In an interesting article in the Chronical of Higher Education, contributor Kentaro Toyama argues that there should be limits to the extent gamification is used in higher education. First, he acknowledges that education has always had some game elements – marks being one of them. He also sees advantages to the “ramped up” gamification that is happening now. However, he makes the argument that not everything should be gamified as it is important for students to develop intrinsic motivation. He makes the very interesting point that gamification proponents argue that this is what today’s “digital native” students are used to and therefore they must be given it in higher education lest they become bored. The author argues that this is similar to being addicted to meth – users find life off meth boring. However, in the case of meth addicts, our reaction is to get them off meth, not to enable them through further supply. The author asks why we do not have the same response to our digital-loving students.
Read the acticle and continue the discussion with your friends and colleagues!