’ flow of skills.Learn best practices in designing and creating sims. A good educational simulation may look a lot like a casual computer game. It may have stylized, fast moving graphics. There may be a timer during some part of a level, and exaggerated consequences of failure.
The person engaging the sim may look very much like a gamer, hunched over with a hand tightly grasped on the mouse and eyes riveted on the screen. This has led to a lot of people to erroneously conclude that the primary point of sims is to "make content enjoyable" often (a skeptic may further and logically intuit) at the expense of depth and flexibility while increasing of cost of production and time to “play.” Rather, the necessary goal of a well-designed sim-based program is to develop in the student a deep, flexible, intuitive, kinesthetic understanding of the subject matter. Forcing Repetition The Eight C’s. Gamification Wiki. The 20 Best Blogs about Game Based Learning. Game-Based Learning to Teach and Assess 21st Century Skills. Game-Based Learning, and particularly serious games that teach content, are fast becoming utilized in the classroom.
Frequent success stories are appearing, from Minecraft in the elementary classroom to games that teach civics. There is curriculum that pairs World of Warcraft with language arts standards, and many other variations where the gaming focus is on content. What about 21st-century skills? Yes, games can be used to teach and assess 21st-century skills!
As the conversation in education reform moves forward, and educators are increasingly leveraging 21st-century skills, we need to consider how to couple games with reform. Collaboration MMOs are hugely popular. Communication All of the games above, which require collaboration, also require communication. Critical Thinking/Problem-Solving We must find time for students to play these games in and out of the class to teach content and 21st-century skills.