1. Gamifying my Physics Course What I have learnt
Pal (Paul) Fekete
Taylors College Sydney

2. Gamification is coming to Education
Gamification is the act of applying game principles to non game based activities.
Gamification in industry:
Virgin Velocity points
McDonalds Monopoly
Fly Buys
Gamification is coming to education
Improves engagement and motivation
No clear evidence of better learning.

3. Thinking about Gamification
I first started thinking about Gamifying my Physics course in 2015.

4. Thinking about Gamification
I kept thinking about it in 2016.

5. I read a lot about Gamification
I kept thinking and researching Gamification in 2017.

6. Options for Gamification
Some of the Options for Gamification:
Moodle, badges, Lessons with twists, etc

7. You Tube, Blogs I watched videos on YouTube. I subscribed to blogs...
good - a lot about Moodle)

8. Quote – Neela Bell "I know it’s not easy with “serious” topics.“
moodle-course/
Physics is a “serious” course!

9. 8 Surprising Gamification Statistics https://www. digitalchalk

10. 8 Surprising Gamification Statistics https://www. digitalchalk
The gamification industry is expected to grow to over $2 billion in the U.S. by 2015, according to M2 Research. (Huffington Post)
61% of surveyed CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executives say they take daily game breaks at work. More than half of these gameful executives say they play during work in order “to feel more productive.” (Ryan Jenkins)
By 2014…more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application, driving 50% of all innovation. (Engagement Alliance)
Since 2010, over 350 companies have launched major gamification projects. These include consumer brands like MLB, Adobe, NBC, Walgreens, Ford, Southwest, eBay, Panera, and more. (Huffington Post)

11. 8 Surprising Gamification Statistics https://www. digitalchalk
In the United States alone, there are 183 million active gamers. Those gamers play 13 hours a week on average. (Ryan Jenkins)
Almost 80% of the learners say that they would be more productive if their university/institution or work was more game-like. (Talent LMS)
Over 60% of learners would be motivated by leaderboards and increased competition among students. 89% say that a point system would increase their engagement with an eLearning application. (Talent LMS)
By 2018, the Global Gamification Market will reach $5.5Bn.

12. Gamification Elements https://magazine. startus

13. My First Physics Game – V1
In 2017 I wrote my first Physics "Game" and showed it to a few people at Moodle Moot They encouraged me to present my game at Moodle Moot 2018 and here I am.
It comes with three choices - if you get them wrong you die and start again.
If you choose correctly, one of your choices is explained (physics).
It comes with two activities where you are required to learn some physics in order to answer questions and proceed.
One of the activities opens a Quiz to complete.
My first game:
Journey to Alpha Centauri

14. … and then I got ambitious – V2
I added a whole lot of really good physics.
... and then the game got boring.
Uh Oh
Journey to Alpha Centauri - V2 (a step backwards)

15. So I had to start thinking again ...

16. I deleted the boring bits
and started exploring "Easter eggs“
Except I used rocket fuel because my topic was Astronomy.
My eggs became rocket fuel.

17. Then I linked the game to my Astronomy Course – V3
Our Physics course was built using Lessons in Moodle.
Students needed to complete:
11 Lessons on Waves and Light
16 Lessons on Astronomy
These lessons were "Assessment for Learning" and hence not worth marks.
In Waves and Light the motivation to complete Lessons was to be ready to do experiments.
In Astronomy there were few experiments.
The motivation became the "Game".

18. Astronomy Lesson 1 completed – Rocket appears

19. Astronomy Lesson 2 completed – Fuel appears

20. Lessons 1 to 5 completed – Second fuel appears

21. Lessons 1 to 8 completed – Third fuel appears

22. 70% of Lessons completed Rocket takes off and the game becomes available.

23. The game started to have possibility
It was now integrated into the course and provided an incentive to students to complete the Lessons.

24. What I learnt writing my first game
You need to be highly confident in the technology so you know what tools to use to achieve the desired outcomes, without thinking about the tools.
You need a good narrative, a good "story board".
The five main elements of a narrative are:
character, setting, conflict, plot and theme.
The movie series “The Matrix” was sold to investors because of the high quality story board they had written even though the writers were relatively unknown. I believe writing a good narrative is the difficult task to complete and also my challenge.
I'm good with the technology.
It is the narrative that is challenging!

25. You need a good story board…

26. What next ? – V4 A whole lot of things are possible: Create characters
Pilot, Science Officer, Navigation
Students work in teams, each one with a different role
Allow the characters to develop - skills, intelligence
Develop the narrative
Bring in more science without making it boring
Award a Badge or Certificate at the completion
Level 2
Take some of the content from my failed V2 and make it fun!

27. Acknowledgements I’d like to acknowledge:
the people I showed Version 1 of my game to last year. They encouraged me to present my game at this year’s conference.
the Moodle Moot reviewers who accepted my presentation. This encouraged me to develop Version 3 of my game.
feedback from IT colleagues at work; Tim, Vladimir
regular and ongoing conversation with another work colleague Brian about how to make our courses more engaging and hence improve student learning.

28. Thank you Questions?