Gamifying my Physics Course What I have learnt

Gamifying my Physics Course What I have learnt Pal (Paul) Fekete Taylors College Sydney pfekete@studygroup. com

Gamification is coming to Education Gamification is the act of applying game principles to non game based activities. Gamification in industry: • Virgin Velocity points • Mc. Donalds Monopoly • Fly Buys Gamification is coming to education • Improves engagement and motivation • No clear evidence of better learning. 2

Thinking about Gamification I first started thinking about Gamifying my Physics course in 2015. 3

Thinking about Gamification I kept thinking about it in 2016. 4

I read a lot about Gamification I kept thinking and researching Gamification in 2017. 5

Options for Gamification Some of the Options for Gamification: • https: //www. classcraft. com/ • https: //www. edorble. com/ • https: //secondlife. com/ • https: //www. sloodle. org/ Moodle, badges, Lessons with twists, etc 6

You Tube, Blogs I watched videos on You. Tube. I subscribed to blogs. . . • https: //www. gamified. uk • http: //www. neelabell. com/ (very good - a lot about Moodle) 7

Quote – Neela Bell "I know it’s not easy with “serious” topics. “ http: //www. neelabell. com/online-learning-2/5 -classic-game-types-to-gamify-yourmoodle-course/ Physics is a “serious” course! 8

8 Surprising Gamification Statistics https: //www. digitalchalk. com/blog/8 -surprising-gamification-statistics 9

8 Surprising Gamification Statistics https: //www. digitalchalk. com/blog/8 -surprising-gamification-statistics 1. The gamification industry is expected to grow to over $2 billion in the U. S. by 2015, according to M 2 Research. (Huffington Post) 2. 61% of surveyed CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executives say they take daily game breaks at work. More than half of these gameful executives say they play during work in order “to feel more productive. ” (Ryan Jenkins) 3. By 2014…more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application, driving 50% of all innovation. (Engagement Alliance) 4. Since 2010, over 350 companies have launched major gamification projects. These include consumer brands like MLB, Adobe, NBC, Walgreens, Ford, Southwest, e. Bay, Panera, and more. (Huffington Post) 10

8 Surprising Gamification Statistics https: //www. digitalchalk. com/blog/8 -surprising-gamification-statistics 5. In the United States alone, there are 183 million active gamers. Those gamers play 13 hours a week on average. (Ryan Jenkins) 6. Almost 80% of the learners say that they would be more productive if their university/institution or work was more game-like. (Talent LMS) 7. Over 60% of learners would be motivated by leaderboards and increased competition among students. 89% say that a point system would increase their engagement with an e. Learning application. (Talent LMS) 8. By 2018, the Global Gamification Market will reach $5. 5 Bn. 11

Gamification Elements https: //magazine. startus. cc/gamification-will-help-business-growth/ 12

My First Physics Game – V 1 In 2017 I wrote my first Physics "Game" and showed it to a few people at Moodle Moot 2017. They encouraged me to present my game at Moodle Moot 2018 and here I am. • It comes with three choices - if you get them wrong you die and start again. • If you choose correctly, one of your choices is explained (physics). • It comes with two activities where you are required to learn some physics in order to answer questions and proceed. • One of the activities opens a Quiz to complete. My first game: • Journey to Alpha Centauri 13

… and then I got ambitious – V 2 I added a whole lot of really good physics. . and then the game got boring. Uh Oh • Journey to Alpha Centauri - V 2 (a step backwards) 14

So I had to start thinking again. . . 15

I deleted the boring bits and started exploring "Easter eggs“ Except I used rocket fuel because my topic was Astronomy. My eggs became rocket fuel. 16

Then I linked the game to my Astronomy Course – V 3 Our Physics course was built using Lessons in Moodle. Students needed to complete: • 11 Lessons on Waves and Light • 16 Lessons on Astronomy These lessons were "Assessment for Learning" and hence not worth marks. In Waves and Light the motivation to complete Lessons was to be ready to do experiments. In Astronomy there were few experiments. The motivation became the "Game". 17

Astronomy Lesson 1 completed – Rocket appears 18

Astronomy Lesson 2 completed – Fuel appears 19

Lessons 1 to 5 completed – Second fuel appears 20

Lessons 1 to 8 completed – Third fuel appears 21

70% of Lessons completed Rocket takes off and the game becomes available. 22

The game started to have possibility It was now integrated into the course and provided an incentive to students to complete the Lessons. 23

What I learnt writing my first game • You need to be highly confident in the technology so you know what tools to use to achieve the desired outcomes, without thinking about the tools. • You need a good narrative, a good "story board". The five main elements of a narrative are: • character, setting, conflict, plot and theme. The movie series “The Matrix” was sold to investors because of the high quality story board they had written even though the writers were relatively unknown. I believe writing a good narrative is the difficult task to complete and also my challenge. • I'm good with the technology. • It is the narrative that is challenging! 24

You need a good story board… 25

What next ? – V 4 A whole lot of things are possible: • Create characters – Pilot, Science Officer, Navigation – Students work in teams, each one with a different role – Allow the characters to develop - skills, intelligence • Develop the narrative • Bring in more science without making it boring • Award a Badge or Certificate at the completion • Level 2 – Take some of the content from my failed V 2 and make it fun! 26

Acknowledgements I’d like to acknowledge: • the people I showed Version 1 of my game to last year. They encouraged me to present my game at this year’s conference. • the Moodle Moot reviewers who accepted my presentation. This encouraged me to develop Version 3 of my game. • feedback from IT colleagues at work; Tim, Vladimir • regular and ongoing conversation with another work colleague Brian about how to make our courses more engaging and hence improve student learning. 27

Thank you Questions?