One element of gamification that I have added to a few courses is giving learners the ability to map their own learning pathway. Learners are given the option of following the instructor’s pre-mapped pathway, creating their own learning pathway, or mixing and matching either or both at any given time. Read about the overall idea, see the options learners can take, or look at examples of the idea in a course:
- Humanizing Online Instruction course pathway options
- Data Analytics and Learning course pathway options
Next, to support learners in their quest to create a learning map, I added Assignment Banks that gave them some ideas for how they could map their own pathway.
Finally, to help learners understand the complexities of designing their own learning pathway, I introduced a course metaphor to each course. These metaphors used popular movies or common everyday concepts to explain the idea of mapping pathways in a metaphor. I also used a “neutral zone” to serve as a landing platform to list the various options.
- Humanizing Online Instruction course metaphor explanation (based on the idea of garden vs. stream)
- Humanizing Online Instruction neutral zone
- Data Analytics and Learning course metaphor explanation (based on The Matrix movie)
- (Data Analytics and Learning neutral zone was sent out in emails)