This webliography features books, news articles, and research papers related to gamification and education. As new material becomes available, it will be added to this page.
If you have any suggestions for publications, please leave them in the comments.
Gee, J. P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy: Revised and updated edition. New York, NY: Macmillan.
— Presents video games as multidiscplinary, creativity-filled spaces both for engaged, meaningful learning and opportunities for innovative teaching.
Kapp, K. M. (2012). The gamification of learning and instruction: Game-based methods and strategies for training and education. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
— Focuses on how gamification can be used in instructional design to improve curriculum, better meet the learning needs of students, and increase engagement in learning settings.
McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world. New York, NY: Penguin.
— Proposes that playing games can improve people's happiness, solve social problems, and motivate people to meet their goals through becoming game-playing/lifelong learners. Seeks to answer what the future full of gamer generations will look like.
Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
— Explains the basics of game design for any type of game. Features case studies of games, what players learn from them, and their pros and cons; a comprehensive resource.
Sheldon, L. (2012). The multiplayer classroom: Designing coursework as a game. Boston, MA: Course Technology.
— Explains how educators at any level can create multiplayer games based on the subjects that they teach.
Squire, K. (2011). Video games and learning: Teaching and participatory culture in the digital age. New York: Teachers College Press.
— Looks at the social nature of learning and videogame-play and how this works in the classroom and other learning contexts.
Mackay, R. F. (2013, March 1). Playing to learn: Panelists at Stanford discussion say using games as an educational tool provides opportunities for deeper learning. Stanford Report.
— Reports on a panel discussion by leaders in the games-and-education community, like Roy Pea, Constance Steinkeuler, James Paul Gee, Malcolm Bauer, and Dan Schwartz.
Brown, J.S. & Thomas, D. (2008, February 14). The gamer disposition. Harvard Business Review Blog Network.
— Outlines the five key attributes of the gamer disposition and explains why employees who have them often contribute greatly to the workplace.
RESEARCH PAPERS & REPORTS
Anderson, J. Q., & Rainie, H. (2012). Gamification: Experts expect "game layers" to expand in the future, with positive and negative results. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
— Presents the results of a survey of 1,021 technology experts on their views of gamification, in education and other fields. Includes many diverse points of view from key stakeholders.
Deterding, S. (2013). Skill atoms as design lenses for user-centered gameful design. From the CHI 2013 Workshop "Designing Gamification", Paris, France.
— Describes a skill atom as being comprised of "goals, actions, tokens, feedback, a rule system, challenge, and the user's model/skill" and explains how they can be used to motivate learners intrinsically.
Erenli, K. (2012, September). The impact of gamification: A recommendation of scenarios for education. In Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL), 2012 15th International Conference on (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
— Discusses the nature of play in education, definitions and uses of the term "gamification" in different contexts, and some educational scenarios regarding gamification's usage.
Kickmeier-Rust, M. D., Hillemann, E. C., & Dietrich, A. (2014). Gamification and smart, competence-centered feedback: Promising experiences in the classroom. International Journal of Serious Games, 1(1).
— Looks at the effects of a game-like program focused on learning multiplication for students ages 6-8. Some gamification elements in this ninja-narrative math game, like scoring, were found to motivate students.
Lee, J. J., & Hammer, J. (2011). Gamification in education: What, how, why bother?. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 15(2), 146.
— Explains the pros and cons of gamification in classroom settings through a focus on techniques, uses, and goals.
Simões, J., Redondo, R. D., & Vilas, A. F. (2013) A social gamification framework for a K-6 learning platform. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(2), 345-353.
— Presents research findings from a study on a gamified social network used to teach programming to students aged 6-12.