For anyone familiar with social media, especially tools such as foursquare, where participants check into locations and receive special offers, the digital badge is a coveted item. Even media players, such as audible, have built-in gaming elements that reward listeners for the time they spend listening to audiobooks.
A recent article in edutopia, “Badge and the Common Core,” discusses how game-based learning can be incorporated with the Common Core Standards.
CCSS skill mastery can be acknowledged with a digital badging system. Badge accumulation can occur in a non-linear fashion; some students may earn different badges than others. This strategy, known as embedded assessments, is common in gamified classrooms. Embedded assessments are built into the overall learning experience.
Studies have found that games provide students with “a deep sense of engagement.” A study involving computer science found that game-based learning was “more effective in promoting students’ knowledge of computer memory concepts more motivational for students than the non-gaming approach.”
It seems that the use of game-based learning could provide an engaging and fun way for students to learn and provide a way of measuring individual student success in lieu of traditional tests.
Have you witnessed any models of game-based learning? How successful were they in terms of students engagement and measuring outcomes?