GAMIFICATION PROJECT REPORT

My main aim was to find out and understand the psychological mechanics built into games, and to leverage them in my classes in order to make their school experience more engaging, meaningful and successful.
For this purpose, I used a gamification tool named Classcraft: An online educational role-playing game using a game-based approach to ensure motivation, class management engagement. What makes Classcraft different and innovative were good enough for me to start a semester-long classroom project in which I would be harnessing the power of games and applying them into my students’ learning process. Below are the main aspects of games and how I helped my students benefit from them:

Autonomy / Differentiated Learning: Thanks to Quests (in-game feature), students were given several opportunities to take control of their own learning and progress by completing several missions that include class assignments. They earn points & badges, and proceed to the next mission. Assignments vary from grammar exercises, discussions to videos, reading practices. It’s also a good opportunity to differentiate learning as Quests – and also messaging interface - allow students to follow several different paths according to their learning needs.

Increased Competency / Competition: Student competency and achievements are rewarded by the point system. As they collect more points, they can level up and unlock the following missions or new customization possibilities for the avatars. The leaderboard, “team of the month” contest and badges are other mechanics to motivate and push students more.

Better Social Relationships / Engagement: Students worked in teams on Classcraft. Many classroom tasks or homework assignments were done by the teams, so they had the chance to collaborate, peer teach and learn from each other, therefore facilitating their learning process. Students were teamed according to their learning styles and levels.

Feedback: Games are constantly giving kids feedback on how they’re doing. If they succeed, they level up, unlock new powers, and reach new areas. On the other hand, if they make mistakes, they lose gold, or they’re sent back to the last checkpoint or it is ‘game over’. But, they always get another chance to try to succeed. It’s not different on Classcraft. In or out-of-class expectations from the students are rewarded or punished in a short time. Also, through the messaging service and Quests, students got frequent feedback on their assignments.

My classroom observations, in-game participation and the feedback I collected demonstrated that this semester-long project:

• developed a stronger relationship among students
• provided a more satisfying teaching experience for me
• developed students’ 21st century skills: communication, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking.
• boosted my students’ motivation and mine.

RESULTS:

https://bit.ly/30y4BhB