What is it?

Despite sounding quite confusing, in reality, gamification means the use of gaming features in real-life contexts. You do this every day without realising, for example, collecting points towards earning a free drink from your local coffee shop or introducing step competitions through various forms of wearable fitness technology. In this instance, we will be focusing on introducing gaming features into education platforms.

Some platforms consider gamification to be purely the use of games, but research defines gamification as the use of any feature traditionally found in a game like leaderboards, point systems and achievement rewards.

Good gamification has been shown to develop a user’s knowledge and positive learning behaviours. However, poorly designed gamification discourages people as there is no way for users to progress. This seems pretty obvious; I know that I am far more likely to give up if I can’t win or do better. We all know what it feels like to be told we’re rubbish or not as good as someone else, and this is why leaderboards or publicly displayed achievements don’t work for everyone. Instead, research shows that it is better to compete against your own previous achievements by aiming to reach certain points in the gamified platform.

“Does it mean I will be able to play games all day?”

In one word: no. In order for gamification to be completely effective, research states that the challenges you face need to touch on things you already know, and therefore in edtech, the work you have already done. For example, playing a game that reinforces something that you covered in school last week would help you.

“So… is it really learning?”

Yes! It is a great way to revise and consolidate what you have learned. Hopefully, it will also inspire and encourage you to seek out more information.

Get My Grades are busy working behind the scenes doing research into the best ways to apply gamification to our platform. Everything we do is evidence-based so you can receive the highest chance of learning and achieving your best possible grades. Look out for gamified elements on the platform very soon!

• A huge range of resources and online textbook content, arranged into units, topics and subtopics.
• Over 75,000 practice questions of varying types, like those on exams - not just multiple choice - written by experienced teachers.
• Instant feedback after each question, with student-friendly mark schemes and explanations.
• Automated tracking, so that you can see where they are doing well and where they are struggling - which you just can't get from a traditional textbook or revision guide!

Get My Grades subscriptions cost just £9 per student per month, or £75 per student for access for the year - with all our subjects and qualifications included, including many of the most common GCSE and IGCSE courses.

Sign up now to explore the platform - and, to give you a chance to start making the most of Get My Grades, use discount code MONTH1 to get your first month for just £1!