Game designers create immersive experiences that keep players engaged for hours. In games, players immediately take action, make meaningful decisions, and volunteer to spend more and more time finding treasures or defeating villains. Meanwhile many corporate e-learning experiences are less than engaging. What instructional designers need to do is steal ideas, techniques, and methodologies from game designers and incorporate those ideas into our instructional design.

1. By Karl M. Kapp
Bloomsburg University
Gamification of Learning &Instruction
EMAIL: kkapp@bloomu.edu
TWITTER: @kkapp
BLOG: http://karlkapp.com/kapp-notes/
Don't Think Like an
Instructional Designer—Think
Like a Game Designer

2. Covert Takeaway Challenge

3. The SuperHero Mission

4. You are a game designer at Rock’n GameDesign
Corporation which has hit some hard times lately.

5. It is Friday at 4:55 PM and you only have two things on you mind…

6. Hey someone wants us
to create a game
about….

7. … Superheroes
Learning Lady
Meta-Cognition

8. BulletPoint:
AKA Board-Dumb
Distractress:
AKA Apathy
… and Supervillains

9. We are competing internally for the
project. Winning team earns the
right to work on the project.

10. Rules
• Text the word karlkappto 37607
Take out
your text-
machinesStandard Texting Fees
Apply!

11. Two Development Teams
TeamA TeamB

12. Each team will be confronted with a
series of questions. The team that
answers the most questions correctly
wins the work.

13. Losers are assigned to the
“Watching Paint Dry” game that’s
been under development.

14. Wow, I heard about that paint
drying game, its almost as fun as…
never mind. Superheroes are much
better.

15. First decision about this Superhero
game is how to start the game? What
should a player’s first in-game
experience be?

16. You have two choices:
Tell the player detailed information they need
to know about being a superhero.
or
Begin with a battle.

17. A Battle!

18. Why does this answer make
sense?
Not Sure?

19. Good game designers know that games
are engaging because they require action
right away.
Action draws in the player and
encourages further engagement.
Start with action.
It helps defeat boredom and
apathy on the part of the
learner.

20. Too often instructional design is about
the content and not about the actions
that need to occur.
Game Design is about action.

21. Vogel, J. J., Vogel D.S., Cannon-Bowers, J., Bowers, C.A., Muse, K., & Wright, M. (2006). Computer gaming and
Interactive simulations for learning: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 34(3), 229-243.
Research indicates that learners who
used interactive games for learning
had the greater cognitive gains over
learners provided with traditional
classroom training.

22. Here are some of my
notes on the subject.

23. Ok, next decision.
Provide a map with the location of all
the Supervillain hideouts.
or
Create a sense of mystery and
curiosity concerning the location of
hideouts.

24. Build curiosity & mystery into a game. Reveal
locations of Supervillain hideouts throughout the
course of the player’s journey.

26. A sense of suspense, mystery
and intrigue draws people into
games and can draw them into
learning as well.

27. OK, next decision, should we:
Make the game easy so we don’t discourage the
players.
or
Make the game challenging, knowing some
players will fail the first few times.

28. Jones, B., Valdez, G., Norakowski, J., & Rasmussen, C. (1994). Designing learning and technology for educational reform. North
Central Regional Educational Laboratory. [Online]. Available: http://www.ncrtec.org/capacity/profile/profwww.htm and
Schlechty, P. C. (1997). Inventing better schools: An action plan for educational reform. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Chapter 2
“The Gamification of Learning and Instruction.”
This
should be
easy.
You can’t stop all of
us.
Uh, oh.
This is a
challenge

29. In fact, give them the
Kobayashi Maru of challenges.

30. Harsh!

31. Look! Things that are too easy or too difficult
will not pique a learner’s interest because they
lead to boredom or frustration.
White, R.W. (1959) Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66, 297-333.
Research has shown that challenge is
correlated with intrinsic motivation and
motivation related to the desire to seek
competence and self confidence.

32. Well said!

33. Well, the next decision, should we:
Put the player at risk, they could die at any
moment.
or
Let the player safely explore the environment.

34. Risk, in games, failing is allowed,
it’s acceptable and it’s part of the
process.

35. Do you punish failure in your
learning design or do you allow and
encourage the freedom to fail?

36. Last decision, should we:
Give player choices about what level to enter
the game.
or
Create one path for every player.

37. Level One
Level Two
Level Three
Choices, players need choices. Look,
let me tell you what motivates
people.

38. People are motivated when they have
autonomy, mastery and relatedness.

39. Hey, isn’t that the Self-Determination Theory?

40. Why, yes…yes it is.

41. When given control over their learning, research
has shown that learners invested more and
attempted more complex strategies than when
they had no control. So give learners control.
Cordova, D.I., & Lepper M. R. (1996) Intrinsic motivation and the process of learning: Beneficial effects of
contextualization, personalization and choice. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 715-730
Where
to next?

42. Lot of information, thanks. So
let me ask one more question.

43. Which team won?

44. Well, there all winners to me….

45. Ugh….

46. How about a re-cap…

47. Here are five tips to help an
instructional designer to think like a
game designer:
1) Begin with activity
2) Create curiosity, mystery, intrigue
3) Create a challenge for the learner
4) Put learners at “mock” risk
5) Give learners choices

48. Covert Takeaway Challenge

49. What Questions
Do You Have?