Ryan Hendrickson, Romance Languages and Literatures | 2016-2017
Gameful learning is a pedagogical approach that takes inspiration from how well-designed games function, and applies those choices to course design. Gameful design operates in a self-deterministic framework–we want to apply what self-determination theory says about how intrinsic motivation works to build motivating classroom experiences. (http://gamefulpedagogy.com/what-is-gameful/)
For second language classrooms, which is proficiency-based and where success is contingent upon students forming a connection with the language, self-motivation, failure, and student efficacy can all foster better outcomes.
Another aspect of gameful learning pedagogies that we believe will increase student engagement is the close ties that it has toward the dual trends of service based learning as well as the increased pull of commercialism on higher education. By redesigning these courses and implementing Gradecraft, we will be able to fully incorporate the interdisciplinary nature of gameful learning, affording students the ability to focus their studies on “real world” topics, as well as the language proficiencies that most interest them.
Despite the aforementioned benefits to the second language acquisition, this has, to our knowledge, not been implemented in French, Italian, or Chinese language courses.
Our further reaching goals include the reinvigoration of language courses, and language course enrollment at a national scale, through the novel approach to second language learning that gameful design affords.