Exploring the use of a gamification platform to support students with dyslexia

The concept of gamification is receiving increasing amounts of attention. However, to date there has been little reported work that has moved beyond anecdotal accounts of its use within educational situations and studies that have been undertaken in this area have predominantly focused on University students. This paper explores how gamification could potentially benefit a specific student population, children with dyslexia who are transitioning from primary to secondary school. Two teachers from specialist dyslexia teaching centres used classDojo, a gamification platform, during their teaching sessions for one term. We detail how the teachers appropriated the platform in different ways and how this impacted the resulting forms of motivation engendered within the students. These findings have subsequently informed a series of design recommendations presented within the paper regarding how gamification platforms can be optimised for students with dyslexia. We conclude by arguing that our work can serve as a springboard for discussing how gamification platforms could be of use for students with other special educational needs.

I. Introduction

Developmental dyslexia, or specific reading disability, is a literacy-based learning difficulty. It has been defined as “an unexpected, specific, and persistent failure to acquire efficient reading skills despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and sociocultural opportunity” [9].