In order to detect vision disorders among students, schools have long relied on the venerable 150 year old wall chart to conduct vision screening. However, conducting wall chart examinations are not completely fool proof as students find various ways to game the process. Here is where a gamified vision testing system designed by nonprofit organization VisionQuest 20/20 may prove to be the solution.
“It turns out video games are just a Trojan horse for studying interest-driven learning” – Constance Steinkeuhler
Now here’s an ironic twist: for all those decades in which academia has been demonizing video games by claiming its taking time away from teenage reading, it now turns out gaming has become one of the main catalysts for teenage reading in boys. I’m not referring to text inside the games nor am I suggesting gamifying reading with points, badges and leaderboards either. I’m saying teenage boys involved in complex games called Massively Multiplayer Online games are taking time aside from their game play to spend hour’s deeply analyzing and creating texts whose difficulty was rated to be college level or higher by experts. Reading and writing are back!
When it comes to innovation, the gamification community is well-aware of the power of a fun game with many engaged players, like the crowdsourced AIDs research game Fold.it, for example. It’s no wonder that Pandodaily editor and NYU Professor Adam Penenberg felt compelled to write an entire book on the subject entitled Play at Work: How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking.
We invited Adam to come on our Gamification Revolution webshow to discuss some of his findings on the innovative power of games. Check out the full video below:
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Be sure to catch our next episode on Thursday, November 7 at 1PM ET/1800 GMT, where we will feature Adweek Gamification Panelist and Boombox CEO, John Hendricks as our next guest.
Loyalty programs are mostly buy 10-get-one-free, but they can be accomplish so much more. In recent years, the loyalty industry has embraced gamification, advancing our understanding of what works – and what doesn’t – to drive customer behavior.
Watch loyalty pioneer Mark Goldstein in this GSummit SF 2013 talk as he covers the ins and outs of gamified loyalty, with an emphasis on how to bring fun, social and scalable engagement to loyalty endeavors – and how you can apply these lessons to your organization.
Be sure to also subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of this presentation by downloading it here.
“Gamification and Activism Done Right”
That was a recent tweet by Chris Albon, a well-known political scientist and coder who writes about using technology for social good. Albon was referring to “Where’s Damascus (Don’t Ask Us)”, a game created by a new little start-up called UsVsTh3m. UsVsTh3m is funded and incubated by UK publisher Trinity Mirror, which like many of its peers, is trying to create new revenue opportunities through a series of cheeky games with political commentary.
What happens in the classroom when learning becomes a heroic journey? Rather than desks and chalkboards, what if students had quests and guilds? Going beyond simply swapping grades with badges and achievements, Lucas Gillispie, founder of the WoWinSchool Project, will share the journey he and other adventurous educators have begun using World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs to engage students in a playful approach to practicing reading and writing skills. Along the way student-heroes are becoming better communicators, leaders, and connecting with a global audience.
Watch Lucas’ full GSummit SF 2013 talk below! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of this presentation by downloading it here.
The concept of game based learning was developed around ten years ago, and it has become a very popular one in various circles. A very good example of this is in business. Traditionally, business has been associated with boredom, since most of the things done in the name of business are basically routine. This means that there is a lot of room for one to lose their focus and drive especially if they have to do repetitive tasks. Doing training in business also poses challenges to many, since it usually involves the use of very abstract concepts and terms. However, game based learning techniques are starting to emerge as a solution to some of these solutions, specifically for training.
