Gamification? Really?

Gamification is such an interesting concept for education. The question of  whether students should be playing games to learn academic material and is this a viable use of time, energy and space is a great question for our day and age.  For some the answer may be invariably a resounding “No”, but for many this frontier is a very viable alternative to traditional approaches that have not evolved well as technology has infiltrated our world and classrooms.
I for one, love the concept but often struggle finding the perfect fit for the curriculum that I am teaching. Part of it is my lack of knowledge of whats out there for me to incorporate. When I do find “gaming” scenarios that work well with my curriculum I try to incorporate not as the focus of the lesson, but rather as a supplementary addition, a flipped approach if you will. I am comfortable with this approach, but I realize I could go much farther.
For now, I will continue to investigate how to better incorporate gamification into my classroom instructional strategies. I believe it is going to be increasingly relevant and a viable option for the future.

Photo Credit: Rob Sheridan via Compfight cc