Gamification Workshop (Online edition)

Non-Degree / Dates: 12-16 July 2021

Due to the insufficient number of participants the course will be merged with the Design of Serious Games course.

Serious games and gamification are different things – serious games are designed to achieve some serious goal. Gamification is the use of game elements in a non-game context and not designing full-fledged games. However, there are also a lot of similarities – how to design an engaging experience and what game elements to choose to support this goal. In summer school, the structure of both courses was also planned similarly. By attending this joint course you will get theoretical knowledge from both domains (serious games and gamification), but on a practical level, you can choose your preferred practical homework – designing a serious game or gamification.

Gamification is a process that helps you create interesting, interactive and fun content from the mundane by adding game-inspired elements. The best part about gamification is that it can be applied to many aspects in life, the fields of business, marketing and education being just a few examples.

This Tallinn Summer School course is about designing a gamified product or service. Adding game elements to your content gives you a chance to widen your engagement and attract a wider audience. The TSS Gamification Workshop explores the concept of gamification through real-life examples, and then gives participants the opportunity to work in a team to develop their own working prototype. Teams will develop their own projects from an idea through design to working prototype. Topics covered during this course:

– Introducing participants
– The nature of gamification and gamification design process
– Examples of gamification
– Generating and selecting ideas for gamification.
– Forming teams and dividing roles
– Designing challenges
– Designing intrinsic motivators
– Designing extrinsic motivators
– Design of feedback and progress
– Incorporation of entertaining elements
– Other game elements
– Prototype development
– Prototype presentation and testing

Why this online course?

The knowledge on using game-design elements and game principles is useful in many fields, including business, marketing, education etc.
You get to develop your idea into a working prototype.

Teacher(s)

Digital Learning Games master’s programme faculty and students.

Mikhail Fiadotau is a lecturer in the School of Digital Technologies at Tallinn University, where he primarily teaches in the Digital Learning Games MSc programme. His research covers such areas as game production, serious games and game-based learning, games education, and the cultural heterogeneity of gaming communities and practices. Mikhail has also been a participant in European research and development projects focusing on serious games and gamification.

Peadar Callaghan, MA is Chief Executive Officer at Integrated Game Solutions. He graduated from the University of Limerick with an MA in English Language Teaching. Peadar has worked as an educator in a number of countries from South Korea to Saudi Arabia. He has employed games and gamification in much of his work and is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in Digital Learning Games at Tallinn University.

Ahmed El Shenawy is a freelance game designer and 3D modeller/visualizer. He is also a graduate student in the Digital Learning Games programme at Tallinn University. In addition to his studies, Ahmed has contributed to research and development activities at the university focusing on educational game creation.

Timetable

Time Zone: UTC/GMT +3 hours (Check the time difference to your location)

10:00 – 12:00 Real-time online session with the teachers (Ensure you have a stable and reliable internet connection).
12:00 – 14:00 Individual work – watching recorded presentations, tests
14:00 – 16:00 Creative session – creating designs in pairs or individually
16:00 – 18:00 Feedback from teachers (written comments given by the teachers, participants do not have to be online)

Topics for online sessions:
Mo – Ice-breaking
Tu – Presenting ideas
We – Questions about the Technology (Sigma / Fungus-Unity)
Th – Design related issues
Fr – Presentation of prototypes

Moodle online learning platform will be used for the course.