This first volume is meant to be a quick and easy introduction to meaningful gamification.

It is a relatively short book, ~200 pages, and it includes a veritable treasure trove of strategies you can implement in any class. These strategies have been tested in multiple classes both big and small under a variety of conditions. And just in case you worry that these strategies are yet another bandwagon to jump on that won't actually work in your own classroom, you will see that they are grounded in solid educational theory that has withstood the test of time.

This book does NOT try and fill in all of the theoretical underpinnings of these ideas, but it DOES break new ground in giving you new ways to look at teaching that can dislodge some of the old traditions that have been holding us back.

1. Who This Book is For
2. What This Book Covers
3. How This Book is Structured
4. What You Can Get Out of this Book
5. What You Need to Use This Book
6. Conventions

Mise-en-scène is a term used in drama and film that refers to the setting of the scene. This chapter sets the stage for the issues addressed in this book. The book represents the culmination of over 40 years of teaching, learning, questioning, and experimenting. This chapter looks at the kinds of things that often get in the way of learning for our students – most of which don’t actually have much to do with the thing we want them to learn.

We begin with a fictional diary entry made by a more-or-less typical student, and then examine this student’s very bad day to begin to unpack the kinds of challenges that students often have to face.

• Why Are We Here?
  • Assumption One
  • Assumption Two
  • Kids Today (Sheesh)
• Why Do Students Do Poorly?
  • Laziness
  • Stress
  • Confusion About Requirements
  • Studied the Wrong Stuff
  • Students Have Lives
  • Students Are Human
  • Group Work
• A Last Word on Our Challenge

After highlighting those things that get in the way of learning in the first chapter, this chapter looks at how some of these obstacles can be addressed. All of the elements described are ones I have actually implemented in the classroom, and the reactions from students are paraphrased comments from actual students. This approach begins to build a much more supportive classroom environment than what students typically experience.

• A First Look at a Gameful Classroom
  • Finding Time
  • Confusion About Requirements
  • High Stakes Exams
  • Compartmentalized Grading
• An Overview of Reigeluth's New Paradigm
• A Last Word on Class Perfection

Having looked at some of the things that get in the way of learning, let’s take a closer look at what exactly is the problem we are trying to solve with the creation of a gameful classroom. Presumably, we are here to create a classroom that is more engaging and more joyful. Why isn’t it that now? What holds students back? What holds faculty back?

Here’s a hint: it turns out that it is primarily related to risk of one sort or another. In other words, fear holds us back, and fear comes from an absence of safety. With so much talk about safety and safe spaces in workplaces, in schools, in relationships, and in society in general right now, now is also the perfect time to look at the role of safety in teaching, learning, and in instructional design. Gamification is about using game design elements in a non-game context and creating a safe space is an important part of that.

With that in mind, this chapter looks at what makes a classroom feel unsafe, and takes a first look at some things that can make a classroom feel like a safe space for students. I believe in fair play, so let’s do the same thing for faculty. What makes school or the classroom feel like an unsafe or a safe space for faculty?

• Maslow's Hierarchy and Risk
  • Biological and Physical Needs
  • Safety
  • Belongingness
  • Esteem
  • Self-Actualization
• What's Stopping Us?
  • People are Survivors - Not Lazy
  • The 10-80-10 Rule
  • What Stops Students?
    • Previous Bad Experiences
    • Poor Judgement
    • Lack of Confidence
    • Poor Self-Regulation
  • What Stops Instructors?
    • The Club Theory
    • Plagiarism and the Desire for Control
    • Overwork, Underpay, and Lack of Support
    • Administrators Who Don't Want or Can't Tolerate Change
  • Focus on Safety
    • What Does a Safe Classroom Look Like?
    • How Do We Provide a Safe Environment?

Finally, we get to the heart of the matter. We start by introducing the term gamification, what many (most?) people think about when they hear it, and then explaining what gamification ACTUALLY is/should be. We connect the dots between what is needed as we have outlined it in the previous chapter, and how gamification fits the bill. We do that by drawing on Reigeluth’s New Paradigm and reframing gamification within that context. We will also expand on what we mean by cumulative grading, what we gain by relaxing deadlines, and some ways to encourage creativity by adjusting our assessment practices.

• What is Gamification, Really?
  • Game VS Play
  • System VS Elements
  • Game Mechanics
  • Defining Gamification
• Distinctions Between Types of Teaching & Learning Using Games
  • Serious Game
  • Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL)
  • Digital Game-Based Pedagogy (DGP)
• Good vs Bad Gamification
• Learning Mechanics
• Why is Gamification Useful in Learning?
  • Self-Determination Theory
• Revisiting Reigeluth’s Paradigm
  • Learning-Focused vs Sorting Focused
  • Learner Centered vs Teacher Centered Instruction
  • Learning by Doing vs Teacher Presenting
  • Attainment-Based vs Time-based Progress
  • Customized vs Standardized Instruction
  • Criterion-Referenced vs Norm-Referenced Testing
  • Collaborative vs Individual
  • Enjoyable vs Unpleasant

Most of us have neither the time, nor the support to go “the whole hog” on a course or lesson design. Some of us don’t even have that as an option as we are handed a set of course materials we are to use.

This chapter explains how you can start small and still implement aspects of my gamified classroom within the confines of a more traditionally structured course.

Suppose you do have the freedom to do your own design but you aren’t ready to go whole hog. Suppose you’re not even ready to go half hog. I certainly wasn’t when I first began using gameful approaches. In fact, I wouldn’t even recommend trying to design a completely gamified course without first trying it on a smaller scale.

There are still a bunch of things you can do on a small scale – one at a time if you like, that will send your students the message that you care, and that you respect and support them as individuals. Along the way, there’s a good chance you will create converts among your colleagues, and maybe even an administrator or two.

• Five Requirements of a Gameful Classroom
  • Respect & Leadership
  • Integrity & Trust
  • Belonging & Acceptance
  • Accommodation
  • Academic Alignment
• Beginning at the Beginning
  • Where are Our Risks and How can We Mitigate Them?
  • Example 1 – Computer Science Class
  • Example 2 – English Class (High School)
  • Example 3 – Study Skills Class
• I Hate Rubrics
  • A Simple 5-Point Scale
  • A Simple 10-Point Scale
• Elements and Strategies for Starting Small
  • Providing Cues and Associations
  • Questions to Ask Ourselves
  • Re-examining Options
  • Simple Bonus
• Grades as Currency, Generally
• A Single Quest
• A Last Word on Starting Small

This chapter describes how you can go about re-designing a whole class, so that it is gamified.

• Always Start at the End
• Recap: Gamification is NOT PBL and Narratives
• A Gamified Instructional Design Model
  • Needs Analysis
  • Instructional Objectives
  • Learning Path
  • Mise-en-Scène
  • Narrative
  • Development of Instruction
  • Instructional Strategies
  • Quests
  • Rewards
• The Original Course Design and Syllabus
  • Basic Design
  • Assessments and Evaluation
  • Schedule
• Backstory
• The Redesign of a 1st Year Non-Major’s Computer Literacy Course
  • Iteration One
    • Needs (Re)Analysis- Why Does This Course Exist?
    • Instructional Objectives - How Will Learners be Different at the End?
    • Original Course Critique
    • Learning Path - How Do We Meet the Objectives?
    • Mise-en-Scéne - What does the Overall Course Look Like?
    • Meat and Potatoes - Instruction, Strategies
    • Quests and Rewards
    • The Final Product
• The Current State of a Whole Hog Gameful Design
• A Last Word on The Whole Hog

This book is about gamefulness rather than using or playing games in the classroom. This list is included to give you an idea about how game mechanics differ from learning mechanics. Knowing the difference can help you avoid the common pitfall of mistaking game mechanics for the kinds of game elements that can help us create our gameful classroom.

This a list of over 25 tasks/assignments/tests/projects/etc. that have been described in terms borrowed from multi-player games. While there is nothing magical about these terms, I have found that using the word “quest” instead of “learning task” has several advantages:

1. It breaks us out of our usual mindset and allows us to consider the work our students do in a new light. In the end it really doesn't matter if you use the quest names or not. What matters is what your students do to demonstrate competence.
2. It places the focus for assessment squarely in the arena of what students can DO as opposed to what they can memorize and repeat, and that's a good thing.

• Ignite Presentation
• AI Mission (AKA Chicken Paper)
• Timed Quest (Post a Self-Introduction)
• Persuasion Quest / Talk-To Quest (Pair)
• Fetch Quest (Share a New Resource)
• Turn-In Quest (Critical Incident Questionnaire)

This glossary contains all of the words defined in the book, as well as others that expand on concepts and terms used in the book. It contains all the new and unusual terms used in the book. This volume is NOT written for academics ¹⁾, so it is written largely in plain language. Any terms that may be unfamiliar or used in a new context in this book will be found here.

Even though this book is meant to be a practical resource for ANYONE, rather than a textbook or “scholarly” work, it is still important to support arguments with the work of other experts. In the era of “fake news”, being able to back up claims with real research and scholarship is more important than ever.