Book Image

Gamification with Moodle

By : Natalie Denmeade
Book Image

Gamification with Moodle

By: Natalie Denmeade

Overview of this book

This book describes how teachers can use Gamification design within the Moodle Learning Management System. Game elements can be included in course design by using, badges, rubrics, custom grading scales, forums, and conditional activities. Moodle courses do not have to be solo-learning experiences that replicate Distance Education models. The Gamification design process starts by profiling players and creating levels of achievement towards meeting learning outcomes. Each task is defined, valued, and sequenced. Motivation loops are devised to keep the momentum going. In a gaming studio, this approach would require a team of specialists with a large budget and time frames. Preparing for a class rarely has these optimal conditions. The approach used in this book is to introduce game elements into the course design gradually. First, apply gamification to just one lesson and then build up to gamifying a series of lessons over a term. Each example will indicate the difficulty level and time investment. Try it out to see what is most effective with your learners and choose wisely in your use of technology. By the end of this book, you will be able to create Moodle courses that incorporate choice, communication, challenge, and creativity.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Gamification with Moodle
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
6
Mastery Achieved (Badges and Motivation)
8
Completing the Quest (Reporting Activities)
Index

Individual formal assessment


In the digital media class scenario, formal assessment is done through a personal blog with tags. The learners maintain a Google Blogger site with daily posts of their activities. They add labels to each post and cross reference them against the units of study. This is the basis of their formative assessment. They link the RSS (atom feed) to Moodle as an external blog so that other people in the class can see and be inspired by what they are doing.

Moodle is not used to record their academic results. It is there purely as a collaboration and motivation space to encourage and reward effort and process. The Gamification techniques proposed in this book do not have to contribute to the final grades at all. They can sit alongside your traditional marking system. You could view them as practice exercises to build up competence and confidence.

The blogs became quite large with a wide range of work showing how each person had progressed. So, at the end of the year, the...