New book aims to make gamification simple for higher education professionals

LAWRENCE — Any gamer can attest that the first time they try a new game, they’re not a master. But with practice, repetition and perhaps guidance from others, they can get there. Two University of Kansas researchers have gone from being beginners at using gamification in the classroom to literally writing the book on how educators across all disciplines can engage their students through the strategy.

“Gamification Made Simple: A Guide for Higher Education Professionals,” by Glennda McKeithan and Ann Marshall, is a new book that details how two educators brought gaming into their classrooms and guides anyone interested in doing the same.

McKeithan, associate teaching professor of special education at KU, and colleagues were looking for ways to improve their courses designed for teachers who will educate students with autism. Marshall was a graduate student in one of those classes and eventually became a graduate teaching assistant, adding and refining the use of role-playing games. They immediately noticed students became more engaged in the course material and participated more in class conversations.

“At the time (former KU professor and department chair) Elizabeth Kozleski used gamification in her courses and challenged us, saying, ‘If you want more students, you need to have a better program. What makes your program different?’” McKeithan said. “We were genuinely surprised by the impact, even from our first, simple game. Sometimes you can feel like you’re not making a difference, and things can get routine. I did not anticipate the profound impact adding gaming to our courses would have on our students.”

The evolution of games in those courses led to several presentations by McKeithan and Marshall at national conferences and eventually to “Gamification Made Simple,” published by Bloomsbury. 

The book begins with a chapter on what gamification is and why it is relevant to higher education. Chapters on team engagement and role theory; planning, designing and implementing effective RPG games; game mechanics and maximizing engagement follow. Each chapter and section note if the content is designed for novices or experts, allowing readers to level up at their own pace.

A “game master’s prologue” begins each chapter, providing perspective from the instructor and game designer, while a “game log” review, simulating a checkpoint in a game, summarizes key takeaways. 

While the content is written with beginners in mind, it also includes citations to peer-reviewed research that provides the foundation to theory backing the effectiveness of the approaches discussed in the book, according to the authors.

“Gamification Made Simple” also features tables, models and specific examples of use of gaming in the class to guide instructors through game design and how to translate ideas from a game into classroom practice. It also explains how to adapt RPGs across disciplines so that instructors in any field can apply course content to real-world scenarios.

The book also provides strategies to develop games for synchronous or asynchronous settings, in-person or online and for courses ranging from 16-week semesters to short mini-mesters.

Marshall, a speech language pathologist at the Blue Valley School District in the Greater Kansas City area, said the lessons learned in coming back for her advanced degrees convinced her of the effectiveness of gamification in education.

"It allowed me to get back into the research world but also to bring that back to the pathology world. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned and grown through the games and classes,” Marshall said. “There were a couple of years of learning by doing in these courses. We saw how engaged students were and gathered feedback on what they liked, which is where we really gleaned information on how to make these games effective.”

In the book’s foreword, Kozleski, now a professor at Stanford University, points out how McKeithan and Marshall have “systematized” an approach to gamification so others can replicate it and turn faculty/student collaboration into immersive games that improve skills like communication, collaboration and professional practice.

“We didn’t think of ourselves as gamers when we started. We were just instructors who wanted to make our courses more relevant and became game masters who saw how effective gamification can be,” McKeithan said. “As educators, we have to be open-minded about how we can reach students and help them in their professional lives. We wrote the book so that others who may not be familiar with gamification, or might be intimidated by it, can say, ‘I can do this and bring it into my own classroom.’”