Games, gamification and play in higher education

1. Game-Based Learning and
Gamification in Higher Education
Professor Nicola Whitton
Manchester Metropolitan University

2. What is a game?
“the voluntary attempt to overcome
unnecessary obstacles”
(Suits, 1978)

3. Why games and learning?
Games are motivating ...
... and digital natives want to learn with games …
… so that learning is so much fun…
… they don’t even know they’re learning!
(This is not a good argument for games and learning)

4. A better argument
Engagement
PlayAction

5. Game mechanics are engaging
Challenge
Visible
progression
CompletionCommunity
Suspension
of disbelief
Creativity

6. Games create flow
(Schell, 2008, based on Csikszentmihalyi, 1992)

8. Active Learning Environments
Communities of Practice (Lave & Wenger)
Experiential Learning (Kolb)
Affinity Groups (Gee)
Situated cognition
(Brown, Collins, Duguid)
Problem-based Learning
(Boud; Savery & Duffy)
Zone of Proximal Development
(Vygotsky)
Social
constructivism
Authentic
learning
Problem-
based
learning

10. Playful learning: the magic circle
Freedom
to…
… make
mistakes
… make
believe
… make
choices
… make
things

11. What is gamification?

12. Game mechanics

13. So what’s the problem?

14. Gaming the game

15. The Spirit of Play
• Creativity
• Storytelling
• Mystery
• Exploration
• Puzzle-solving
• Fun

16. Thank you for listening