Does Gamification of Learning work?

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Teachers, educators, and trainers all ask this pressing question – does the gamification of learning work? And so did we at LMU Munich. The gamification of learning has received increased attention and was hyped over the last decade for its hypothesized benefits on motivation and learning. However, as popularity increased, so did critical voices referring to the concept as bullshit or Pavlovication. From our perspective, an evidence-based approach that considers research efforts undertaken within the last years must be applied to provide reliable answers to the question of gamifications’ effectiveness.

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#boycottACE and Institutional Corruption

Screenshot of ACE 2018 conference listing Steve Bannon as keynote speakerThe headline first, even though it buries the lede: ACE 2018, the 15th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, has invited former Breitbart News executive chairman and former Donald Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon as a keynote speaker. ACE is a smaller, but long-running academic conference on, as it says on the tin, entertainment technology. If you ask: Why does a smaller academic conference on entertainment technology invite Bannon as a keynote speaker, you are not alone. The announcement has led the second keynote speaker, play researcher Peter Gray, to withdraw from the conference, and numerous researchers to publicly call for boycotting ACE under the #boycottACE hashtag.

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