Choice
Students often have very few choices in their lives, they may not be able to choose what they eat, what they wear, what they read, watch on TV or who they spend time with. As a consequence they usually either value choice highly or are afraid to make decisions. In both cases they will benefit from having some choice in their education.
Resources or activities that allow them to choose from a range of tasks to practice a skill or demonstrate mastery will increase engagement. In games players are often not guided step by step through a story or game level, instead they can choose to go anywhere in an open world. If they go somewhere above their current skill level they will figure that out quickly, and are usually then motivated to gain the skill or tools needed to come back there later.
Choice is also a key element in differentiation. One way to offer choice in a gamified way would be to use a tool called deck.toys to create branching options and small activities that build skills and offer a range of paths to an outcome.
Ranking on the Kolber Seldon Evaluation Tool - 5 points
Given that choice cannot make an activity gamified on it's own it does not score at the highest level of the scale. It is however a very powerful way to give students ownership of their learning. When used within a differentiated system built on Universal Design for Learning principals where students can choose not only the activities that they complete but how also how they demonstrate mastery or understanding, choice is a key component of gamification.
Exemplar
The Science classrooms of Pete Whiting at Kinross Wolaroi School in New South Wales provide students within a broad range of choices within a gamified classroom.
- Our Quest Into The Depths Of Gamification EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
- Catfish Education - Portal to access Pete's work