Gamification with Moodle: Use game elements in Moodle courses to build learner resilience and motivation

Use game elements in Moodle courses to build learner resilience and motivation

About This Book

• Formulate a Moodle course that acts as a flexible framework ready for your own content
• Keep learners engrossed and create opportunities for motivation through the concepts of status, access, and power
• A resourceful guide to innovative learning using automatic reports, assessments, and conditional release of activities

Who This Book Is For

This book has been designed for teachers who to use technology to create more engaging learning experiences for both online learning and in face-to-face sessions. This book will especially appeal to people who are interested in the underlying mechanics of play and games and want to know more about applying these concepts in an educational context. It is assumed that you are a teacher and expert in your field, have basic computer skills, and have access to the Internet.

What You Will Learn

• Set up a scoring system using Moodle Gradebook
• Enable communication and collaboration in your class as a Learning Community using forums
• Assess your learners' abilities by setting up challenges and quests
• Configure gateways to check and ensure progress before new content or activities are released
• Create Moodle assignments to provide effective feedback through a comment bank and custom scale
• Issue Open Badges to recognize achievements and set up an online backpack to share digital badges
• Reduce anxiety for learners by using the game-like concept of "Levelling Up"

In Detail

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 the book, you will be able to create gripping Moodle courses for effective and efficient learning.

Natalie Denmeade

Natalie Denmeade works as a freelance educational Gamification consultant and Moodle administrator. She is interested in researching emerging technologies and how Gamification can transform traditional education. Her poster, Moodle for Motivation Toolguide, has been distributed widely as a useful tool to promote diversity in assessment. She has also developed an award-winning Moodle course using the Gamification design process. In 2015, she received a finalist certificate in the LearnX Impact Awards for instructional designer as a recognition of the high standards of her work. Through social media, Natalie participates in the global communities of mobile learning, Moodle Learning Management Systems, Gamification designers, and technology innovation groups.