Gamification of my classes?

Watch this video mash up – see how many games you can name.   Do you remember how old you where when you played them, where you where or even who you were playing the games with?

If (like me) you get a little moist in the eyes, then (a) you’re over 40 and spent far too long gaming as a teenager and (b) dig out a good emulator such as MAME and enjoy them again.

But, seriously as educators why do these games (and I guess in years to come Call of Duty, Assassins Creed and Mario Kart) evoke such a response? Is it, that the immersive, evocative and serially rewarding game play creates an environment that our subconscious minds craves?  If so, should we be trying to invoke such feelings in our students — a process that has become known as “Gamification of the classroom”.

Much has been written on gamification, but if you’re new to it, check out “This Games Sucks“.  I have to admit, for me the jury is still out.

I use “computer games” in class to educate and demonstrate – I posted about this before (here), but this is not “gamification”.

As I plan my lessons to take my Year 13′s though the creation of cumulative frequency histograms, I wonder what I can do to inspire and capture their interest as much as their constant discussions over who “owns” who in COD.

Do you “gamify”?