Game On!: Gamification, Gameful Design, and the Rise of the Gamer Educator

by Kevin Bell

Overview

Helping teachers take advantage of game design principles and intrinsic motivators to build more effective courses.

The changing student body in American higher education demands a new approach to teaching, one that moves toward inclusive, hyperpersonalized learning environments that have much in common with games and social media. Kevin Bell’s Game On! presents dynamic case studies of gamer educators and game-derived techniques to help instructors creatively formulate their own teaching strategies.

Breaking gamefully designed classes into their component parts, Bell analyzes what these classes are actually doing and explains why they work. He offers faculty a rubric to assess their own courses for their propensity to engage students, particularly those from low socioeconomic and high-risk populations. Bell explores how game design, pedagogy, and intrinsic motivators can level the playing field to produce rigorous learning environments that are as addictive to all participants as the latest apps and social media systems. He also discusses best practices, lays out the broader context of computer-mediated teaching and learning, and considers the challenges and opportunities that gamification presents.

Instructors would do well to consider the key tenets of successful games if they are to engage and graduate the coming generations of learners. Bell’s careful analysis of the theories behind gamification, cognitive science, and instructional design will help them to do just that.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421423968
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2017
Series:	Tech.edu: A Hopkins Series on Education and Technology
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kevin Bell is the pro-vice chancellor of digital futures at Western Sydney University in Australia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Prologue. Ashton to Apple
1. A Societal Imperative
2. How Did We Get Here?
3. The Fairy Tale MOOC
4. The Hero’s Journey
5. Ethical Decision Making
6. Dungeons and Discourse
7. Threat of Crime and Terrorism
8. Assessing Gamification
9. Catching Fire
Captain’s Epilogue
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Bryan Alexander

An interesting and well-informed book grounded in academic practice, Game On! will make a substantial contribution to today's discussion of education, technology, and gaming. The case studies at the heart of Bell's book offer a rich example of how to conceive of gamification, how to implement it, and how to revise, support, and asses this pedagogical approach.

Paul LeBlanc

" Game On! speaks to our need to engage and inspire learners using technologies and emergent theories of teaching and learning. Digital natives are arriving on our campus now and they will engage and learn in ways far different than their predecessors. The book further points to ways we can better engage and support our at-risk students and should encourage rich discussion on every campus. As Bell notes, fear of failure is an unproductive sentiment."

Curtis J. Bonk

In Game On!, Kevin Bell leads us on a personal quest to uncover key relationships between engagement and gamification. His enlightened search for a more engaging educational future leads him to a series of people, projects, and gaming participants who offer insights and advice toward a better understanding of gaming principles that can address the pressing learning needs and problems of today as well as the coming decade.

Paul J. LeBlanc

Game On! speaks to our need to engage and inspire learners using technologies and emergent theories of teaching and learning. Digital natives are arriving on our campus now and they will engage and learn in ways far different than their predecessors. The book further points to ways we can better engage and support our at-risk students and should encourage rich discussion on every campus. As Bell notes, fear of failure is an unproductive sentiment.

Christopher Melissinos

In analyzing and qualifying what makes great games engaging, Bell has shown how instructors can assimilate some of these elements into their instruction. The case studies show how creative teachers can motivate and engage students and provide exciting ideas for further experimentation. Game On!, indeed.

From the Publisher

An interesting and well-informed book grounded in academic practice, Game On! will make a substantial contribution to today's discussion of education, technology, and gaming. The case studies at the heart of Bell's book offer a rich example of how to conceive of gamification, how to implement it, and how to revise, support, and asses this pedagogical approach.
—Bryan Alexander, author of The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media

Game On! speaks to our need to engage and inspire learners using technologies and emergent theories of teaching and learning. Digital natives are arriving on our campus now and they will engage and learn in ways far different than their predecessors. The book further points to ways we can better engage and support our at-risk students and should encourage rich discussion on every campus. As Bell notes, fear of failure is an unproductive sentiment.
—Paul J. LeBlanc, Southern New Hampshire University

In Game On!, Kevin Bell leads us on a personal quest to uncover key relationships between engagement and gamification. His enlightened search for a more engaging educational future leads him to a series of people, projects, and gaming participants who offer insights and advice toward a better understanding of gaming principles that can address the pressing learning needs and problems of today as well as the coming decade.
—Curtis J. Bonk, coeditor of MOOCs and Open Education Around the World

In analyzing and qualifying what makes great games engaging, Bell has shown how instructors can assimilate some of these elements into their instruction. The case studies show how creative teachers can motivate and engage students and provide exciting ideas for further experimentation. Game On!, indeed.
—Christopher Melissinos, former Chief Gaming Officer, Sun Microsystems

Editorial Reviews

Instructors would do well to consider the key tenets of successful games if they are to engage and graduate the coming generations of learners. Bell’s careful analysis of the theories behind gamification, cognitive science, and instructional design will help them to do just that.
—University of British Columbia Library Bloggers

The intention of the book is to enable practitioners to gamify, explaining in concise but authoritative detail the nature of gamification concepts, and how they function in practice with established principles of pedagogy. However, this does not mean that Game On! is solely applicable to the 'inclass' practitioner. With quantitative elements as well, a focus on students' experiences, and bullet point summaries, gamification is viewed with the kind of practical big-picture thinking crucial to university and academic leadership when considering the risks and rewards of innovation and large-scale implementation.
—Errol Rivera, Ology: Review in Applied Sciences

From the Publisher

Instructors would do well to consider the key tenets of successful games if they are to engage and graduate the coming generations of learners. Bell’s careful analysis of the theories behind gamification, cognitive science, and instructional design will help them to do just that.

University of British Columbia Library Bloggers

The intention of the book is to enable practitioners to gamify, explaining in concise but authoritative detail the nature of gamification concepts, and how they function in practice with established principles of pedagogy. However, this does not mean that Game On! is solely applicable to the 'inclass' practitioner. With quantitative elements as well, a focus on students' experiences, and bullet point summaries, gamification is viewed with the kind of practical big-picture thinking crucial to university and academic leadership when considering the risks and rewards of innovation and large-scale implementation.

Ology: Review in Applied Sciences - Errol Rivera