What is gamification used for? Why use badges for e-learning? Is it the same as serious games? Let's take a look at these different concepts and how we use them in our SPOCs.

Badges and gamification are not synonymous

When we talk about gamification (or ludification or ludicisation), people respond to you 9 times out of 10 (and I'm being kind...):

" - ah, yes, the badges!" 

It's true that badges are one element of gamification. But they're just one element among many. Gamification is much broader and more complex.

What is gamification?

The " gamification Gaming" is the application of gaming principles to a particular field (training, marketing, management, etc.). In other words, the rules, the score, the fun, the material elements of the game such as the board and the avatars. But also more abstract principles such as competition, collaboration, the feeling of having achieved something, meeting challenges, etc.

What about badges?

Badges are a material element of gamification. They are a visible part of it, a materialisation of the symbolic rewards of the game. But they are not the main element.

That said, they are interesting. I took part in a MOOC on the challenges facing education in the coming years on an Australian platform. We received fun badges for each activity we completed. We could also see what badges the other participants had received. And that was stimulating.

Badges on SPOC courses in Stock

In the SPOC Train onlineAt first I thought I wouldn't use the badges, but in the end I decided to use them.

I created them with Iconiona programme for creating and modifying icons. I've created a different set of badges for each week. Each week has its own colour. And the badges are awarded when certain activities are marked as completed by the participant. This means that the participant has a choice: they can claim their badge or not by marking the activity or not. Some participants mark all the activities, others only some, and a final group hardly ever mark them.

This is obviously a very low level of gamification and I'm aware of that. I'd like to go further and script some training courses to take account of more sophisticated gamification principles, such as competition and collaboration (coopetition, which sometimes uses one, sometimes the other, as in 'real life').

The dangers of gamification

Contrary to what you might think, gamification is not a simple thing. You can be completely wrong about what motivates your audience. One of the gamification systems that disappointed me the most - and even annoyed me at times - was that of Kobo Books.

1 Rewards that mean nothing to the recipient

An inveterate reader, I discovered e-books a few years ago and as a result I read fewer and fewer paper books (less than 10 % of my current reading). Kobo Books thought it would reward me with badges. Badges for finishing a book in less than a week (I read an average of two a week), for reading between 2 and 3 in the morning (I only moderately appreciate this reward for 'insomnia'), a badge for reading a 'non-fiction' book (that's about half of what I read, the other half being novels, poetry and drama).

First of all, I didn't ask for anything. I'm given badges which I'm encouraged to share on Facebook (which I refuse to do, my reading habits are my own business... and now yours!).

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly,  these badges make no sense to me I read one or two books a week? Yes, and that's how it's been for 45 years... Do I read at night? Yes, I don't sleep much... These badges don't tell me anything about myself that I don't already know. They don't show any particular progression or commitment. So I find them more boring than anything else.

2 Extrinsic rewards that end up demotivating people

Another danger of gamification is relying solely on extrinsic rewards. Thinking that offering a badge or a certain number of points will encourage you to get involved. In reality, these rewards constitute an external motivation, which runs the risk of conflicting with the person's internal motivations. A very significant example: scorecards.

Many people believe that scorecards are an essential element of motivation. In fact, they are used to stimulate salespeople. However, a scoreboard will only work if you are likely to be in the top 10 % players. If you post a score of 5,400 points when the leader has 12 million points, what's your reaction? You'll give up. You'll say to yourself: I've got no chance of joining the leading pack, so I'd better give up...

Daniel Pink, in his book The truth about what motivates usThe author of the book highlights the downsides of this type of competition and the race for rewards. His conclusion echoes what I was saying about the Kobo Books badges: what motivates us is what makes sense to us, what allows us to direct our lives, to learn, to create new things and to progress on a personal level. (Click on the phylactery icon for French subtitles).

3. An insidious system of control over players, and even citizens

Gamification is not universally accepted, far from it, and the arguments of its opponents make a lot of sense.

The essayist Evgeny Morozov, in his book " Click here to solve everything: the aberration of technological solutionism" criticises the excesses of gamification. He emphasises the significant change represented by the replacement of moral imperatives by stimuli of competition, mutual surveillance networks, etc...

These fears are far from unfounded. The Chinese authorities have put in place a system of gamification of its citizens to increase their rate of obedience.

The video below shows how the principles of gamification can be misused to gain control over citizens and their willing cooperation in their own enslavement. La Boétie and his voluntary enslavement are still relevant today...

Collaboration, an often overlooked yet essential dimension

Other critics of gamification and the use of games in education stress the competitive aspect of games.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In an interview with Bing Gordon, one of the games industry specialists interviewed by Kevin Werbach during the Gamification MOOC on Coursera, he states that :

-" in the game, collaboration outweighs competition by a ratio of 1 to 3. "

And he's not talking about serial games or gamification, but about games in general, i.e. those that the companies he advises sell millions of copies of...

The few examples of gamification that I see implemented in MOOCs or online training courses are mainly of the individual or competitive type. The most sophisticated elements are scoreboards, badges and points. This scheme is similar to that of school marks, which more and more parents and teachers are rejecting...

I dream of training courses where gamification consists of bringing together groups in which collaboration and cooperation are encouraged while they prepare for fierce competition with the other groups. With, why not, transfers from one group to another, temporary alliances and so on? Exactly as in all the human groups we come into contact with: schools, companies, sports or cultural clubs, etc.

A necessary balance between gamification and educational quality

Gamification may be a system that encourages participation and commitment, but it is not enough to guarantee them.

Only the pedagogical quality of your training will really make the difference First and foremost, your learners need to find a solution to their problem, a manageable learning progression and a learning environment that is conducive to the acquisition of new skills.

But intelligent scripting, a balance between cooperation and competition, game levels that correspond to a learning progression, tests that make sense for the participants... All these factors will enhance the quality of your course or training.

But, once again, the most important thing is what you want to convey.

Conclusions:

1. Play on both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

Successful training courses are often those which, apart from responding to learners' problems, meet both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

Because not all learners are motivated by the same thing: some will want to progress in terms of personal development, others are aiming for career advancement, and still others are there out of obligation, summoned by their hierarchy to take X training course...

These different categories of learner will not respond in the same way to the same stimuli. And if gamification is imposed or too manipulative, it may even put off those for whom intrinsic motivation is most important.

2. Be clear and respect a rigorous work ethic 

Be clear with your learners: they need to know what "game" they are playing and what is at stake. Will they be penalised if they refuse gamification? They need to know the rules so that they can accept them in good conscience and abide by them.

Don't use gamification as a way of putting extra pressure on your learners. It must be fun, non-intrusive and not put learners in false situations.

3. Don't forget that you're there first and foremost to teach and pass on.

The pitfall of gamification, as with all the technological innovations we are currently witnessing, is forgetting that the initial aim is to teach, to transmit and to train learners.

That all the fun and/or technological features integrated into our platforms are at the service of education and not the other way round.

Let's start by asking the question: if I adopt this method or technology, will it enhance or facilitate participants' learning?

If the answer is no: forget it!

Good work 🙂

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