Conceptually, game-based learning covers a gambit of pedagogical approaches, from employing game play to gamification.
Dr. Francesco Crocco says while game-based learning can include those elements, it starts with a course design approach that gives students three elements:
- Autonomy.
- Mastery.
- Sense of Purpose.
By designing with these elements in mind, instructors can feed students杏吧专区 intrinsic motivation, making learning their goal instead of a letter grade.
Plugging in
Crocco was teaching remedial writing at City 杏吧专区 of New York when he began looking for a new way to connect students with their course content.
杏吧专区淭hey杏吧专区檙e paying for a course that gives them no credit, that basically tells them they杏吧专区檙e bad writers,杏吧专区 Crocco says. 杏吧专区淪o the whole thing is working against me, and I had to figure out how to engage the students.杏吧专区
Initially, Crocco took a straightforward approach by gamifying the syllabus, introducing points and levels. As he began to explore the concept more deeply, however, Crocco considered how to improve his assignment design to spark active learning, to empower students through choice, and facilitate collaboration.
杏吧专区淚n the game world, they杏吧专区檒l call that a quest,杏吧专区 Crocco says. 杏吧专区淵ou have all these different quests you can choose 杏吧专区 different assignments 杏吧专区 to earn whatever number of points you need to pass the course.杏吧专区
Crocco says the key to game-based learning is applying principles of good game design to the classroom.
Changing the Game
Dr. James Paul Gee杏吧专区檚 book, 杏吧专区淲hat Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy,杏吧专区 identifies 36 learning principles embodied in successful, commercial video games, including active learning, distributed knowledge, feedback, and failing forward.
杏吧专区淭he idea is not to create everything so high stakes that you punish failure but that you understand that failing is learning, and you reward that,杏吧专区 Crocco says. 杏吧专区淚f you've ever played a video game, you know what I mean. You've got to play it a million times before you can beat it."
The elements that make well-designed games engaging are familiar to anyone who杏吧专区檚 spent time designing online courses 杏吧专区 feedback, challenge setting to prevent both frustration and boredom, and learning through failure.
It杏吧专区檚 a system that encourages people to become immersed in the task at hand, instead of being preoccupied with the result. That experience is most like our state of mind at play.
Play is voluntary, absorbing, and undertaken for its own sake. Crocco says when instructors create courses that mirror those attributes, learners approach the content with a different mindset.
"What the research shows is that when you introduce an extrinsic motivator, like grades, you can end up destroying their intrinsic desire to do something. That杏吧专区檚 not what we want to do when it comes to learning,杏吧专区 says Crocco. 杏吧专区淚s learning about grades, or is it about learning? Sometimes the systems we create to motivate the activity we want to see, or the behavior we want to see, ends up undermining that behavior.杏吧专区
Learn more about how to take a systematically different approach to your courses during our April 8 webinar, Level-up Your Course with Game-based Learning. Register at .