On Gamification and Online Learning

I've been talking with a colleague recently about gamification and online courses, and I just wanted to jot down a very quick thought about this topic before it gets away from me.








I've been talking with a colleague recently about gamification and online courses, and I just wanted to jot down a very quick thought about this topic before it gets away from me.
I finally completed Dark Souls in 2018. It only took me 4 years and 38 days, but I did finally complete it and come to think of it, I have some things to say. Spoilers will follow.
Life is not a game. Governance is not a game. Education is not a game, and Love is definitely not a game.
In early August 2015 I gave a speed talk at the UW Distance Teaching & Learning conference on gamification and learning. The speed talk format is a bit different from the pecha kucha and other related formats in that there is no slide limit, and and time limit is ten minutes. That's just enough time to get yourself in trouble! Link for the slides after the jump.
I have a little over an hour to kill in the Minneapolis airport, I just linked a keyboard to my iPad for the first time, and I'm charging my phone so I figured I might as well take the opportunity to write a blog post. After all, I'm on my way to a conference, and the last several posts on my blog are older and were almost exclusively focused on the gamergate, which basically means I was being trolled very effectively and haven't taken the time to write anything since.