Lambton College Set To Roll Out Gamification Application In Six Courses This Fall

Gamification Enters College Curriculum

Lambton College in Sarnia, Ontario is set to roll out a new gamification application that will help teach the course material to its students in six of its college courses this coming fall. This Canadian college (@LambtonCollege) is hoping that by incorporating games in education in a way that connects with today’s students, they will increase student engagement, participation, and learning in their courses.

Lambton College’s desire to add gamification to their courses was born out of their mobile-learning initiative. They aspire to have all students and staff use mobile devices to learn. Lambton found, through their own surveys, that most of their students came to college with two to three mobile devices. They decided to try out gamification in the classroom in order to tap students mobile device ownership and usage.

Lambton College uses Brightspace (@Brightspace) by D2L (Desire2Learn) as their Learning Management System provider and has contracted them to create their new gamification learning model.

D2L, the education technology company that created the world’s first truly integrated learning platform, announced that Lambton College is using Brightspace technology to launch a new game-based learning model. Brightspace is known as an industry leader in providing new digital learning environments and online learning solutions.

D2L and Lambton College are partnering to roll out a new wave of gamification in education. They are working together to create an online curriculum that “features avatars and interactive or competitive components, like scoreboards, that students can access in interactive ways right from their mobile devices.” Each pilot course will incorporate the new gamification application into its other curriculum elements, and students will still be attending classes where they learn and discuss the material they are engaging with online.

For people who think this is just a gimmick, Associate Dean Rick Overeem of Lambton College stands behind the school’s decision to embrace technology. Mr Overeem believes that educators are already using a lesser form of gamification when they try to  engage learners through active learning activities in the classroom. He believes their new program is just incorporating a medium, technology, that todays students are really comfortable with in order to engage students in active learning and critical thinking exercises. Education needs to evolve to meet the interests and abilities of today’s learners.