Learn better at school with GamificationPROPOSALS FOR LEVEL-UP EDUCATION

Disengagement from education among Teenagers

Source : https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disengagement-from-education-among-14-to-16-year-olds

Illiteracy is going up by +5% in France in 2009

Gap between good and bad students is increasing

The share of the weakest students thus increased from 26% in reading and 37% in mathematics between 2000 and 2009. Source : http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2013/05/22/01016-20130522ARTFIG00296-education-nationale-la-charge-de-la-cour-des-comptes.php

Problem : « Learning is not fun enough! »

Let’s use some game mechanics to make learning more fun at school.

Let’s focus on 2 types of audience : achiever and socializer

Achievers are students who want to finish a lesson, read a book to the end, complete a course or fullfill a quiz or survey. They want to finish what they have started and feel they have accomplished something

Socializers are students who want to share their learnings with others. They like to collaborate, speak with other students and they feel they are part of a community

Solution 1 : Collaboration/Team work

Establish groups of 2 to 5 people and give them a problem to solve or something to learn together

Evaluate them as a group

Make them evaluate each other within the group

Solution 2 : Rewards

Multiple rewards possible, here are some few examples :

Each day, teacher gives a special reward for the student or group of students who did his best

Each time a student ask a relevant question, he gets some points

Each time a student helps someone to understant, he gets some points

At the end of every day, a quiz that sums up the learnings of the day is set up. Students get some points depending of their score

Teacher gives real badges for the most « involved » student, « more helper », « loudest », « socializer », « critical »... Etc.

At the end of each quarter or month, if the overall score of the class is above a certain limit, the entire class gets a free afternoon to go to see a movie or do something enjoyable

Solution 3 : Progression system

Introduce a progression system like a board of levels :

Each student begins at level 0 or white belt

They earn points along the courses by learning, collaborating, helping, achieving some stuff or completing some quiz

They get new levels or belt when they reach a certain amount of points so they feel to progress all along the year

Solution 4 : Interactive courses

Make students and teacher interact together during courses

Add some informatic systems or devices to make them share some ideas, create some new things : drawings, completing a math equation, solving some puzzles,pointing some places around the globe... Etc

Uses some tablets, netbooks or even smartphones to interact

Uses some homemade softwares or apps to play or share experiences

Thanks for reading me

Olivier Jeandel - olivier.jeandel@gmail.com – France – 10/2013