Assignment 3: Gamification

Gamifying the Social Studies Classroom

1. Goals:
1. To increase class participation.
2. To increase positive behaviors (as outlined in our schools’ behavior matrix).
3. To increase sense of ownership of one’s learning by turning in assignments on time.
4. To increase collaboration among students while working in groups.

2. Players / Students: Madras Middle School is the largest of the six middle schools within Coweta County, serving
1100+ students. The Social Studies class that I will be focusing on is comprised of 27 students. The class is
comprised of students under General Education, Gifted Education, and Special Education between the ages of 13-
14 years old. Class demographics include: 70% male (19), 30% females (8). 78% White, 19% Black, 11% Multiracial,
3% Hispanic. 30% (8) students require SPED services. 26% of the class is gifted (7 students). The students have
access to 1:1 technology (Chromebooks) and are motivated and experienced in gaming.

3. Learning Objectives / Target Behaviors

1. Students will actively participate in their classes.

4. Gamification Strategies

4.1. Application of the Octalysis Framework:

Strategies Rationales
Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning &  Encouraging team to  Classcraft allows for students to
Calling complete assignments become leaders of their teams.
Students can lead by encouraging
their peers to turn in assignments,
display positive behavior, and actively
participate. This role of leadership
allows the students to feel a part of
something bigger than themselves,
which embodies the core drive of Epic
Meaning and Calling.
Core Drive 2: Development &  Classcraft Leaderboard  The Classcraft leaderboard allows
Accomplishment  Classcraft students to visually see their awarded
Badges/Rewards/Points points compared to others in the
class. This creates a challenge for
students and encourages them to
work hard to be the leader of the
class. Creating this challenge is vital
for student buy-in and allows for a
competitive atmosphere to keep high
student interest.
  Students can also earn badges in
Classcraft. Badges provide students
with a sense of accomplishment and
reward for completing tasks and
earning points. This feeling of
accomplishment helps drive the
student to continue to do well on
coursework in hopes of earning more
badges.
Core Drive 3: Empowerment of  Students receive instant  Through Classcraft students will
Creativity & Feedback feedback within receive instant feedback concerning
Classcraft. behaviors and assignment activity.
Students will know instantly if their
behavior has caused them to lose
health points or whether their
excellent classwork has awarded them
points. Instant feedback, I believe is
essential in a gamified classroom for
students to understand the teacher’s
expectations. Students will always rise
to meet expectations once they are
clear, and I believe instant feedback
help us reach those goals much faster.
Core Drive 4: Ownership &  Student create their own  Students gain a sense of ownership by
Possession character/avatar in creating their own avatars within
Classcraft. Classcraft. Allowing students to create
 Hero Pact the avatar that will represent them in
 Point Redemption the gamified classroom is another
element of fostering ownership and
possession within each student.
 Students sign a Hero Pact at the
beginning of the game which requires
students to commit to the game and
therefore creates a sense of
ownership and possession towards
the game on day one.
 Students have the opportunity to
trade in their points for different
rewards. Cashing in points for rewards
that interest students creates a drive
of ownership in students working to
gain more points.
Core Drive 5: Social Influence &  Classcraft Teams  Students work together in teams on
Relatedness Classcraft. While working in teams,
students should develop a sense of
belonging and ownership within the
team. Teams will have to work
together to achieve points. Teams
hopefully will encourage all members
to work collaboratively, help one
another if someone struggles, and
 take ownership in individual tasks to
help the team achieve.
Core Drive 7: Unpredictability &  Random Rewards and  Students will be engaged throughout
Curiosity Consequences the entire process due to the curiosity
in the rewards and consequences.
 Curiosity and the unpredictability of
the lesson will keep students
constantly wanting more.
Core Drive 8: Loss & Avoidance  Loss of Health Points  Students have to keep goals on the
 Losing Battles forefront in order to be successful and
avoid the loss of points.
Left Brain vs. Right Brain Drives Left Brain  Using a combination of both left brain
 Core Drives 2,4,8 and Right Brain Core Drives will allow
 Classcraft Leaderboards, the students an opportunity to be
Badges, Rewards, & successful as well as motivated
Points. throughout the duration of the
 Student-created Avatars lesson/class.
 Hero Pact/Point  (Left Brain) Classcraft allows students
Redemption to create their own characters and
 Loss of Health Points and follow their ranking (leaderboard) as
Losing Battles well as earn badges and other
Right Brain rewards. These elements help drive
 Core Drives 3,5,7 the students extrinsic motivation
 Instant Feedback empowering the students ownership
 Classcraft Teams and accomplishment throughout the
 Random Rewards and lesson.
Consequences  (Right Brain) By providing instant
feedback students will feel
empowered by the work they are
creating and the drive to continue
working hard throughout the
game/lesson. Classcraft teams allow
for students to develop socially during
the lesson and random rewards create
a sense of unpredictably causing
students to be on the edge of their
seat waiting for more. All of these
gaming elements help students
develop their intrinsic motivation.
White Hat vs. Black Hat White Hat  Today, students need positive
Gamification  Team Encouragement reinforcement. I believe that when
 Classcraft Leaderboard student receive positive feedback that
 Classcraft it helps drive them to be more
Badges/Rewards successful and to develop more
 Ownership intrinsic motivation.
 Instant Feedback  Students, I believe, need a
combination of both White and Black
Black Hat Hat core drives in order to be
 Loss of Health Points due successful. Students by large need
to negative behavior. positive reinforcement, but also need
 Random Rewards to understand consequences do occur
 and how to react during such an
event.
 In my lesson, I have the following
elements divided into White and Black
Hat core drives:
 (White Hat) Through the use of teams,
students will feel socially empowered
and develop ownership by creating
their own character to represent them
during the lesson/class. Students by
using the Classcraft Leaderboard and
receiving rewards will continue to
develop a sense of accomplishment.
These White Hat core drives provide
students with positive reinforcement
in order to develop motivation to be
success in the class.
 (Black Hat) Students need to
understand that there are
consequences for their
actions/behaviors. Gamification is a
great way to help students understand
in a more positive setting. Students
will experience a loss of points due to
negative behavior could receive
random consequences that are
unpredictable. These Black Hat core
drives help students to be successful
in the game while providing them with
a positive setting to learn correct
behaviors.

4.2. Use of Classcraft: Classcraft will be used as a platform to help gamify my Social Studies classroom. Classcraft
will allow for my students to compete and develop a sense of ownership of their actions and work in my class by
gaining points when completing classwork. Classcraft will help encourage students to turn in work on time and
collaborate with peers in order to achieve their collective class goals.
Classcraft will also help develop positive behaviors in my students. Students will lose points for inappropriate
behavior thus encouraging them to behave and achieve points for their team.

Students will gain a sense of ownership by being able to create their own characters within Classcraft. Students
can choose between a Warrior, Mage, or Healer. Students ownership develops as they join a team and then work
to achieve the goals provided by the teacher in order to earn as many points possible.

Classcraft is a great resource to use in order to gamify the classroom and increase student’s motivation and
ownership!
5. Process: My classes consist of 75 minute periods. The following process would be implemented throughout 1-5
days, with implementation taking place in steps to reach full implementation by day five. I believe to effectively
implement the gamification system students would need time to adjust and learn the expectations of the new
system.

Day 1:
 Introduction of Classcraft
o Show students the promotional video on Classcraft’s website.
o Students will need to create accounts (using their school provided emails).
o Teacher/Student discussion on the expectations of Classcraft and answer any questions students
may have about the new system. (Chances are student are going to be enthusiastic about the new
program).
o Allow students time to begin creating and designing their Avatar that will be used in the Classcraft
App.
Day 2:
 Team Development
o Continue to allow students to develop their characters and learn about what powers they can
choose to yield.
o Discuss with students the point system and how they can earn points and how points can be lost. (Be
sure to explain all aspects of the point system including the leaderboard and incorporate the
importance of team work.)
o Students will need to be introduced to their teams. Allow students time to create team names and
create a logo that will represent their teams during class.
o Allow students time to share their team names and logo’s to the class to ensure whole class
awareness.
Day 3:
 Begin Implementation
o Begin the day with explaining to students that they will be participating in a trial run of Classcraft
before full implementation.
o Students will monitor their points and team progress.
o Students at the end of the class period will review information with the team and discuss what could
be improved before full implementation.
o Teacher will need to discuss with students the importance of team work and monitoring their own
behavior/progress.
Day 4:
 Full Implementation
o Students will begin to monitor their own progress concerning their points and behavior.
o Students who may have been absent for intro course will need to attend an intro course during
lunch or after class before participating in full implementation.
o Teacher will give out rewards/consequences throughout the class period and students will have an
opportunity after each class period to review their progress for the day and discuss with their teams.
(Eventually students will review on a weekly basis, but for the beginning stages students will review
daily to ensure understanding of the program).
Day 5:
 Parental Notification/Student Conferences
o Sent notifications home to parents explaining Classcraft and its uses in your classroom.
o Students will need to be able to walk their parents through the process of creating an account to
access student information.
o Parents will also need to be notified by the teacher if students fail to relay information to parents
describing Classcraft. (It is important that parents are aware of the system being using in class as
well as understanding how to use the system at home.) **Consider hosting a parent night to give
info to parents).
 o Remind students that points will be rewarded for those who have parents sign up for Classcraft.
o Continue with full implementation and review intro material with students who were absent (if
needed).

6. Reflection
 This project was difficult for me at first. After working through the project I quickly learned all of the benefits
to gamifying my classroom. The materials that were provided by the professor were helpful in constructing
my gamification lesson. Prior to this assignment, I had never heard of Classcraft.com. I found this website to
be extremely interesting and I plan to explore this website more in hopes of making it a permanent part of
my classroom. I believe that after completing this assignment I feel better prepared to implement this
gamified learning in all of my classes. I believe incorporating Classcraft and the elements of gamification to
each of my lessons will greatly impact the class climate and student achievement over time. Although I don’t
believe I could implement all of these elements this school year, I do believe that implementation at the
beginning of the year would be ideal. Overall, I feel that I have learned a lot from this assignment and can’t
wait to implement this in my own classroom.