Gamification of Education - The Future of Learning?

"Just a few more minutes, I'm about to level up!" 

Have you ever heard one of your children or students say that?  They are so committed to reaching new heights and challenges in whatever game they are playing.  Can we leverage the power of games to get that same kind of engagement and investment in learning?  Can we gamify education?  Wouldn't it be great to hear our students say, "Just a few more minutes and I'll be a Master of Metric Measurement."  

The Gamification of Education
According to What is Game-Based Learning? gamification is "applying game mechanics to non-gaming scenarios."  Online tools such as Class Dojo or, even learning platforms such as Freckle are utilizing gamification to motivate and reward students for their efforts.  Freckle, for example, allows students to choose a character and collect coins with which they can purchase outfits or accessories for their character.  The characters are not based in any storyline as with game-based learning, but younger elementary students seem to absolutely love it.  All the way through fourth grade, I have witnessed students enjoy completing tasks to earn coins and purchase accessories through Freckle's Piggy Store.  During class, I overhear conversations among students where they are comparing their level within Freckle, "Which level are you on in Numbers and Operations?"  Through the teacher dashboard, I can tell that students are spending time on their own completing learning tasks to "level up."  They are setting goals and working toward those goals to attain extra coins.  While this is a game to them, they are also learning in the process.  My hesitation is their motivation at this point.  Is it more about the points and what they are earning or is it about the learning?  I'm not convinced it's about the learning just yet.  Students still have to be reminded to use the instructional videos and hints to help them.  They need to be reminded that it is not just about attempting questions to earn coins, but the experience is about learning.   So, right now, I see the gamification of education motivating students, but will that continue into the future?

Digital Badging - a Part of Gamification
According to Kristin Fontichiaro in her article Chart Students' Growth with Digital Badges, in education "digital badges acknowledge that an earner has demonstrated declarative knowledge or skill in a content area as well as intellectual, social, or behavior growth."    Much like Scouting merit badges, a digital badge recognizes students' achievements that a traditional report card grade may not capture.  What is it that you wish your report card could measure but it doesn't?  You could create a badge for that.    

So, how exactly does this work?  Digital badging really does align with best practices in learning and teaching.  We begin with the end in mind - selecting learning goals.  Once goals are determined, the teacher can create scaffolded levels of activities that guide students in achieving the learning goal.  As students show mastery for a particular skill by completing the scaffolded learning opportunities, he/she can "level up" or achieve a badge for that skill.  This system of gamification supports mastery learning whether you are using a Flipped Learning model, The Grid Method, personalized learning, or your own combination of these practices.

This is a sample Grade 3 Measurement learning standard with scaffolded activities that lead to the "Master of Metric Measurement" badge.

The same idea can apply to English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Digital Citizenship Skills, or any curricular area.  The learning goal is clear for students.  The activities at level one are meant to be more accessible for students and increase in complexity moving toward level 5.

Vocabulary example for 4th Grade.

Digital Badge Boards Unlike Scouting badges proudly displayed on a uniform, digital badges exist in cyberspace.  There are digital badging platforms available on the web such as Mozilla's Open Badge Infrastructure, Badg.us, or Badgr.  But, students can collect their badges on a Digital Badge Board like the one pictured below that was created using Google Docs.  This badge board awards 3rd graders badges for all of the 3rd-grade Common Core measurement standards.  There are badges for metric measurement, customary measurement, time, area, and perimeter.  I can definitely see my third graders excited to work their way through these badge pathways and collect their digital math badges.  These are skills students are expected to master by the end of third grade.  Digital badging allows students to work at their own pace toward mastery learning.  It adds that gamification to learning that is already happening in the classroom.

Create YOur Own Badge Board and Badges
As you can see on this sample badge board the badges are grayed out until a student shows mastery of the concepts for that standard.   To learn how to create a simple Badge Board using Google Docs, check out this quick video.  Click here to make a copy of this badge board that you can modify to suit your needs.

Creating badges to meet the needs of your instruction can be done easily using a  website like Canva, Apple's Pages app, or right in Google Draw.  Check out this tutorial.

Who doesn't want to earn a badge to show off a special achievement?  I even have a couple

attached to my email signature.   Are you ready to engage every learner and work toward mastery learning?  If you want to increase flexibility, recognize students for their talents and achievements, motivate students, and make students more cognizant of what they need to learn, digital badging might be for you.

This educational technology journey that I have been on has led me to ponder the gamification of learning.  As I reflect on this trend in education today, I wonder if it is just another swing on the educational pendulum or if it is an instructional strategy that will stand the test of time.