This first volume is meant to be a quick and easy introduction to meaningful gamification.
It is a relatively short book, 200 pages, and it includes a veritable treasure trove of strategies you can implement in any class. These strategies have been tested in multiple classes both big and small under a variety of conditions. And just in case you worry that these strategies are yet another bandwagon to jump on that won't actually work in your own classroom, you will see that they are grounded in solid educational theory that has withstood the test of time.
This book does not try to fill in all of the theoretical underpinnings of these ideas, but it does break new ground in giving you new ways to look at teaching that can dislodge some of the old traditions that have been holding us back.
Katrin is an award winning, internationally known expert in the design and analysis of serious games and in gamification in the classroom. She holds two computer science degrees and a PhD in educational technology. She is a certified instructional designer with a graduate certificate in serious game design and research. She has over thirty-five years of teaching experience and has taught computer science (CS) video game design, digital game-based learning (DGBL) and technical writing. Her teaching innovations have been internationally recognized and she is widely published. She designs and develops e-learning in all sectors, including educational and advertising games. Her recent game, Gene Rummy, is a physical card game to help people learn basic Mendelian genetics. She is also the author of three books: The Guide to Computer Simulations and Games, on the technical aspects of simulations and games written for non-technical people (Wiley, 2011), now available on Leanpub; Choosing and Using Digital Games in the Classroom - A Practical Guide (Springer, 2016); and her mother's memoir, called Reni (also available on Leanpub). Finally, to counterbalance a heavily digital life, she runs a small farm where she has been raising rabbits, waterfowl and other animals for over thirty years. This farm forms the basis for her Ducks in the Classroom program, which provided eggs for hatching in classrooms locally from 1988-2012, and information on school hatching projects globally since 2001. It also accounts for the occasional bit of poo on her shoe.
