Gamification in the classroom: how Candy Crush can help

The term "Gamification" describes the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. One of the contexts where this technique has been shown as beneficial is the classroom. The ability to engage students and motivate them to persist with an academic course is one of the biggest challenges faced by academics today.

The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology Special Issue: Technology facilitated teaching and learning features the article, "Deconstructing Candy Crush: what instructional design can learn from game design".

The authors of this research, mother and daughter, Evangeline Marlos Varonis and Maria Evangeline Varonis from The University of Akron, USA, are both casual players of King Digital Entertainment's game Candy Crush Saga.

They were intrigued by how the game motivates users to continue, and what began as participant observation soon expanded to a "deconstruction" of the game's features.

This led to their study of how the strategies of Candy Crush could be embedded into course design to motivate students to persist and enhance learning outcomes.

The infographic below inspired by this research which summarizes the top five tips academics designing a course can learn from Candy Crush.