Resources and Further Readings on the Benefits of Video Games in Education Many recent articles have been critical of the computer games industry siting evidence of the negative effects of computer games on learning and even on physical and mental health. These studies raise the alarm about how video games lead to addictions, violent behavior, sexism,…
Boosting Civic Engagement With Gamification In Ovar, Portugal There are many approaches politicians use to try to encourage civic involvement and voter participation. Talking about government budgets is usually not one of them but the Portuguese town of Ovar took to a gamification approach to civic discussion, and to the politicians’ surprise, learned that it was a…
While automobiles have been part of the American landscape for a century, mobile phones only started becoming commonplace about 15 years ago. Today, the pairing of the two products forms a dangerous combination leading to distracted driving, and in far too many cases, car accidents. TextNinja, a gamification startup is trying to overcome the problems caused by the collision of these technologies with a new technological solution: a mobile app that helps keeps drivers’ focus where it belongs – the road.
Last time, we featured Ball State University Achievements program coordinator, Scott Reinke to talk about the university’s student engagement app, Ball State Achievements. Developed in-house, the mobile application helps at-risk students engage with the university ecosystem and improve learning outcomes in higher education.
Watch the full interview below to learn about:
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Last week, we featured Quantic Foundry co-founder and analytics lead, Nick Yee to talk about Quantic Foundry’s Gaming Motivation Model. Combining social science and data science, Nick’s team was able to decipher users gaming behaviors and motivations through the unique framework.
Watch the full interview below to learn about:
Bonus: Interested to find out about your gamer motivation profile? Try taking the survey here.
Watch the video, listen on the audio podcast or subscribe to our iTunes channel below. Be sure to catch our next episode of the Gamification Revolution.
Training for a marathon feels like a lonely challenge for many runners, quietly logging in the miles. To alleviate this, Milestone Sports is launching a platform called MilestonePod for runners to track their training progress with gamification elements according to MarketWired. Individuals using the platform can track many metrics, connect with others, and compare training progress.
With an eye toward international expansion, London-based consumer engagement app OnePulse recently closed a $1.07million seed investment round. Led by D5 Capital, AngelLab and LCIF, OnePulse has already signed over 300 clients looking for on-demand consumer insights. Major businesses and retailers including Aviva, Coca-Cola, and CGA Strategy, look to OnePulse mobile app users for instant responses and feedback.
Last week, we featured CleverPet Inc. founder & CEO, Leo Trottier to discuss about the company’s gamified device, CleverPet. Successfully funded on Kickstarter, the device provides engaging stimulation for a more active lifestyle desired by bored, lonely dogs.
Watch the full interview below to learn about:
Watch the video, listen on the audio podcast or subscribe to our iTunes channel below. Be sure to catch our next episode of the Gamification Revolution.
With much of the West Coast mired in a years-long drought, it’s hard to get away from the stream of messaging about water conservation. But much of that messaging doesn’t get through. Many people still use (and unfortunately waste) water in the same way that they did when water was abundant. A gamification startup called Oasys has a developed a device that aims to help homeowners understand just how much water they use.
Loyalty programs have a long and varied history, with retailers rolling them out in different forms to entice longtime customers to continue spending with them. Canadian Tire, one of Canada’s largest automotive accessory retailers, has one of the oldest customer loyalty programs. Consumers who buy items with cash or credit cards earn paper bills that look like money. The Canadian Tire Money loyalty program has been in place since 1958.
The New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering is a comprehensive university of engineering, applied science, and technology. Its 150 year history of education makes it one of the oldest engineering schools in the United States. With campuses in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai it is also a multi-cultural, global institution.
When the NYU Polytechnic changed their course registration procedure to a more self-service approach, they hoped it would lead students to take more ownership of their course of studies. Whereas before the students would be presented with a schedule and entered into courses by university staff, students would find and register for classes themselves through the new gamified tutorial system.
If you were listing five subjects that seem impossible to gamify, you probably would list personal finance first. Singapore-based start-up Jojonomic thinks it has cracked the code with its new financial management application, offered as what its CEO and founder Indrasto Budisantoso says is the antidote to the very low level of financial literacy in the company’s target geographic market, which is South East Asia. The goal of the gamified mobile app, according to Budisantoso, former CEO of Groupon, is to facilitate personal finance management by minimizing the number of screens that a user had to work through in order to record transactions and by making it fun.
If someone gave you the chance to claim a reward in exchange for boosting your physical activity, would you do it? It turns out, a lot of people are taking up that offer, apparent in the growing number of examples of games in health finding a place in businesses. But executives at companies considering such programs might wonder whether they work. New research suggests that not only are patients participating in games, this participation is also leading to measurable improvements in health.
Gamification has been used in education to motivate students to learn and in private business to improve employee performance for years. It was only a matter of time before the technique began to be used in the political process.
On the theory that the best way to learn “business” English is by reading the Wall Street Journal and other publications of Dow Jones & Co., the WSJ has launched an online video-driven educational program called Newsmart. A subscription based service, Newsmart proposes to use game based learning to teach business English to non-English speakers by exposing them to actual WSJ articles and videos drawn from the general areas of business, finance and technology news. Once the learner has read or viewed the media, she is guided through an array of exercises intended to test comprehension and to both teach and improve vocabulary and grammar. A beginning user is also offered the opportunity to self-test on a TOEFL interface presumably to assist the student in determining the proper entrance level.
