Gamify Your Classroom

This book is a field guide on how to implement game-based learning and «gamification» techniques to everyday teaching. It is a survey of best practices aggregated from interviews with experts in the field. Much of the book draws on the author’s experiences implementing games with his middle school students.

Matthew Farber teaches social studies at Valleyview Middle School in Denville, New Jersey. Mr. Farber holds a master’s degree in educational technology from New Jersey City University, where he is currently a doctoral candidate.

«Walk into Matthew Farber’s middle school classroom and you’ll meet students who consider themselves beta testers of innovative learning experiences. You’ll see an inspired teacher who understands how to combine cutting-edge game mechanics with instructional strategies like project-based learning. I haven’t had the pleasure of that classroom visit just yet, but reading ‘Gamify Your Classroom’ is the next best thing. Farber, as author, shares his own journey into understanding the power of games for learning. He invites readers along as he interviews experts and learns from those on the frontiers of this exciting space. Then he brings us back to the magic circle of the classroom, where games create teachable moments for engaged, inspired learners.» (Suzie Boss, Author of ‘Bringing Innovation to School’; national faculty member, Buck Institute for Education) «‘Gamify Your Classroom’ is a clear-headed dissection of the semantic muddle and self-serving hype surrounding game-based learning and gamification. Meticulously researched and featuring insights from a host of educators and game designers, as well as his own enthusiastic adventures in the classroom, Matthew Farber’s book is an impressive primer, revealing what works and what doesn’t out here on education’s exciting new frontier.» (Lee Sheldon, Author of ‘The Multiplayer Classroom’; Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

Contents: Games for Learning – What Are Games? – Who Plays Games …and Why – Iterative Design – Play-Based Learning – Learning in Cooperative Mode – Gamification and Quest-Based Learning – Personalized Learning – University Game Labs – Video Games for Learning – Communities of Play – Creating Digital Games – Games to Change the World.