{"id":38992,"date":"2017-05-22T15:57:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T22:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=38992"},"modified":"2017-05-22T15:57:16","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T22:57:16","slug":"teaching-students-survive-zombie-apocalypse-psychology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-students-survive-zombie-apocalypse-psychology\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching students to survive a zombie apocalypse with psychology"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Playing games is ubiquitous across all cultures and time periods \u2013 mainly because most people like playing games.<\/p>\n

Games involve rules, points, systems, as well as a theme or storyline and can be massively fun and engaging. And there is an increasing body of research<\/a> that shows \u201cgamification\u201d \u2013 where other activities are designed to be like a game \u2013 can be successful in encouraging positive changes in behaviour.<\/p>\n

Gamification has previously been used to teach skills to nurses<\/a>, as well as in wider health settings \u2013 such as with the use of the app Zombies, Run!<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Broadly speaking, games work effectively because they can make the world more fun to work in. They can also help to achieve \u201coptimal functioning\u201d \u2013 which basically means doing the best you can do.<\/p>\n

This can be seen in Jane McGonigal\u2019s game and app Superbetter<\/a>, which helps people live better lives by living more \u201cgamefully\u201d. It does this by helping users adopt new habits, develop a talent, learn or improve a skill, strengthen a relationship, make a physical or athletic breakthrough, complete a meaningful project, or pursue a lifelong dream.<\/p>\n

Ground zero<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is also exactly what we\u2019ve done at Bangor University. Here, students on the undergraduate course in behavioural psychology had one of their modules fully gamified. And it started when they received this message, after they enrolled on the course:<\/p>\n

Notice to all civilians: this module will run a little differently. The risk of infection is high, please report to the safe quarantine zone in Pontio Base Five at 1200 hours on Friday 30 September. Stay safe, stay alert, and avoid the Infected.<\/em><\/p>\n

Curiosity piqued, the class arrived at their first lecture of the semester to be greeted by \u201cmilitary personnel\u201d who demanded they be scanned for infection prior to entry.<\/p>\n

They were given a brown envelope containing \u201ctop secret\u201d documents about their mission fighting the infection. The documents explained the game, and that the module had been gamified to enhance their learning.
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