his decidedly unacademic presentation provides a broad scientific overview of what we know from research about the effectiveness today’s technology for changing learner behaviors through games. We will discuss the use of 3D avatars to change learner behaviors; we will consider how playing a video game changes a person’s behavior and how storytelling helps learners memorize facts. We’ll answer questions like: Are two avatars better in an e-learning module than one? Does the appearance of an avatar impact the person when they’ve finished working with the avatar? Do serious games have to be entertaining to be educational? This engaging, exciting session shows you how to use the existing research literature in your own design and delivery of online learning. You will be provided with tips and techniques for matching research findings to your own e-learning design. We’ll move the concepts from research-to-practice. Discover how research-based practices really fit in with today's fast-paced need for quick, effective instruction online instruction.

1. What Research Tells us About Games,
Gamification and Learning
By Karl M. Kapp
Bloomsburg University
April 25, 2012
Twitter:@kkapp

2. Google “Kapp Notes”
www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes
Blog Book Tour
Learning Circuits Blog
2012 New Book:
“The Gamification of Learning and Instruction”
September 2011 Training Quarterly Article
Improving Training: Thinking Like a Game Developer
July 2011 T&D Article
Matching the Right Instruction to the Right Content

3. Based on the Book.

4. Agenda
1 2
How do you apply game-based strategies
What does research say about to the presentation of learning content?
games and game elements for
learning?
3 4
Ten tips for creating e-learning
What are 3 principles for adding games and simulations to change
serious games to learning curriculums? behavior.

5. 10,000 hrs of
Game play 13 hours
of console
games a
87% of 8- to 17- week
year olds
play video games
Digital divisions. Report by the Pew /Internet: Pew Internet & American Life.
at home.
US Department of Commerce

6. Almost 43% of the
gamers are female
and 26% of those
females are over
18.
Females play 5 hours a week of
console games. They make up the
majority of PC gamers at 63%.
Digital divisions. Report by the Pew /Internet: Pew Internet & American Life.
US Department of Commerce

7. What Research Says
about
Games for Learning

8. Percentages of Impact
Type of % Higher
Knowledge/
Retention
Declarative 11%
Procedural 14%
Retention 9%
Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness
of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .Review of 65 studies

9. Percentages of Impact
It wasn’t the game, it was level
Typegame.
of activity in the
of % Higher
Knowledge/
Retention
Declarative 11%
In other words, the engagement
Procedural of the learner in the game leads
14%
to learning.
Retention 9%
Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness
of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .Review of 65 studies

10. Do simulation/games have to be entertaining to be
educational?

11. NO
Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness
of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .

12. Simulation/games build more confidence for
on the job application of learned knowledge
than classroom instruction.
20% higher
confidence levels.
Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness
of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .

13. A math facts game deployed on a handled computer
encouraged learners to complete greater number of
problems at an increased level of difficulty.
Learners playing the handheld game completed
nearly 3 times the number of problems in 19 days
and voluntarily increased the level of difficulty.
Lee, J., Luchini, K., Michael, B., Norris, C., & Soloway, E. (2004). More than just fun and games:
Assessing the value of educational video games in the classroom. Paper presented at the CHI '04
Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vienna, Austria.

14. ..it’s the instructional methods and
not the delivery system that
provides the active ingredients for
learning…in a game/simulation.
--Jeanne Farrington

15. Engagement
Learning
Game Game
Pedagogy
Adapted from Aldrich, C. Learning by Doing. Pfeiffer, page 80

16. Instructional games should be embedded
in instructional programs that include
debriefing and feedback.
Engagement
Instructional support to help learners
understand Educational the game increases
how to use
instructionalSimulation
effectiveness of the gaming
Game
experience. Pedagogy
Hays, R. T. (2005). The effectiveness of instructional games: A literature review and
discussion. Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (No 2005-004).
Aldrich, C. Learning by Doing. Pfeiffer, page 80

17. Recommendations
1) Provide a context for the learning.
2) Don’t focus on “entertainment.”
3) Carefully craft the simulation/game to provide
opportunities to increase engagement and interactivity
to increase learning.

18. Use game-based mechanics,
aesthetics and game thinking to
engage people, motivate action,
promote learning, and solve
problems.
Gamification

19. Four
Elements of
Games that Aid
Learning
1. Avatars
2. Stories & Challenges
3. Levels
4. Feedback

20. We’ve Always Wanted
Characters
Avatars

21. Why be a Character
at All?
Research indicates that human
social models influence behavior,
beliefs and attitudes.
Bandura, A. 1986 Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA: Prentice-Hall.

22. Avatar as Teacher
Research indicates that learners perceive, interact
socially with and are influenced by anthropomorphic
agents (avatars) even when their functionality and
adaptability are limited.
Baylor, A. 2009 Promoting motivation with virtual agents and avatars: R ole of visual presence and appearance. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal B Society. 364, 3559–3565

23. An experience as an avatar
can change a person's real
life perceptions. In a study
conducted by Yee and
Bailenson (2006), it was
found that negative
stereotyping of the elderly
was significantly reduced
when participants were
placed in avatars of old
people compared with those
participants placed in avatars
of young people.
Yee, N. & Bailenson, J.N. (2006). Walk A Mile in Digital Shoes: The Impact of Embodied Perspective-Taking on The
Reduction of Negative Stereotyping in Immersive Virtual Environments.. Proceedings of PRESENCE 2006: The 9th Annual
International Workshop on Presence. August 24 – 26, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

24. Who is more likely to run 24 hours later?
A. Person who watched an avatar not like
them running
B. Person who watch an avatar like them
running
C. Person watching an avatar like them
loitering

25. Within 24 hours of watching an avatar like
themselves run, learners were more likely to
run than watching an avatar not like them or
watching an avatar like them loitering .
Fox, J., Arena, D., & Bailenson, J.N. (2009). Virtual Reality: A survival guide for the social scientist. Journal of Media Psychology, 21 (3), 95-113.

26. If learners watch an avatar that looks
like them exercising & losing weight,
they will subsequently exercise more in
the real world as compared to a control
group.
Fox, J., Arena, D., & Bailenson, J.N. (2009). Virtual Reality: A survival guide for the social scientist. Journal of Media Psychology, 21 (3), 95-113.

27. Are two avatars better than
one?
Motivator
Mentor
Expert

28. Motivator
Yes, two avatars are better
than one.
Mentor
Baylor, A. L. & Kim, Y. (2005). Simulating instructional roles through pedagogical
agents. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 15(1), 95-115.
Expert

29. http://www.codebaby.com/showcase/elearning-showcase/

30. First Person View

31. Third Person View
“Seeing oneself as acting in a movie or a play is not
merely fantasy or indulgence; it is fundamental to
how people work out who it is they are, and may
become.” Ben Casey
Carey, B. (2007) This is Your Life (and How You Tell it). The New York Times. And Sestir, M. & Green, M. C. (2010). You
are who you watch: Identification and transportation effects on temporary self-concept. Social Influence, 5, 272-288
and research by Libby, L.K., Shaeffer, E.M., Eibach, R.P., & Slemmer, J.A. ( 2007) Picture yourself at the polls: Visual
perspective in mental imagery affects self-perception and behavior. Psychological Science. Vol. 18: 199-203.

32. Recommendations
• Use avatars to model desired behavior.
• Allow/encourage learners to craft avatars that look like
themselves for maximum learning impact.
• Use two avatars in e-learning instead of one. One to
provide knowledge, and one to provide motivation.
• Create the third-person perspective to allow learners to
observe desired behavior.

33. Stories & Challenges

34. Provide a challenge
Jones, B., Valdez, G., Norakowski, J., & Rasmussen, C. (1994). Designing learning and technology
for educational reform. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. [Online]. Available:
http://www.ncrtec.org/capacity/profile/profwww.htm and Schlechty, P. C. (1997). Inventing
better schools: An action plan for educational reform. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

35. Re-design the Instruction to
Start with a Challenge

36. Researchers have found that the Yep, People tend to remember facts
human brain has a natural affinity for more accurately if they encounter
narrative construction. them in a story rather than in a list.
And they rate legal arguments as more
convincing when built into narrative
tales rather than on legal precedent.
Carey, B. (2007) this is Your Life (and How You Tell it). The New York Times. Melanie
Green http://www.unc.edu/~mcgreen/research.html

37. Story Elements
1. Characters
2. Plot (something has to happen).
3. Tension
4. Resolution
5. Conclusion

38. NikePlus Stats for Karl

40. Challenge and Consolidation– Good games offer players a set
of challenging problems and then let them solve these problems
until they have virtually routinized or automated their solutions.
Games then throw a new class of problem at the players requiring
them to rethink their now, taken-for-granted mastery, learn
something new, and integrate this new learning into their old
mastery.
James Paul Gee,
University of Wisconsin-Madison

41. Recommendations
• Embed facts to be learned in the context of stories.
• Start the learning process by providing a challenge to
the learner.
• Provide a progression from simple to more difficult
tasks.
• Use stories that are related to the context of the
desired learning outcome.

42. Levels

43. Scaffolding: Process of controlling
the task elements that initially are
beyond the learner’s capacity.
Guided Practice. Step-by-step
instructions and then fading of
instruction

44. Once that task is accomplished, the
learner is then led to accomplish
another goal which builds upon the
previous.

45. Level One: Talking with the
receptionist.

46. Level Two: Talking with the nurse
gatekeeper.

47. Level Three: Talking with the
physician.

48. Level One:
Demonstration

49. Level Two:
Guided
Practice

50. Level Three:
Performance
Assessment

51. Recommendations
• Provide different entry points into the
instruction.
• Provide different learner experiences within
the same e-learning module.
• Consider “leveling up” learner challenges.

52. Feedback

54. Games like The Sims provide feedback on
many dimensions which provide
opportunities to consider tradeoffs and
higher level cognitive thinking.

57. Leaderboards provide
opportunities for players to
receive feedback about their
performance as compared to
others.

61. Recommendations
• Provide authentic and realistic feedback.
• Feedback should be continuous through out
the learning.
• Feedback should be instructional and provide
knowledge of learner’s performance.
• Allow learners to create their own social
“leaderboard” of friends.

62. Putting It All
Together

63. Fostering Pro-Social
Behavior
Greitemeyer, T. & Osswald, S. (2010) Effective of Prosocial games on prosocial behavior.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 98 . No. 2., 211-221.

64. 28% helped to
pick up pencils

65. 33% helped to
pick up pencils

66. 67% helped to
pick up pencils

68. 22% intervened

69. 56% intervened

70. Learned Procedure

72. Summary
1 2
Apply stories, avatars, feedback and
Games/Simulations are effective levels as effective game elements to
for learning because of learner learning.
engagement.
3 4
Four motivational aspects of games
Provide support materials as part of that improve learning recall
curriculum, “fun” doesn’t need and application are: interactivity,
to be the goal. context, challenge, and story.

73. Go ahead…jump in!

74. Questions/More Information
• http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/
– Recommended books
– Samples and Examples
• Email: kkapp@bloomu.edu
• Email: karlkapp@gmail.com
• Twitter: @kkapp
• Pinterest: Gamification Happenings
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gamificationLI
“The Gamification of Learning
and Instruction”