Having spent some time learning about Gameful Learning, I am looking forward to investigating the practical aspects. What can we do in our classrooms to implement a Gameful Learning Ecology?
New Generation VLEs
Virtual learning environments have a reputation for being at the educational cutting edge. When we look at them closely, however, it becomes clear that in general they are designed for a largely didactic pedagogy. It seems that most online learning environments are simply attempts to replicate familiar teaching practice online. While this might support a smooth transition to online learning for teachers, it seems to me that this is a missed opportunity. The introduction of online learning should be disruptive enough to trigger a rethink in teaching and learning.
I am reminded here of a story from my childhood. A man was labouring to cut wood for his fire with a old hand saw. In frustration he went to the hardware store for a replacement saw but the shop assistant suggested he buy a chainsaw. The assistant assured the man that he wold cut 10 times as much wood with this chainsaw, without raising a sweat. The woodcutter went home with the new chainsaw, but he found it no help. In fact it was harder work and slower than the old saw. He returned to the shop to complain that the new chainsaw was no good. The shop assistant was confuse, so he pulled the chord and the engine roared to life. The woodcutter jumped in surprise, “What’s that noise!!” he said.
The moral of that story, of course, is that new tools generally mean changes in the way we do things. If we keep trying to use the old skill set we get no benefit from new tools. This has never been truer that it is with ICT. Unless we rethink teaching and learning we risk getting all of the disadvantages of technology and none of the advantages.
Fortunately we are seeing a new generation of learning software which is based on new pedagogies, designed for the new communications technology. One such package is GradeCraft.
I mention GradeCraft because it was designed specifically to support Gameful Learning. I looked at GradeCraft to better understand how Gameful Learning looks in practice.
Readers will find the paper “Designing a Game-Inspired Learning Management System” by Caitlin Holman, Stephen Aguilar and Barry Fishman, University of Michigan provides a useful overview of the GradeCraft software design process.
Gameful Learning in GradeCraft
Quoting from Holman, Aguilar and Fishman , the following Gameful Learning ideas have been built into GradeCraft:
- using points and incremental levels instead of grades
- awarding badges to recognize achievements and skill-acquisition
- allowing students to redo assignments as many times as necessary to succeed
- giving students the ability to decide the types of assignments they would attempt
- allowing students to determine how much assignments would count towards their final grade
- having students work together in both self-selected and pre-arranged groups on larger, sometimes competitive, challenges
- sharing earned skills amongst students
- requiring the completion of specific assignments and tasks in order to ‘unlock’ other challenges
- and displaying generalized information regarding classmates’ performance.
It is easy to see how these techniques cover the 3 key principles: competence; autonomy; and belongingness. It is also obvious that attempting to implement all these teaching methods in a traditional classroom, and without the support of technology, would be very difficult. In that respect GradeCraft is realizing the promise of new teaching technology, in that it makes possible a new and better learning ecology, rather than replicating didactic teaching online.
Moving forward from here
In implementing Gameful Learning, one of my early tasks should be a controlled rollout of GradeCraft. Unfortunately I work in a public (government run) secondary college and I don’t have that level of autonomy. In order to move forward I will now investigate how, and to what extent, gameful principles can be applied within the infrastructure I am provided. In simple terms how can I move my current learning ecology, with a number of constraints, in a gameful direction?
I am encouraged by the fact the some gamefulness is better than none and these principles were developed and tested before GradeCraft was written.
Gameful vs. Gamification
When a discussion of Gameful Learning starts anyone with knowledge of Gamification immediately thinks, how does Gamefulness compare to Gamification? Do we need a new term? I had some discussion of this on the ‘back channel’ and I think the best explanation was tweeted by Evan Straub at University of Michigan
So Gamification is about running a learning program as a type of game, while Gamefulness is about applying what we know about the underlying psychology and theory of games to make our learning activities more effective.
Barry Fishman’s analysis of successful games identified 10 attributes, which simplified down to giving a sense of competence, of belonging, and of autonomy or agency. It is likely that building these into learning programs will result in more engaging and effective learning. That, however, is quite a leap. As educators we need research and a theoretical basis for making that assertion.
Theories of motivation
What is it about games that makes them so engaging and effective as learning environments? A study of motivational theory provides the answers. Two key theories discussed in the MOOC are Achievement Goal Theory and Self Determination Theory.
Achievement Goal Theory identifies Mastery Orientation and Performance Orientations. Mastery is the most powerful orientation for learning, and is associated with intrinsic motivation. Performance orientation is when a learner associates with the achievement norms of their peers, either to compete or to avoid looking deficient. Performance orientations are linked to extrinsic motivation.
Self Determination Theory describes the conditions under which intrinsic motivation is fostered. SDT identifies three key precursors to intrinsic motivation. All of which are the bases for effective game play.
So when students experience competence, belongingness and autonomy in their learning activities, intrinsic motivation and therefore mastery orientation is facilitated. That, in a nutshell is the basis for Gameful Learning as I see it.
The question is, what practical things can we do in our classrooms to facilitate belongingness, autonomy and competence? A team at University of Michigan have developed a learning management system called GradeCraft, which incorporates these ideas. The next step for me is to leave the MOOC for a while and spend some time investigating GradeCraft.
Caitlin Holman is one of the creators of a LMS called Gradecraft. Gradecraft is especially designed to incorporates Gameful Learning techniques.
This clip is Caitlin talking about Gameful Learning.
As promised in my last post, we are moving on to talk about Grit.
What is grit?
It is easy to see Grit as analogous to determination and hard work, but Angela defines it more positively as perseverance and passion. So Grit is not only something we draw on to overcome setbacks, it drives us forward all the time. Grit underpins our capacity to step out and take risks, learning from failure. As such grit is closely associated with intrinsic motivation and a Mastery Orientation.
How do we foster Grit?
It is therefore obvious that Grit has a positive impact on learning, but how can a teacher encourage the development of grit in their students? The secret is obvious when we study the relationship between grit and motivation.
Giving learners agency encourages intrinsic motivation, resulting in the development of passion or Grit.
A learning environment characterised by high challenge and high support is also conducive to developing Grit. Challenge and support was discussed at length in the interview, but put succinctly students that are challenged and supported feel a sense of belonging and competence.
In other words the three components of Self Determination Theory are integral to fostering grit in students.
Grit is an attribute which facilitates learning, and is itself closely aligned with the principles of Self Determination Theory. Grit is also connected with the Mastery Orientation in Achievement Goal Theory. Grit ties together what we have learned in our study of motivational theories and connects those theories with effective learning.
SDT has three components:
Traditional classroom teaching provides little autonomy to students. In general students do what the teacher wants them to do at the time they want them to do it. SDT tells us that students will be more highly motivated and successful if they have a higher degree of agency. Gameful learning does not mean that students do anything they want, but it does mean that students are able to choose between a curated range of pathways to the learning outcomes. They may also be given some agency in how they demonstrate their learning.
While teachers typically teach to an average student, there is actually no such student in the class. Every student will differ around the average. Autonomy provides for a natural differentiation of learning based on individual differences.
The second element of SDT is belonging. Outside formal education learning is a social activity. Generally it happens in clubs and societies or at the workplace. Classrooms on the other hand are often set up to minimize or constrain social interaction. In addition assessment regimes are often competitive, setting individuals in competition with one another. Competition used in the correct way is a motivating influence, but competition that isolates is not. Gameful learning provides for constructive social interaction to support and motivate students.
The third and final element of self determination theory is competence. There are two key aspects in developing a sense of competence in students. Firstly, instead of marking from 100% down, always start at 0% and build up. In practical terms this means that students should understand that the teacher is giving credit for what they do know rather than looking for what they don’t know.
A good example of this is the way most students approach tests and exams. These are stressful and the students usually assume that the test is something they need to beat. It is there to try to make them look incompetent. Their fear of failure encourages them to approach a test with a performance orientation. A more productive way to approach an assessment is to see it as a way to demonstrate what they have learned.
Providing students with a competence based approach involves giving achievable challenges where everything is seen as progress towards a goal. Gameful learning always provides for recovery from failure so that failure is always progress towards success. In fact if there is no failure then most likely the challenge is too easy.
Self determination theory, when properly developed, is very supportive of intrinsic motivation. When students do not have autonomy, belonging and a sense of competence, then teachers have to resort to a higher level of extrinsic motivation.
In summary I will relate an anecdote. A student of mine explained recently that he had not been allowed to attend the school celebration dinner last year (i.e. ‘prom’ for my USA readers) because he had not completed assignment work. This illustrates clearly the relationship between self determination theory and motivation. That institution was relying on a high level of extrinsic motivation (which obviously didn’t work) and in doing so was actively undermining the autonomy, belonging and sense of competence of students. An approach based on SDT would support more intrinsic motivation to complete assignment work. The school would then be able to rely less on extrinsic motivation and let all their students celebrate their success.
Next topic is “Grit”. I can’t wait.