Thinking Like a Game Designer:

Gamification, Games and Interactivity for Learning

By Karl M. Kapp
Bloomsburg University
Gamification of Learning & Instruction
Please Play:
Tic Tac Toe Please Play:
Hangman

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 Game Results
• Did you like playing?
• Was it fun?
• Did you score points?
• Who won?

I Won!

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 ?

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Personnel Learning
Objective?

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Agenda

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Gamification Project

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 13 hours
10,000 hrs of of console
Game play games a
week

87% of 8- to 17-
year olds Average game
play video games player in US
is 30-38.
Digital divisions. Report by the Pew /Internet: Pew Internet & American Life.

at home.
US Department of Commerce
 Almost 43% of the
gamers are female
and 26% of those
females are over
18.

Females play 5 hours a week of

console games. They make up the
majority of PC gamers at 63%.

Digital divisions. Report by the Pew /Internet: Pew Internet & American Life.
US Department of Commerce HO Page: 1-9
“A study of 2,300 people found only 6%
of organizations are successful in
influencing behavior change among
employees.”
--Al Switzler
 A Gallup poll found that the average
company has as many as 18% of employees
who are actively disengaged.
Aren’t interested
in learning or
Exude negativity. development.

Aren’t interested in
Close themselves out
anything related to
of solutions to
the company.
organizational
problems.

Putting in time until

Thwart efforts for something better
improvement.
comes along.
 The average person checks their phone
150 times a day that’s about 9 times an
hour.

People send or receive an

average of 41 text messages
per day.,

Smartphones users spend

over 2.5 hours a day on their
phones, with 32% of that time
playing games.
Are games effective for learning?
 Let’s Play
Fact or Fishy…
(true) (False)
 Internet Option:
Text Option: Pollev.com/karlkapp
karlkapp to the
number 37607
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New Message Cancel

To: 37607

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 Two Teams
Purple Orange

Remember: Open Internet browser

Pollev.com/karlkapp.
Fact or Fishy…

Lectures are an effective

method for fostering higher
order thinking skills.
 Lectures are NOT effective for
fostering higher level thinking?

Gibbs, G., (1981). Twenty Terrible Reasons for Lecturing, SCED Occasional Paper No. 8, Birmingham.
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/20reasons.html and Bligh, D., (1972). What’s the Use of Lectures? Penguin.

Bloom, B. S., (1953). “Thought Processes in Lectures and Discussions.” Journal of General Education Vol. 7.
Isaacs, G., (1994). “Lecturing Practices and Note-taking Purposes.” Studies in Higher Education, 19:2.
67% of the lecture is spent
in ‘passive thoughts about
the subject’ and
‘irrelevant thoughts’.
During lectures students'
thoughts involved
attempting to solve
problems, or synthesize
or inter-relate
information for 1% of the
time.
 21 studies found
lecturing to be less
effective than:
discussion, reading
and individual work in
class.
Lectures are not a very effective way
of teaching-- if the aim is to teach
thinking, or to change attitudes or
other higher aims beyond the simple
transmission of factual knowledge.”
Fact or Fishy…
Playing learning games
results in higher gains in
learning and retention than
lecture-based instruction.
 Fact:
Percentages of Impact Over
Traditional Training
Type of % Higher
Knowledge
/Retention
Declarative 11%
Procedural 14%
Retention 9%
 Percentages of Impact Over
Traditional Training
Type of % Higher
Knowledge
17% Higher than
/Retention
Lectures
Declarative 11%
Procedural 14%
Retention 5% Higher
9% than
Discussion

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 Percentages of Impact
It wasn’t the game, it was level
Type of
of activity in the game.
% Higher
Knowledge
/Retention
Declarative 11%
In other words, the engagement
Procedural of the learner
14% in the game leads
to learning.
Retention 9%
Games Must be Embedded
into the Curriculum to be
Effective for Learning.
 Fact:
Instructional games should be embedded in
instructional programs that include
Engagement
debriefing and feedback.

Instructional support to help learners

understand Educational
how to use the game increases
instructionalSimulation
effectiveness of the gaming
Game
experience. Pedagogy

Hays, R. T. (2005). The effectiveness of instructional games: A literature review and

discussion. Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (No 2005-004). Chapter 4
“The Gamification of Learning and Instruction.”

Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness

of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .Review of 65 studies
 Example

Wouters, P., van Nimwegen, C., van Oostendorp, H., & van der Sek E.D. (2013), (February 4).
A Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive and Motivational Effects of Serious Games. Journal of Educational Psychology.
Advanced online publication. Doi: 10.1037/a0031311 39 Studies.
 Games are more effective
than traditional instruction
when players work in groups.
Fact:

With serious games, both learners playing

individually and those playing in a group learn
more than the comparison group, but learners
who play serious games in a group learn more

Wouters, P., van Nimwegen, C., van Oostendorp, H., & vam der S[el.
E.D. (2013), February 4). A Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive and
Motivational Effects of Serious Games. Journal of Educational
Psychology. Advanced online publication. Doi: 10.1037/a0031311
39 Studies.
 While playing a game,
learners will voluntarily do
harder problems and more
difficult work.
 Fact:
A math facts game deployed on a handled computer
encouraged learners to complete greater number of
problems at an increased level of difficulty.

Learners playing the handheld game completed

nearly 3 times the number of problems in 19 days
and voluntarily increased the level of difficulty.

Lee, J., Luchini, K., Michael, B., Norris, C., & Soloway, E. (2004). More than just fun and games:
Assessing the value of educational video games in the classroom. Paper presented at the CHI '04
Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vienna, Austria.
 Overview of
Gamification in Action

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Design Takeaway Challenge
Karl M. Kapp
Presents:
 t was a quiet Monday morning, very
quiet, really quiet… almost too…
Then, out of nowhere, she flew into my office,
like a Boss who had a problem that needed
solved …

Hi Boss.
I have a problem that
needs to be solved.
She wanted to increase learner
engagement and have more interactive
learning.
We need more
engagement.
You came to the right guy
that’s what I do…
Now take the new person here
Yeah, I know…that’s
and go ask Clyde, he went to a
why I hired you.
session on the subject.

Ugh….
For some reason, she didn’t seem bothered
by the fact that she was breaking the
company’s strict no smoking policy…
Here’s where you come in. Help me figure
out the clues …and fast.
Figure out the clues and solve the mystery
and you will become first class detective.
Next, take out your smart phone or text
device.
 Internet Option:
Text Option: Pollev.com/karlkapp
karlkapp to the
number 37607
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To: 37607

 karlkapp
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Stakes are high……
Next you need to choose your disguise…
First stop…Clyde’s office…look for clues
Fact or Fishy?
Games and
Gamification
are the Same
thing?
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 I found a strange
drawing on Clyde’s desk. Gaming

(Serious ) Games Gamification

Simulations Qstream

Whole Part

Toys Playful Design

Legos iPhone

Playing
From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining “Gamification”, Deterding, S. et. al
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 Look…I found some things written on one
of Clyde’s notebooks.

Could be a lead…or

…it could be this session’s

learning objectives
Let’s get going.
Now we need to find Ivan…the Informant...
I knew one of his old haunts.
He was about as friendly as a fly at a fly
strip convention.

Hello, Clueless…
He was about as friendly as a fly at a fly
strip convention.

Look I am going to ask you some

questions, the right answer gives you
a clue to gamification and
interactive learning.
What do you and your detectives here have
to say about this?
How many types of gamification are there?
There are 3 types of
gamification.
He grabbed his typewriter and made some
notes to explain to me the difference between
the two types of gamification.
Content Content:
Gamification use  Challenge
of game thinking  Story
to alter content
to make it more  Characters
game-like but  Missions
doesn’t turn the
content into a
game.

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Structural Structural:
Gamification is  Points
use of game-
 Badges
elements to propel
a learner through  Leaderboard
content with no
alteration or
changes to the
content.

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Performance Performance:
Gamification goal  Points
is to promote  Badges
behaviors or
actions. Employee  Feedback Loop
actions are tied  Targeted
to game elements. Intervention

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Ivan then grabbed his laptop to show me a
demonstration of the two types.
First Structural Gamification….
Screen captures courtesy of MindTickle….
Gamification

The concept of gamification

Consists of many different
elements.
These elements can include:
• Story
• Character
• Mystery
• Curiosity
• Curve of Interest
• Surprise
• Chance
• Points
• Badges
Then he showed me another example…

The Boehringer Ingelheim group is a large

pharmaceutical company.
Field reps are squeezed for time, yet have to
understand multiple disease states, product
attributes and competitive positioning and complex
healthcare system issues of concern to their
physicians. They wanted an effective way to pull
through the information.
They rolled out Competitive Gamification which
consisted of 25 questions, answers and explanations.
Reps simply answer two questions from their laptop
or mobile device every other day.
They are immediately scored, can see how their
peers answer the same question, are presented
with a concise explanation and on their way in 3 to
5 minutes.
Reps said:

“I feel this is an awesome way to review and continue to maintain our

knowledge. 5 Star rating.”

“Great reminders of important points to make for the supplemental

calls.”

“I enjoy the challenge.”

“Love the concept. Keeps me up to date. Thanks!”

“It gives us a chance to really think and confirm what we know, what
we really need to know, and where to expand our knowledge.”
ExactTarget is a global marketing organization
focused on digital marketing tools – email,
mobile, and web and was recently purchased by
Salesforce.com. ExactTarget is a leading cloud
marketing platform used by more than 6,000
companies including Coca-Cola, Gap and Nike.
Introducing a new product, MobileConnect and
wanted to bring the sales force up-to-speed on
the features and functionality of the product.
 Player Results
“I can’t tell you how many people are coming to me wanting
another game solution.”

“The repetition of the different paths helped me retain the

information.”

“I’m a pretty competitive person so challenging myself to get

one of the top scores added a layer of fun to learning about
the MobileConnect product.”

“The game was a fun way to learn about MobileConnect. I

enjoyed the scenario-type questions, which put it all into
context.”
 Business Results
Average contract value 2x higher than for previous
mobile product.

First call resolution ($35 a call/average) is up 45%.

Of all the launches done in the previous two years prior

to MobileConnect, the sales team built the quickest
pipeline for this product.
Then wanted to demonstrated content
gamification....

Of course, we’ve seen this

already.
It was a little like déjá vu ….this content
gamification…..
It has elements of story, characters and
content that was altered to be more game-like…
Here is an example of Content Gamification.
Zombies Sales Apocalypse
 Here is an example of Performance
Gamification. And more on this in a bit.
Case Study:
SUSTAINED ENGAGEMENT AND FEEDBACK
Sweden
SUPERCHARGES PERFORMANCE @ AGERIS
The Challenge
Maintaining high levels of employee focus and
motivation in an outsourced contact center
Productivity Absenteeism
Before Gamification +9% -10%
Monetary bonuses, unmotivating competitions
and monthly employee performance reviews Knowledge
& Compliance
With Gamification
Employees bet on their targets. Daily learning &
x2
challenges. Automated immediate feedback
It doesn’t all have to be electronic....

Cards can be a powerful

learning tool for
gamification.
This mystery of interactive learning was
starting to take shape…
Ivan had another question for me…I was the
one who was supposed to be ask’n questions….

Fact or Fishy?: Learners remember

facts better when presented in a
bulleted list or when presented in a
story?
 Research shows humans
have an inclination toward
stories
Researchers have found that
the human brain has a natural
affinity for narrative
construction.

Yep, People tend to

remember facts more
accurately if they encounter
them in a story rather than
in a list.
Now get out of here…
This mystery of interactive learning was
starting to take shape…
Let’s brief the boss on what we know so far…
So what have we
learned?
So far, so good. Follow the next clue on the
matchbook I found in my desk drawer….
I arrived at the place on the matchbook, as
shady as a clump of oaks caught in an eclipse…
 Enter Question Text
What could this location and clue mean??? Tell me.
Does engaging instruction start with…
Action draws in the learner and
encourages further engagement.
 Make the learner do something
Bet on Performance

Role Play
Answer a question

Solve a Problem. Solve a mystery.

Confront a challenge.
Make a decision.

Play a game.
Hands On
 Create Open Loops

Law &
Order
 Here are some more
matches for your boss. She
smokes a lot.

She shouldn’t smoke.

Put the learner at risk.

or

Let the learner safely explore the environment.

No
Getrisk,
theor danger
learner equal no skin
emotionally in the
involved
by putting him orgame.
her at “mock” risk.
 Then they mysterious stranger started
talking about what learners can “risk”…

Starting Over Not Solving the Problem

Losing (points, game)

Social Credibility

Multiple Lives More Work

In games, failing is allowed, it’s acceptable,
and it’s part of the process.
Time for a recap with the boss… she looked a
little frazlled…she needed to know one more
thing.
 I wantdid
What to you
knowdetectives
one more
learn aboutthing.
gamification?
What are some gamification
practices that can engage
learners?
Great stuff, you folks really seemed to have
cracked the case as to what makes engaging
learning.
Mystery solved, just in time for the
weekend. I was anxious to get some rest…
But…to my surprise as the Boss was driving
away, she threw yet another matchbook….
Unfortunately, we’ll have to leave that
mystery for later today….
The End
 Credits:

Detective Artwork Courtesy of Vanessa Bailey

Flow Diagram by Kristin Bittner

Typewriter and Mysterious Eyes are Clip Art

Audience Response by Poll Everywhere

Demo of Gamification Software by MindTickle

Now for the Takeaway
Challenge

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Now for the Takeaway
Challenge

1) Story/Characters
2) Polling/Audience Input
3) Winners/Teams
4) Mystery/Curiosity
5) Blend story/instruction
6) Suprise
7) Humor
Don’t need to have a
detective. You can be
more realistic.
I have a problem that
needs to be solved.
 Suddenly, your boss calls you
and your colleague into her office.

Ito and Jasmine come into my

office.
Boosts and Triggers
in Action

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 Need to Know: Basic
Game Lingo
Game goal Core Mechanics Game
what Dynamic rules for Elements
player(s) have what game players; rules Features that
to do to win. play is about; for system. help immerse
what you you in game
have to do to play
win.
Rules define how Tinkering with
people achieve one feature can
Pick a dynamic to the goal. Don’t entirely change
design around; make too hard or play experience
it’s easier to get too easy.
No goal. No started that way.
game.

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 Need to Know: Basic
Game Lingo
Game Space Balance Feedback Rewards and
environment in adjusting natural and Achievements
which the elements so artificial elements of a
action of the game is at instructions, game used to
game takes the right level hints and provide
place. of challenge, indicators to motivation
fairness and players. through the
punishment/ game and to
reward quantity
Feedback should ending.
not interrupt the
Impacts experience, Balance a game to game play. Tinkering with one
mood and sense of develop the reward can entirely
desired change play
“world” in game.
experience. experience.

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Need to Know: Basic
Game Lingo
Lose State Win State
the condition the condition
under which one under which one
or more players or more players
is unsuccessful at achieves success.
completing the
game.

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 Need to Know: Basic
Game Lingo
Game goal Core Mechanics Game
what Dynamic rules for Elements
player(s) have what game players; rules Features that
to do to win. play is about; for system. help immerse
what you you in game
have to do to play
win.
Rules define how Tinkering with
people achieve one feature can
Pick a dynamic to the goal. Don’t entirely change
design around; make too hard or play experience
it’s easier to get too easy.
No goal. No started that way.
game.

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Core Dynamics = How you
achieve a game goal.

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 Core Dynamics
• Race to the Finish
– Fastest person.
– Mario Kart, Gran Turismo
 Core Dynamics
• Territory Acquisition
– Acquire – or take – land or
resources, typically to create an
empire or own the most of
something
– Risk. Age of Empires.

Aldrich, C. (2005) Learning by Doing.

 Core Dynamics
• Exploration
– Wander around and check out
various aspects of the game world
to see if you can find things of
value.
– Clue, Infinite Sky
 Core Dynamics
• Collecting
– Find and get specified
objects/people.
– Trivial Pursuit.
 Core Dynamics
• Rescue or Escape
– Get out of a situation/place you are
in.
– Forbidden Island. Escape Rooms.
 Core Dynamics
• Alignment
– Arrange game pieces in a particular
order.
– Connect Four, Candy Crush
 Core Dynamics
• Forbidden Act
– Get fellow players to break the
rules, make a wrong move, or do
something they shouldn’t.
– Cards Against Humanity.
 Game Dynamics
• Construction or Build
– Create something using specified
resources.
– Minecraft. Jenga
 Core Dynamic
• Outwit
– Use specialized knowledge or skill to
defeat an opponent.
– Chess, Stratego.
 Game Dynamics
• Solution
– Solve a problem or a puzzle.
– Puzzle Games. Five Nights at
Freddy’s
 Game Dynamics
• Matching
– Match physical items or match
agains criteria.
– Codenames. Guess Who?
 Question:
What Kind of Core Dynamics Do You
Like Best?
 Things to Consider

Game component Things to evaluate

Game Goal Is it challenging? Do you like it?
Core dynamic(s) How do you achieve the goal…collecting things,
exploration, racing to the finish, territory acquisition? Is
THAT fun?
Game mechanics Do the rules contribute to your enjoyment? Are they
too complex? Too easy?
Game elements What game elements are part of this game and how do
they enhance it?
Feedback How do I know how I am doing? Is it effective?
Think about your
gamified learning
event over lunch to
reach top of hierarchy.
 Review of
Gamification Project

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 Desirable Difficulty
Desirable difficulties are desirable because responding to the challenges they
create requires encoding and/or retrieval activities that support learning.
There can be other types of difficulties in learning (non-desirable difficulties)
but the key is the process of encoding the information to be learned.

Term coined by Robert and Elizabeth Bjork

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Manipulations that speed the rate of acquisition during instruction can
fail to support long-term retention and transfer, whereas other
manipulations that appear to introduce difficulties and slow the rate of
acquisition learner can enhance post-instruction recall and transfer.
 What creates Desirable Difficulty?
• Testing
• Spaced Practice (rather than blocking)
• Switching Between Topics (Interleaving)
• Freedom to Fail (learning from errors)
• Organizing Unfamiliar Information
• Generating Ideas (instead of reading or watching)
• Self Feedback
• Vary Conditions of Practice or Learning
• Transfer Knowledge to New Situations
• Solving Multiple Types of Problems at Once
• Allow for Confusion
• Kobayashi Maru (seemingly impossible challenge)
 How We Learn

• Do not learn by making a literal copy of

information.
– Learn by encoding and storing new information
– Relating it to what we already know.
• Mapping new information onto current information
and link our new information with existing information.
 How We Learn

• Act of retrieving information is itself a potent

learning event.
• Retrieved information becomes more
recallable in the future than it would have
been otherwise.
• Using our memories, in effect, alters our
memories.
 Your goal as a designer of
instruction…

Create conditions that foster storage and enhance

later retrieval in multiple contexts.

The conditions of learning need to induce encoding and

retrieval processes that are substantial and varied, and
incorporating desirable difficulties helps to induce those
processes.

Source: https://bjorklab.psych.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/07/RBjork_inpress.pdf
 In an experiment on a group of college
students to examine the effects of testing
on fact memorization and language
learning..(Swahili & English)

One group was asked to keep testing themselves on all

items without dropping what they were getting right. The
other group could drop the correctly recalled items..

The students who dropped items from testing

remembered about 35% of the word pairs. Those
who kept testing items even after they had learned
them could recall 80

Source: https://www.goconqr.com/en/examtime/blog/testing-effect-how-self-testing-helps-memory-improvement/
 In a study, immediate testing after reading a prose passage
promoted better long-term retention than repeatedly studying the
passage. This outcome occurred even though the tests included
no feedback.

In an experiment, students in a repeated-testing

condition recalled much more after a week than did
students in the repeated-study condition (61% vs.
40%), even though students in the repeated-testing
condition read the passage only 3.4 times and those
in the repeated-study condition read it 14.2 times
had learned them could recall 80

http://psych.wustl.edu/memory/Roddy%20article%20PDF's/Roediger%20&%20Karpicke%20(2006)_PsychSci.pdf
 Students who are tested over time have better recall
than student who are simply asked to read.
Participants who had been tested (rather than re-
reading the material) outperformed the other
students on two tests given 18 days later and again
5 weeks later

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4235419/
Soderstrom, NC, Kerr TK & Bjork RA. The Critical Importance of Retrieval –and Spacing– for Learning. Psychological Science, 2016;27(2):223-230.
 Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve

We discussed last time

in microlearning.

Modified from: Bersin, J. (2017) The Disruption of Digital Learning: Ten Things We Have Learned.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/disruption-digital-learning-ten-things-we-have-learned-josh-bersin/
Interleaving
Mix up instruction rather than cover one topic
completely before moving on to the other.

Instead of the learning pattern looking like AAA, BBB, CCC.

It looks more like ABC,BCA,ABC, CBA.

Citation: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-interleaving-effect-
mixing-it-up-boosts-learning/
Interleaving Learners should have
familiarity with subject
materials before interleaving
begins (or the material should
Mix up instruction rather than cover one topic be fairly simple). Otherwise,
completely before moving on to the other. interleaving can be more
confusing than helpful.

Instead of the learning pattern looking like AAA, BBB, CCC.

It looks more like ABC,BCA,ABC, CBA.

Citation: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-interleaving-effect-
mixing-it-up-boosts-learning/
Analytics

Actionable Data:
• Review incorrect questions
• Track learner progress over time
• Spot anomalies
• Diagnose instructional issues
• Identify areas of improvement

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 Analytics Maturity Model
Collection Management SUBMIT Measurement
Contextualization Decision Making

1 Data 2 Reporting 3 Dashboards 4 Metrics 5 Analytics

• Transactional • Viewing • Visual data • Data against • Predictive use

Data collection grouped, display critical of data to help
filtered and business take action
• “We need to sorted data • “We need indicators
track our quick, visual • “We need to
activities…” • “We need to view of data…” • “We need to make data-
see our data know when we driven
organized…” hit a certain decisions
threshold…” proactively…”

REACTIVE REACTIVE SUBMIT TRANSITION

INFORMATIONAL PROACTIVE

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 Overview of
Analytics in Action

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Teaching Problem Solving

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 Training
• Course Objectives
– Adhere to the proper policy for providing
information to clients
– Understand what is permissible to share with
clients and what is not
– Identify three methods of conducting an audit
You are gathering data during the first day
of an audit. During lunch, Mary
approaches you and tells you that she has
something important to discuss. The two
of you go to your office and she makes the
accusation that the VP of Finance is hiding
an account…

What is the first thing you should do?

Here are three more tips to teach problem
solving:

- Multiple, Realistic Scenarios (case studies)

- Provide a Question Protocol
- Learning Documentary
Provide a list of prompts or questions to
help trigger thoughts and question sets.

Check out this folder.

 Create a learning documentary of
how to do a job, how decisions are
made, how dots are connected.

Show learners how experts think

through problems and solve them.
It’s a “think aloud.”
 Questions, Follow Up, Action
items.

Stay in touch:
Twitter: @kkapp
Email: Karlkapp@gmail.com

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