What if classes were structured more like well-designed games?

Gameful Assessment in Michigan Education (GAME)

Barry Fishman

Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Learning Technologies in the University of Michigan School of Information and School of Education

Mika LaVaque-Manty

Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Professor in the University of Michigan Department of Political Science and Department of Philosophy
Project Goals:

The overarching goal of GAME is to develop capacity for transformative teaching and learning using a gameful approach, including an active program of iterative research and development to improve the ability of GradeCraft to support gameful teaching at Michigan and beyond.

The goals of GAME are to help design classrooms that better encourage students to:

  • deeply engage with subject matter
  • work hard and take on intellectual challenges
  • take risks and try new things
  • be resilient in the face of failure

Visit GamefulPedagogy.com for more information.

Pedagogical Approach:

The GAME team's approach to making the classroom experience more engaging to students is gameful learning. Gameful learning is a redesign of the classroom structure to make it a more engaging learning experience, borrowing elements from game design.

In a gameful classroom, course grades are attainment levels set by the instructor and defined in points instead of letter grades or percentages. Students begin with zero points, and as they accomplish different activities/assignments in the course, “level up” towards the determined attainment levels. Because students are not “losing” part of 100%, this design better supports developing a sense of competence. Instructors are encouraged to provide different types of assignments that allow for students to build their confidence and competence, and allow for autonomous choice about how to accomplish the goals of the course. Even “failures” on assignments can contribute both to student learning and their grade.

Gameful instruction is not a particular design or prescription; it is a constellation of approaches that foster intrinsic motivation. Gameful does not mean that you make your class into a literal game, nor does it mean that you play games in your class. The approach describes the underlying structure of the course and assessment system, as opposed to the outward presentation of those elements, and works just as well for “serious topics.” The approach can be attempted at multiple levels of scale and complexity. It is possible to start with small tweaks to a course to begin, adding complexity over time if desired.

Visit GamefulPedagogy.com for examples of gameful course and their syllabi.

Assessment Plan:

The GAME team employs a 3-level approach to assessment: 1) student-level, 2) faculty-level, and 3) national-level. At the student-level, GAME wants to know students' awareness of gameful instruction, the role and perspective of students working as "Gameful Abassadors", and the levels and types of participation in gameful learning communities. At the faculty-level, GAME wants to investigate the number and range of instructors at U-M using GradeCraft and elements of gameful instruction. At the national-level, GAME wants to measure the level of visibility the project has outside of the U-M campus.

In addition to this 3-level assessment plan, GAME is also involved in extensive educational research to investigates the influence of gameful instruction on student learning. Of particular interest are student learning outcomes and student motivation, grounded in the self-determination theory of learning.

2015-2016 was Year 1 of GAME's 3-year project (funded by TLTC Transformation grant). Year 1 assessment was focused on understanding the level of student and faculty awareness and exposure to gameful pedagogy, using surveys to collect student and faculty responses. Future assessment work will measure the relationship between gameful instruction and student motivation and self-agency.

Download the full assessment plan for the GAME project.

Findings:

Overall, students and faculty who have experienced or used gameful pedagogy have positive opinions of gameful pedagogy.

Specific findings were:

  • Student comments about gameful learning:
  • "It really kept me engaged in my work; being able to see where I was at any given point made the whole experience more transparent and helped me to keep an eye on my grade."
  • "I have never learned more in a more stress-free environment."

Over a quarter (28%) of surveyed faculty have heard of GradeCraft of gameful learning as a teaching approach

  • Of that 28%, about 10% have used GradeCraft or a gameful learning approach
  • Nearly 90% of those who have used GradeCraft or gameful learning had a positive (54%) or neutral (33%) opinion of their experience

About 15% of surveyed students have heard of GradeCraft of gameful learning as a teaching approach

  • Of that 15%, about 63% were in a class that used GradeCraft or a gameful learning approach
  • Nearly 90% of those who were in a class that used GradeCraft or gameful learning had a positive (52%) or neutral (33%) opinion of their experience

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