Gamification of School Education in Russia: Case Study Alexander Vetushinskiy Pavel Zhukov Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State Gamification Lab, Sberbank University Moscow, Russia Moscow, Russia paulbeatlov@mail.ru a.vetushinskiy@gmail.com ABSTRACT principles. The article is devoted to the description of the gamification system, which will be introduced in fifteen of Russian It should be noted that gamification can be interpreted more schools in the fall of 2019 (schools in Moscow, the broadly. According to Hamari et al., gamification is equally Republic of Tatarstan, and Kaluga, Lipetsk, Novgorod and applicable in both non-player and game contexts [7]. Nizhny Novgorod regions). The system was developed by Therefore, we can agree with Dichev and Dicheva, who the Sberbank Gamification Lab within the framework of the propose considering gamification as not so much a Sberbank Charitable Foundation “Investment to the technology as a fully-fledged methodology, in fact, Future”, whose main mission is to support the development replacing behaviorism [2]. Indeed, like behaviorism, of modern Russian education in front of the challenges of gamification is intended to correct and sometimes change the digital age. The system had to be compact, fairly simple the user's behavior (which gamification does well [6]). In to implement, and maintain the values of teamwork and contrast to behaviorism, gamification is aimed at creating a cooperation. It also had to comply with the basic principles positive emotional environment, giving additional meaning of the new educational model for Russian schools: (and therefore value) to the actions performed by the person personalization, the development of soft skills and real-life [8]. relevance. As a result, the Gamification Lab decided on a It is not surprising that educational institutions look at cyclical gamification system built on the basis of six game gamification with heightened interest. As successfully noted elements: avatars, quests, points, levels, achievements and by Dichev et al., gamification in education is the use of stickers. In the autumn of 2019, the system will be game elements in learning activities to increase student introduced into Russian schools and the Gamification Lab engagement [3]. And the fact that the level of involvement will analyze the system in real-life conditions (directly in is directly related to the level of development of the schools), where the main 8 hypotheses underlying the material, has so far been confirmed [5]. developed gamification model will be tested (hypotheses are given in the article). That is why Russian schools participating in a large project to introduce innovative forms of education did not neglect Author Keywords gamification (we are talking about fifteen schools in Gamification; gamification in education; school Moscow, the Republic of Tatarstan, and Kaluga, Lipetsk, gamification; gamification in Russia; gamification model; Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod regions). One of the gamification system. project participants is the Sberbank Gamification Lab, whose collaborators are the authors of this article. ACM Classification Keywords K.3.m. Computers and Education: Miscellaneous. The central task of the Laboratory was to create a gamification system that is embedded in the school INTRODUCTION Learning Management System (LMS). In this article, we According to the prevailing definition, gamification is the describe the key aspects of the developed gamification use of game elements and game mechanics in a non-game system, and also formulate a number of research context [1]. Game elements are points, badges, hypotheses, which we will begin testing in September 2019 leaderboards, avatars, guilds, levels, quests, skill trees, etc. (in September, the system will begin to be piloted in Non-game contexts – education, marketing, health, culture, schools). tourism [9]. That is, gamification is the use of game-based thinking in order to transform routine, non-game GAMIFICATION OF SCHOOL EDUCATION environments through the introduction of game-based The term “gamification” was introduced into scientific and research terminology in 2008. And although it became Copyright © 2019 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). widespread only after 2010 [4], already in 2009 a New York In: J. Arnedo-Moreno, C.S. González, A. Mora (eds.): Proceedings of the City school, Quest to Learn, opened with full-fledged game 3rd International Symposium on Gamification and Games for Learning training program, which was developed by the Institute of (GamiLearn’19), Barcelona, Spain, 22-10-2019, published at http://ceur- Play. During its existence, the School has managed to give a ws.org good account of itself and still remains a model for the successful combination of educational tasks and game example, visits to the company based on the interests of thinking. students (note that such activities are planned for the next stages of the project). It is worth noting that schools like Quest to Learn, which gamify not only the form of education, but also the content As a result, the Gamification Lab decided on a cyclical itself, are still a rarity. Most examples of the gamification of gamification system built on the basis of six game education are structural gamification, that is, gamification elements: avatars, quests, points, levels, achievements, that does not affect educational content, but is built on top stickers. The consistency of this model is easy to describe of it, with the goal of making learning faster and more by means of three cycles connecting the elements with each efficient. It is worth noting that the spread of such other (Figure 1). gamification is largely due to the development of online education and the introduction of automated LMS into Internal cycle: avatar => quests => achievements => avatar. schools and universities, that is, to the already existing digital platforms that play the role of an intermediary Middle cycle: avatar => quests => stickers => avatar. between the student and the educational structure. External cycle: avatar => quests => points => levels => In Russia, gamification educational systems are just stickers => avatar. beginning to be introduced. Of the most famous examples of the game approach in education, we note a gymnasium In order to describe in more detail the systematic nature of (high school) near Moscow named after E.M. Primakov, the gamification system, consider each element separately: which opened in 2017. It has a command-competitive system that can be described as a cross between Harry An avatar is a complex element. It consists of two types of Potter and Game of Thrones: each student is attached to one images - character and background. At first, the images are of four houses (each with its own emblem and motto), of all the same, but over time, they can be modified. These which only one becomes the winner (the house that scores images are taken from the collection of accumulated the most points). stickers (each sticker contains an image that can be placed on the student's personal page). Thus, each page is NEW APPROACH TO SCHOOL EDUCATION customizable and personalized (the theory of self- As part of the activities of the Sberbank Charitable determination has long indicated the importance of such Foundation “Investment to the Future” (whose activities are things). focused on supporting the development of a modern Russian educational model), a set of principles and Quests are also a complex element. Quests are of three recommendations was developed for 21st century Russian types: basic (what each student must do), side (what schools. Three key principles were recognized: students performs if they feel like it) and boss fights (the personalization, the development of soft skills and real-life most difficult and important tasks; they can also be basic relevance. In addition, a special emphasis was placed on and side quests). In addition, quests are individual and cooperation and mutual support among students. That is, it cooperative (cooperative is designated as more important). was specifically stated that in no case should The role of quests is to turn the educational process into an competitiveness be encouraged. epic, meaningful journey. It was decided that this educational model would be supplemented with gamification. For the Gamification Lab, Points are an element of positive feedback. For completing this meant one thing: there should not be leaderboards in quests student receives points. The more important the task, the system. Consequently, there could be no talk of any the more points earned. The value of points – instant PBL gamification. It should be a new gamification system, feedback, gives meaning to even the most simple, routine built on new values – values of mutual aid and mutual tasks. support (as rightly noted by van Roy and Zaman, it is around individualistic values that all Western educational Levels are an element of positive feedback that systems are built [10]). In addition, as decided by the staff characterizes student progress. Levels are achieved by of the Laboratory, the system should help learning, and not obtaining a certain number of points. For each received just be an afterthought. level, the student receives a set of stickers and a status. GAMIFICATION MODEL Achievements – are a type of positive feedback, marking The Laboratory had to develop a model of a gamification the special, exceptional merit of the student. The most system that would support cooperation, be suitable for important badges are given for special merit in matters of education and at the same time be compact enough that its cooperation and mutual assistance. That is, if a student programming would not take too long. An additional receives a badge for helping others, it does not just set limitation was the lack of real incentives in the form of, for him/her apart from the rest, but also obliges him/her to continue assisting those who need help. The remaining H1: Having a customizable and personalized avatar (more traditional) badges are achieved for special services increases student engagement and affects the desire to performed in completing quests, points earned, levels complete more tasks; earned and stickers found. H2: Exercises submitted in the form of quests increase the The sticker is a digital card containing an image, minimal level of student involvement and positively influence text, as well as metadata indicating when and for what his/her desire to complete them; action it was received. Images are of three types: personalities (real and fictional, for example: Napoleon or H3: Exercises submitted in the form of quests help students Don Quixote), events (natural and cultural, for example: the to be more tolerant of failures and not be afraid to make emergence of life or the beginning of the Second World mistakes; War) and artifacts (the most important things and accessories, such as a wheel or a camera obscura). The H4: Points have a positive effect on the students’ perception main function of stickers is to be collectible (stickers are of the educational process, helping them to measure their related to quests, but not directly “complete such and such progress; quest – receive such and such sticker”, and within a certain range: “complete such and such quest – receive one of the H5: Levels have a positive effect on the students’ possible stickers in this case”). Another function: perception of the educational process, helping them to individualization (stickers are not only collected, but also measure their progress, and also provide a tangible goal to set as an avatar). In addition, each sticker is associated with be achieved; the material of the school educational program; therefore, it is simultaneously a mnemonic device. Viewing, collecting H6: Achievements instruct students to have additional goals and exchanging stickers seems to lead to better that go beyond the educational process, forming a clear memorization of new, as well as a fixation on fascinating system of benchmarks and values related to support and older material. mutual assistance; HYPOTHESES H7: Stickers have a positive effect on the memorization and In September 2019, the system will be launched in fifteen assimilation of the material studied; Russian schools. The Gamification Lab will move on to the data collection phase, focusing on the operation of the H8: The system as a whole contributes to building stronger system, its success and how it is perceived by teachers and ties between students. students. Both quantitative and qualitative research (for example, interviews with teachers, activelly involved parents and students) is envisaged. In the course of research, we plan to test the following set of hypotheses: Figure 1. Gamification model by Gamification Lab CONCLUSION Future Internet, 11, 67 (March 2019), 17 pages. DOI: In order for gamification to become an integral part of 10.3390/fi11030067 school education in Russia, it must demonstrate its 10. R. van Roy, B. Zaman, International Journal of Human- effectiveness and suitability. We want to believe that the Computer Studies (2018), first step on this path has already been taken. Starting in https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2018.04.009 autumn, the Gamification Lab will proceed to active research, during which we will try to answer how successful the proposed gamification system as a whole has turned out, and how well or poorly it works in its component parts. REFERENCES 1. Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining “Gamification” In Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments (September 2011), 9-15. 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