Gamification of the Learning Process - Lessons Learned

Although several definitions of gamification can be found in the literature, they all have in common certain aspects: the application of strategies, models, dynamics, mechanics, and elements of the games in other contexts than games, and the objective of producing a playful experience that fosters motivation, involvement, and fun. In this paper, our approach gamifying the learning process of a subject is presented. Our experience throughout time in using games and gamification in learning have led us to propose, lately, a personalized, automated, and gamified learning system. As a result of this experience and after several years of continuous feedback from our students, we have learned several lessons on how to approach the task of gamification. These lessons are summarized in the following concepts: fun, motivation, autonomy, progressiveness, feedback, error tolerance, experimentation, creativity, and adaptation to the specific case. The final aim is sharing our experience and opening a debate about what key elements the gamification lie in.

1. As a result of this experience and after several years of continuous feedback from our students, we have learned several lessons on how to approach the task of gamification (@llorens-largo2016, 1)
   • What makes an effective gamification approach of a course?

1. In short, we say that PLMan is a gamified system because of:
   1. Simplicity: The system starts from some initial affordable and stimulating objectives, progressively increasing its complexity.
   2. Feedback: The system provides immediate feedback about the correction of every solution, so that students know instantly if they are doing well.
   3. Real time: both interaction and feedback provided by the system occur in real time, so that no time elapses between the delivery of the solution and obtaining the result of the correction.
   4. Progress: Students progressively accumulate their grade depending on the chosen difficulty, and the system generates the sense of progress needed to stimulate the challenge and maintain interest.
   5. Autonomy: the system provides the possibility of decision making, choosing difficulty levels from simple to complex and performing the exercises at their own learning pace, just adjusting to some deadlines set at the beginning of the course.
   6. Individual responsibility: to have the option of imposing a personalized work rhythm, gives the student an individual responsibility for his or her own learning.
   7. Treatment of error: the system allows mistakes without penalty, providing the possibility of delivering unlimited solutions to reach an appropriate grade. (@llorens-largo2016, 5)
2. Psychological Self-determination theory [41] indicates what factors determine the motivation of people to perform a task, and there is a continuum from the demotivation to the intrinsic motivation, with various intermediate degrees of extrinsic motivation. There are three key factors for a person to be in a state of intrinsic motivation to perform a task: autonomy, competence and meaning. (@llorens-largo2016, 5)
   • More ext vs int motivation and self-determination theory.

1. We have seen that video games have features that can be exploited in the learning process. Therefore, not just video games, but also the philosophy that encloses game design are beginning to be applied in the educational world. The gamification of the teaching process can help us in our educational innovations, but above all, it can make them sustainable. (@llorens-largo2016, 6)
2. The secret ingredient that makes the gamification a truly special experience is fun. Fun is a consequence of brain adaptation to pattern recognition, that is, it is a consequence of learning. (@llorens-largo2016, 6)
   • The games actually have to be fun.

1. Gamification is the use of strategies, models, dynamics, mechanics and game elements in non-game contexts, in order to convey a message or content or change behaviour through a playful experience that fosters motivation, involvement and fun. The most interesting approach from the educational point of view is that based on the concept of game thinking [7]. We therefore prefer to speak of gamifying as designing a process of any kind as you would do if you were designing a game. Participants are players and as such they are the focus of the game, and they must feel involved, make their own decisions, feel their progress, take on new challenges, participate in a social environment, be recognized for their accomplishments and receive immediate feedback. In short, they should have fun while the goals of the gamified process are achieved. If, beyond the classic sense of fun as entertainment, we assume that fun is the reward of the brain to learn new things [8], the link between learning and fun is the key to our proposal of gamification of the learning process. (@llorens-largo2016, 1)
   • Definition.
2. A video game will not consider the player less skilled if it managed to finish after a hundred attempts. The important thing is to learn until being able, and mistakes are part of learning. (@llorens-largo2016, 6)
   • Good thing to keep in mind when designing a gamified activity.