Gamification badge UNLOCKED.

In May, I’ll be co-teaching a workshop on gamification at UMW with Mary Kayler. I was shocked – not to mention elated – when the 12 slots for the course filled in a few hours. I thought very few people would be interested. How wrong I was!

Now, I’m hard at work figuring out what I’m going to talk about and how I’m going to present all the material. All while keeping it fun, of course! I figured this would be an interesting thing to brainstorm on this blog. After all, this is highly related to DoOO and my other tech and teaching concerns. I’ve even already talked about this a few times, including in my Wario post.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, gamification is the new hotness in pedagogy (and marketing). The concept is simple: you can make (almost) anything into a game. When you do, it’s more fun to do whatever it is you want people to do. Therefore, they will do it more/remember what you’re trying to teach. Almost every business has bought into this. Think of the star you get at Starbucks every time you buy another overpriced latte. Or the badges you can earn. Yesterday, I bought a train ticket, and found a whole gamification section on the Amtrak website. Why? Cause it makes them money! (OK. Full disclosure: in many contexts, this badge stuff is just a waste of time, IMHO. But in other cases, it really does work. I love getting that free Starbucks drink, even though I know what goes into making the gamification sausage.)

Anyway, check out the brand spanking new gamecamp website. Ideas for relevant games? Let me know! Ideas for books, let me know that too. Wanna discuss gamification? bring it on. Gamification isn’t a panacea. But I do think it makes teaching tough and/or dry material much more effective. There is real satisfaction in leveling up, much more so than in understanding section 106, for instance. So to mix metaphors, why not add this to the toolbox? Or the medical satchel. That’s better. I get the completed metaphor badge!