Gamification Delivery Systems

 For those of you who have been following my blog this semester you have seen a transformation in my ideas about gamification in the classroom.  I first started by thinking that games in the classroom were a waste of time.  As I have processed information throughout the semester I have become excited about trying some gamification in my class next year.  In fact, most of my summer will be taken up by getting this in place for school to start in the fall.  I could buy some already created simulation type games.  And I still may.  But my focus right now is to set up a system like what I have been doing for my grad class.  It's not so much a game to play, but a series of activities where points and badges are earned.  And to some extent, a competition between classmates.  I have become a bit envious of other students who have completed levels before I have and that has propelled me to keep working to achieve.  I hope that will be the case for my students when school starts in August. 

   This assignment for this blog was to compare different gamification systems.  What type of features do they have?  How much do they cost?   I choose to compare Reezly (what we are using for our grad class), CANVAS (the LMS my school system provides), and Schoology (suggested by another grad class I have taken). 

   Reezly is a 3D game simulation platform.  The quests are teacher designed and students can earn badges and points as they level up through the activities.  Activities can be anything from readings, to blog posts to creating presentations.  Because it is all teacher created it can be used for any content area.  Students work through at their own pace and new activities can be accessed as quests are completed.  There different features that can be accessed.  The basic edition is free.  More features and number of students can be added for a price.

   CANVAS is a learning management system that can be used for many different tasks for teachers and students.  Teachers can create "cards" for each class that will allow for assignments, announcements, tests, etc.  It can be used for delivering content in a more traditional sense or in a gamification mode.  CANVAS provides access to badges and other applications work with CANVAS to add badges.  It is free to teachers and students who are in a district that has a contract with Instructure, the provider of CANVAS.  Pricing for that was not available.  

   Schoology is also a learning management system like CANVAS except that it does not require a school system to purchase a contract.  It is designed to easily accommodate gamification into its use. Its base applications are free, but additional applications that would mainly be used by administration may be purchased.

   All three systems are teacher and student friendly.  All would be good choices for teachers wanting to implement gamification into their classes.  I am choosing to work with CANVAS.  Mainly because my district already has access to it.  I know from limited experience with it that I can have assessments directly added into the lessons and the program will grade the activity itself.  It also is synced with our grading system so my rosters will be automatically uploaded.  This will make much of my administrative duties with it easier that starting from scratch.