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Robots and Pencils: An education in gamification

by — Nov 1 '13

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Walk into the average classroom and look at the students’ faces. Then walk into the average living room, where some of the same kids might be playing a video game. Notice any differences?

At the recent Gamification 2013 conference in Stratford, Ont., CommerceLab talked to Phil Wheaton of Robots and Pencils, a Calgary-based firm that’s been working with educational students like Olds College to bring game-like elements to a traditional academic setting.

“We want to take the dark side of gaming, the things that keep people engaged there, and apply them to the productivity side of things,” he says.

Watch the clip to hear Wheaton discuss the importance of data and the cultural shift that gamification could bring to education.

 

Shane Schick

Shane Schick is the editor of CommerceLab. A writer, editor and speaker who helps people create value with information technology. Shane is also a technology columnist with Yahoo Canada, an editor-at-large with IT World Canada, the editor of Allstream’s expertIP online community and the editor of a U.S. magazine about mobile apps called FierceDeveloper. Shane regularly speaks to CIOs and IT managers at events across Canada about how they can contribute to organizational success, and comments on technology trends as a guest on CBC, BNN, CTV and other programs.