Games Aren't Just for Recess: How to Implement Educational Gaming in the Classroom

Gain an understanding of why and how educational games help students become motivated and morph them into better life-long learners.

In this ondemand course, Douglas Kiang will share many different ways that he uses game dynamics in his own classroom to enhance learning and increase student engagement. This is a practical ondemand course with many ideas that actually work with students. We'll explore the Bartle Test, a better way to form collaborative groups in the classroom. We'll talk about achievements, badging, and other gamification techniques that motivate learners. We'll look at what Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development tells us about how to best differentiate instruction using games. We'll find out why Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow perfectly expresses the state of learning that games can induce. Teachers will leave this ondemand course with an understanding of what makes the games their students play so addictive, as well as specific ideas about how they can better apply these ideas to their own classrooms. This ondemand course is a combination of educational theory, gaming knowledge, and FUN. Douglas Kiang is a lifelong gamer who has spent his career teaching in independent schools, finding ways to engage and motivate students who understand the language of games.