Gamification and Learning Theories

21^st Century Skills are necessary for students to master in order for them to experience school and life success in an increasingly digital and connected age; includes digital literacy, traditional literacy, content knowledge, media literacy, and learning/innovation skills.

The idea is that the engagement that gamers experience when playing commercially produced games can be rendered to an educational context and used to influence student motivation and facilitate learning.

Game Rewards Systems are the structures of rewards and incentives in a game that inspire intrinsic motivation in the player while also offering extrinsic rewards. The models are also used to motivate in non-game environments.

Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT), is audience-centered where the objective is to understand why people seek and choose the media that they do. This theory assumes that people have the power over their media usage and are not just passive consumers waiting to be fed a steady diet of what’s being offered.

Most communication online is via text and this affords individuals a shield that keeps them from being physically visible. This invisibility removes any pressure about our body language and tone. It also allows people to misrepresent themselves.

Online Collaborative Learning Theory or OCL was developed by Linda Harasim in 2012. It is a form of constructivist teaching, where the instructor acts as a facilitator online. Students work together or collaborate to solve a stated problem in a virtual classroom setting.