LDTC 600 ~ Learning Theory Units

Gamification is the incorporation of game-like elements into learning experiences.  The purpose of this style of learning is to promote motivation through active participation in both learning and rapid-response assessment. The addition of badges, points and leaderboards in group learning is promote increased motivation by stimulating one's desire to improve in a state of competitiveness. 

Russian-born American innovator of radio and television in the early 20th century, David Sarnoff, once said: 

Imagine a small group of beginner French learners at the A1 level according to the DELF - le  Diplôme d'études en langue française. This level recognizes basic knowledge where a learner can interact in a simple way, ask and answer simple questions, and is developing a lexically-organized repertoire of situational-specific phrases. In this scenario, the group, in an online classroom environment, has recently learned vocabulary for verbs, adjectives and nouns related to eating, drinking and ordering at a café or bistro.

In this gamified lesson, the learners will be presented with situation-appropriate phrases that they must interpret and use correctly when asking a question or responding to a dialogue. The game will include matching or choosing vocabulary, conjugated verbs, and phrases they have learned. Each student will receive points for each response, based on correctness and speed. A leaderboard will display at various intervals letting each learner or "player" know where they stand in the competition.  If there are students with challenges, an option could be to eliminate the "timed" portion of the point system to reduce anxiety. Additionally, optional effects such as sounds or music could be suppressed.

For an in-class interactive formative assessment, we could use a whiteboard with a conversational prompt such as "Qu'est-ce que vous voudriez pour le dîner?" (What would you like for dinner?)  Then, each learner can sticky-note their response, in French, what they would like, in a complete phrase. The prompt can vary with new questions to complete a short dialogue.

A summative assessment that could be designed to evaluate the learner's comprehension could be a quiz, given as a link to each student to complete on their own, either during the class or to be completed after. The quiz would be done individually, rather than a group environment,  and allow each learner to take at their own rhythm, no anxiety of competition, and could have the option to re-take up to three attempts. 

An authentic assessment in a group online classroom for this scenario could be either a collaborative discussion (for example with less than 4 students), or placing learners in breakout rooms of 2 or 3 where they are given a role (guest/client and host/server). Then they are provided a situation - arriving at a cafe or restaurant - and completing specific steps - asking for a table, listening to options, asking questions and ordering. This replication of a real-world context would assess the learner's ability to effectively use their knowledge and negotiate a task. Based on the given scenario of a group at the A1/A2 level of French as a second language, learners should be able to 

• produce basic questions to ask what they want (i.e. "a room for two nights", or "a table for four, please") 
• respond to similar questions
• express how they feel at the moment
• express what they would like to have, purchase, or eat

These role-playing scenarios would be peer-assessed and reviewed either by real-time instructor moderation or reviewing recorded break-out rooms, to determine if learners are understanding the proper use of learned vocabulary and following basic conversational and grammar rules. This will offer insights as to what topics and vocabulary still need review.