How to Save the World with Gamification, Behavior & Data Viz

Could saving the world be a game?

Hell yeah it can. But you have to do it right.  We’re going to learn how to make saving the world the greatest game we’ve ever played.

This course helps designers, sustainability professionals & social change entrepreneurs learn how to implement 15 unique design, data visualization and gamification techniques so you can powerfully motivate your people to create real and measurable change on the causes you care about.

The secret behind good game design is that it taps into the motivational core of our being. There are many game mechanics we can apply to social and environmental problems that cause people to change in a way that is fun, inspired, and innovative.

In this video-course, I will be teaching you how to implement fifteen specific game mechanics for your cause. We will learn means that are either high-tech (for programmers and UI designers), or low-tech (using no more than a pen and big peice of paper).

This course is unique to other courses in game design or gamification because it is centred around making real and measurable change in the world, so we have a few different, yet critical, principles to focus on.

Here’s what people have been saying about it:

Rebecca Skinner, Stanford Research Associate in Economics and Technology:

“This is a very well-thought-out, detailed presentation of the material. My sense of digital design is far from sophisticated and I was extremely impressed to see the many ways that data visualization may be brought to bear on environmental and other sorts of information. All of the projects include detailed explanation of how to carry out design projects, using photostock, graphics, and data manipulation tools, many free, that I was not aware of. Strongly recommended.”

Eugene Otto, Computer Programmer, Game Programmer & Entrepreneur:

“My background is in software engineering, and although I’ve applied one or two of these gamification techniques in the past, I’ve never seen them all tied together in such a logical/repeatable design. The lessons are captivating, and move at a fast but comfortable pace. My favorite thing about this course is how Katie presents each technique with several ideas of hi-tech and lo-tech implementations – everything from stickers on walls to interactive hardware displays. This got me thinking more creatively about what’s possible in the real world, and outside the confines of just a laptop screen. I highly recommend this course!”

Tim Bennet, Agricultural Scientist, Investor, Consultant to the United Nations Center for Alleviation of Poverty by Sustainable Agriculture:

“I am a complete novice at game design, yet I have found the course to be well designed, beautifully narrated and explained, crystal clear in terms of explanations and digestible in videos of up to 10 minutes each. Katie presents her material brilliantly and passionately. This course and the games it will enable are a great opportunity to explore real innovation at the edge of how people are learning and changing behavior. And it is ridiculously good value! This is a rare resource and I recommend you get engaged and get it done!”

SuZen Marie, Community animal rights activist, producer of “Circuit Breakers TV (a show about alternative energy), off-grid self-sufficiency home owner:

“I am so THRILLED to have learned these techniques of Gamification from Katie and how they can be applied to the various causes I am so passionate about! This course is a breath of fresh CLEAN air as Katie has done the work for us by digging deep and getting to the core of what it really takes to instill change in people. This world-changer is SO passionate, not only to her own cause to make real change but, in teaching others how to get REAL RESULTS. My mind has been opened and, after taking Katie’s course, I finally feel that there IS hope for those of us wishing to change the world!”

What can gamification do for you? It gets results.

Providing simple digital award to Wikipedia editors increased thier contributions by 22%.

By ranking cities by health data. residents supported a new 1% tax to new build bike paths and urban greening.

Placing star ratings on consumer appliances increased water efficiency by 25%.

A sign that shows to quantity of recycled material increase recycling rates by 77%.

An emotive owl avator used in a learning app, increased student scores by 23%.

What is this funny word “gamification”?

If you’re new to the wonderful world of gamification, then you’ve got a treat ahead of you! 

“Gamification” is the process of borrowing features we commonly see in games and applying them to the real world. This means we would give out awards, badges, or stars to encourage our audience to complete a task. We also might leverage social competition, use color to indicate performance, or simply track progress in a public way. 

Did you mother or school teacher ever make you a star chart on the fridge and give you a star for every day that you did a thing? That’s gamification! (My mum made me one to stop me sucking my thumb, it worked!) Have you ever used an excercise tracker like a Fitbit? That’s gamification too. It can as low tech as putting stickers on paper, or as high tech as smartphone app connected to a electronic sensors.

Star charts aren’t just for kids. They can also be used in an office to enourage employees’ eco-friendly behavior. Each employee gets a cute dolphin sticker for each day they recycle. It works, you’d be suprised how powerfully motivating dolphin stickers are, even in corporate office!

Gamification has been studied by universities all over the world and has been proven time and time again to improve human performance.  Gamification doesn’t really mean inventing new traditional games like “Angry Birds for recycling’ or “Scrabble for doing housework”. It’s about understanding how we can drive human motivation to do more good things, and these techniques can be applied to just about anything.

In this course, “Save the World with Gamification”. I explain how you can implement 15 unique gamification techniques. Each gamification technique comes with example designs, case studies and evidence from academic research proving how it works to drive change. If you’re in the business of trying to get any kind of humans to do any kind of thing (which most of us are!) then I pinky-swear promise there will be some nuggets of gold in this course that you can apply to your special niche.

“Katie’s approach to doing valuable and impactful work is very well thought out and put together. Her presentation is entertaining, creative and most importantly informative.
I love her style – simple and engaging. She will really drive you to figure out how you are making social or environmental change through your own work!”
 
– Valentina Ferenac,
Sustainability Strategist

I look forward to seeing you inside the course!

Rating Distribution

• 1 stars: 0 votes
• 2 stars: 2 votes
• 3 stars: 14 votes
• 4 stars: 33 votes
• 5 stars: 40 votes

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have access to the course materials?

You can view and review the lecture materials indefinitely, like an on-demand channel.

Can I take my courses with me wherever I go?

Definitely! If you have an internet connection, courses on Udemy are available on any device at any time. If you don’t have an internet connection, some instructors also let their students download course lectures. That’s up to the instructor though, so make sure you get on their good side!