Any caregiver or educator has seen how a game can hold a child’s attention – and sometimes spark a little friendly competition or sibling rivalry along the way.
That same energy can be channeled in the classroom to capture student interest and make learning more effective. In fact, a recent survey targeting PreK-12 educators conducted by The Learning Agency found that many teachers see this as an area where they could use more help. Nearly a quarter identified engaging and motivating their students as their top need.
As ed tech tools have evolved, they have also increasingly incorporated gamified elements to create more engaging and interactive learning experiences. Literacy tools are no exception.
So, what exactly is gamified learning? Much like the name suggests, gamification involves incorporating game-like mechanics into non-game settings. In education, this means applying elements such as rewards, badges, points, challenges, or leaderboards to make a learning activity more interesting and engaging.
Research shows that gamification can boost motivation and enhance learning enjoyment. Most importantly, however, the evidence also shows that gamified learning does shape academic outcomes. For example, in 2024, a summer camp run by the North Carolina Virtual Academy boosted third-grade reading proficiency through a program called Reading Eggs, an engaging and reward-driven platform built on the science of reading. After participating in the program for 30 minutes a day over three weeks, 77 percent of students demonstrated significant improvements in reading.
Over time, gamified tools have evolved, but many of their core goals, like making learning more interactive and engaging, have remained the same.
Gamification involves incorporating game-like mechanics into non-game settings. In education, this means applying elements such as rewards, badges, points, challenges, or leaderboards to make a learning activity more interesting and engaging.
The Evolution of Gamification in Literacy Education
Still, these learning tools have certainly advanced from the bulky Pressey Teaching Machine of the 1920s, a device that would reward students with candy when they chose the correct answer to a multiple-choice question. Since then, these tools have been condensed into the mobile apps we can simply tuck away into a pocket, making for an easy, and even productive, distraction during long commutes on a bus or unending stints in a doctor’s waiting room.
In the 1970s in particular, educational TV shows like Sesame Street and computer games like The Oregon Trail brought interactive learning into more homes and classrooms. With the boom of the video game industry in the 1980s, classrooms saw the incorporation of new gaming principles and tools like Math Blaster. In the 2000s and 2010s, with improvements in modern learning management systems, educational software designers began to integrate even more immersive elements, including features such as avatars, quests, rewards, and virtual worlds.
Today, generative AI has compounded the possibilities for gamified assessments. Games can now generate personalized content for different learners, while also benefiting teachers with data summaries and reports on student progress.
What Do Gamified Tools for Literacy Look Like?
Popular platforms like Duolingo and Roblox are now beginning to venture into the literacy space, while newer organizations are pushing innovation. Established players, like ABC Mouse, are continuing to expand their gamified offerings for young readers. From digital tools for reading comprehension that feature interactive storytelling to multimodal features like 3D modeling, these tools are making the development of foundational literacy skills more engaging and relevant to students’ interests.
Some platforms are helping teachers build interactive reading games for assessing student progress. Tools such as Quizizz, for example, are designed to support teachers directly by helping them more easily generate engaging questions and lessons. Others, like Magpie Primaries, emphasize self-directed learning, offering games that help students master literacy skills individually.
Research shows that gamification can boost motivation and enhance learning enjoyment. Most importantly, however, the evidence also shows that gamified learning does shape academic outcomes.
Many of these platforms are grounded in learning science and evidence-based practices, built to augment and deepen the learning that starts with existing classroom lessons. For example, Quizizz uses AI to automatically generate materials aligned to Common Core Standards, which cuts down on the time teachers need to build research-backed lessons and supports them in tracking the foundational skills where students need the most support. Roblox Education has also ensured that their learning experiences are standards-aligned and provides useful guidance on the ways teachers can integrate the tool into lessons in ways that prioritize learning objectives first, rather than leading with game mechanics.
This article is based on a workshop from the Rethinking Reading: AI for Literacy Achievement workshop series, a set of webinars on education AI applications organized in collaboration with InnovateUS and the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University.
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Explore more topics through other webinars featured in the Rethinking Reading series.
What’s Next for Gamified Literacy Tools?
Even with the proliferation of gamified learning experiences across the market, critical questions remain, especially around accessibility and inclusivity.
While gamified platforms can offer personalized, adaptive learning experiences, they’re only as effective as they are accessible. It is crucial that ed tech developers continue exploring opportunities to make tools more accessible and effective for diverse audiences, including multilingual students and neurodivergent learners.
According to the World Economic Forum, more than 2.5 billion people around the world still don’t have access to basic internet services. This makes many of the educational games on the market inaccessible to a huge swath of the population, many of whom would likely benefit greatly from additional learning support.
Beyond access, there are also delicate design trade-offs that developers need to navigate. Competitive features, like rewards and rankings, motivate learners when constructive, but if these elements are prioritized too heavily, developers risk exploiting user attention at the risk of learning benefits. Ensuring quality learning needs to be the central goal driving gamified approaches.
Today, generative AI has compounded the possibilities for gamified assessments. Games can now generate personalized content for different learners, while also benefiting teachers with data summaries and reports on student progress.
Additionally, digital rewards and competitions are not the only path to engagement. Collaborative learning and building a sense of community are also major drivers. Users are motivated by the social networks and shared purpose they can find through learning games.
Another area of research and development is hyperpersonalization. Many tools already offer adaptive learning paths, such as digital books or activity recommendations based on a user’s grade or skill level. But what if these tools could go even further, offering even more tailored experiences that resonate with each user’s preferences, behaviors, and interactions?
The Learning Agency is helping accelerate innovation in gamification across several fronts. For instance, one key way to fuel ed tech development is through increased access to high-quality data. In 2023, The Learning Agency Lab released the Jo Wilder Dataset, one of the largest available open datasets. Developed through a Kaggle competition, the dataset includes detailed logs from the Jo Wilder educational game, designed to help researchers and developers build AI models that can predict student performance based on gameplay and interactions.
The Potential for More Advancements
Gamified AI tools have shown real promise in helping students stay motivated and in building foundational reading skills. The challenge now is ensuring these tools work for everyone, across languages, learning differences, and levels of access. As researchers and developers look to increase access to data and elevate the kinds of personalized experiences these tools can offer both educators and learners, it’ll be exciting to see what the next wave of gamified tools can do.
