Gamification in Education

"It's quite fashionable to say that the education system's broken — it's not broken, it's wonderfully constructed. It's just that we don't need it anymore. It's outdated."

(Sugata Mitra)

What is Gamification ?

It is the use of game thinking, elements and mechanics in non-game contexts in order to promote user engagement and motivation towards solving a problem. Inspired from computer games, it is used to increase the perceived ease of task accomplishment. Notable positive results have been reached in teaching, workplace motivation, physical exercise engagement, return on investment, fan loyalty and entertainment.

The term "gamification" was coined by computer programmer Nick Pelling in 2002, but it only gained widespread popularity in 2010 in a more specific sense referring to the incorporation of social/reward aspects of games into software.

Why ?

Because it's a game changer. Because of the vast number of positive results and feedback. Because people love to engage, socialize and be challenged through games. Because more and more young people empathize with familiar game elements. Back in 2010 we had 500 Million virtuoso gamers on the planet. In a few years, we will have 1.5 Billion. Next to smartphone usage and overall digital expertise, "gaming" is probably the most mastered skill in human evolution.

Why in education? You can read books, papers and blogs on it, but the bottom line is the same: because education is the future, but the current future needs tweaking. Also make sure to watch some of the TED talks posted underneath on this topic.

How ?

Through the insightful usage of game thinking - in a truly innovative way - in the process of teaching. We have a different vision from learning through games that is the state of the art approach in small-scale solutions or even large scale MOOCs. Our idea is to keep education and materials as they are (even offline), but change the teaching technique. This involves grading style, classroom organization, task repartition, collaborative opportunities, competition etc.

Inspiring talks on education

Ken Robinson (b. 1950, Liverpool) is highly awarded educationalist, author, speaker & one of the most viewed speakers on TED

- How schools kill creativity (TED), Feb 2006
- Bring on the learning revolution (TED), Feb 2010
- Changing education paradigms (TED), Oct 2010
- How to escape education's death valley (TED), Apr 2013

Sugata Mitra (b. 1952, Calcutta) is highly cited professor of educational technology & winner of the TED Prize 2013

- Kids can teach themselves (TED), Feb 2007
- The child-driven education (TED), Jul 2010
- Build a school in the cloud (TED), Feb 2013

Dreams ?

"Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with gold and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

And every day, everywhere, our children spread their dreams beneath our feet. And we should tread softly.

(W.B. Yeats; K. Robinson)

We know the sky is not the limit, so we dare to aim high. Our work revolves around research on gamification and social network analytics and their use in education, and aim at high quality publications. We also seek projects, start-ups, international collaborations, and competitions like Microsoft Imagine Cup or other awards on gamification in the industry.

Publications and projects

- Gamified: An Effective and Innovative Approach to Student Motivation Using Gamification. Alexandru Topirceanu, Cezar Fleseriu, Mihai Udrescu. The 2nd International Conference on Social Media in Academia: Research and Teaching (SMART 2014) [ISI]

The Gamified framework for student motivation - description, beta demo (C) Topirceanu et. al 2015. Please do not reproduce or use screenshots without citation AND prior consent.

cs.upt.ro/~alext/edu

Team from Politehnica University Timisoara