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Codingame Gamifies Coding Education

posted by martyb on Friday September 23 2016, @02:49PM   
from the bonus-points-for-clean-compile? dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Codingame has developed a platform to gamify coding education for developers, and provide a channel for employers to find prospective employees. From the website:

Practice & learn the fun way
    Practice pure code

Learn new concepts by solving fun challenges in 25+ languages addressing all the hot programming topics.
    Learn from the best

In a matter of hours, discover new languages, algorithms or tricks in courses designed by top developers.
    Become the expert

Our approach has been designed to lead advanced developers to the next level.

There might be developers, team leaders, or employers in the Soylent community who would find it useful.

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Original Submission

• Re:wooo! (Score: 2, Interesting) by johaquila on Friday September 23 2016, @09:49PM

  by johaquila (867) on Friday September 23 2016, @09:49PM (#405732)

  Fact is that in practice, when gamification is well done, it works for most people. The question it can replace intrinsic motivation when none exists. A lot of people are intrinsically motivated to learn something but for some reason can't make use of the fact. For example because they have even more intrinsic motivation to do something else.

  In the case of Duolingo it is well known that it works. With its 'streak' system, Duolingo creates an incentive not to skip even one day of learning with it. With its 'XP', 'level' and 'keep the tree golden' systems it creates incentives to do (much) more than the bare minimum to preserve the streak. (There are also additional site features that reward actual competence in the language: tests, and opportunities to use the learned language for communication in the forums.) These incentives are of course extrinsic factors. But together with the addictive rhythm of using Duolingo, they are the basis for lasting behaviour change towards a daily routine of language learning.

  For some people this does in fact not work at all because they have no extrinsic motivation at all. (E.g., they may reach enormous amounts of XP and a high 'level' while never leaving lesson 1, not asking why the interface doesn't prod them to continue, before a year or so has passed.)

  To most users, Duolingo constantly provides the good feeling that comes with applying something correctly that you learned recently. Yes, they could also get it outside Duolingo by doing lessons from a book. But most wouldn't do it. Yet they are doing the equivalent in Duolingo because it's gamified.

  Of course, after some amount of language learning with Duolingo, its users may well reach a point where they no longer need the gamification. In particular, after finishing a Duolingo course one should have no trouble reading easy books in the new language. In my experience this is one of the most effective ways to get to a much higher level. There is a certain danger that there is a long gap after finishing a book. Here the gamification comes in again, as Duolingo provides incentives to continue using the site daily even after the course is finished. Therefore, learners are more likely to start reading another book rather than forget about the language.

  I am not yet convinced that Codingame uses gamification in the most effective way. They certainly get some things right - maybe even enough things.

  Parent

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