Kapp, Karl M. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. Pfeiffer, 2012.

This handbook from Karl M. Kapp is an invaluable tool for those planning serious gamification in the library or school. Kapp lays out in succinct, straightforward details how to go about developing a program that incorporates gamification authentically in learning and instructional environments. Planning for effective gamification experiences is deliberative and, with Kapp’s help, experienced gamer educators as well as educators with limited gaming experience can plan successful implementation of gamification strategies that strategically address the academic need and offer authentic, engaging experiences for the participants, be they students or co-workers. Supported by peer-reviewed studies and examples from corporations who have adopted game-based learning successfully, the book illustrates how combining instructional design thinking with game concepts can create engaged and interactive learning experiences across a variety of media, from online to face-to-face.

Kapp, Karl M. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Ideas into Practice. Pfeiffer, 2013.

This field book is the ideal companion to Kapp’s Gamification of Learning and Instruction. The Fieldbook provides a step-by-step approach to implementing the concepts from the Gamification book with examples, tips, tricks, and worksheets to help a learning professional or faculty member put the ideas into practice. It’s a tool that compliments Kapp’s Gamification book well and one that can help individuals form a more solid understanding of how game design elements can be applied to learning and instruction to increase productivity.

McGonigal, Jane. Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Penguin Books, 2011.

Jane McGonigal’s work in gaming has been groundbreaking thanks to her success in making games and games-based learning accessible to a global audience. With 174 million gamers in the United States alone, we now live in a world where every generation will be a gamer generation. But why, Jane McGonigal asks, should games be used for escapist entertainment alone? In this groundbreaking book, she shows how we can leverage the power of games to fix what is wrong with the real world-from social problems like depression and obesity to global issues like poverty and climate change-and introduces us to cutting-edge games that are already changing the business, education, and nonprofit worlds. It’s a resource written for gamers and non-gamers alike with conversation text and an assume-nothing approach, being as inclusive while at the same time as challenging to preconceptions as possible.

Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. PalGrave MacMillan, 2008.

James Paul Gee is a respected educator and his views on video games are both challenging and mind-altering. While the text feels a great deal more academic and, as a result, perhaps less accessible than other books on this bibliography, the case Gee makes for video games is one that see referenced time and again in other books focused on games-based learning. Gee looks at major cognitive activities including how individuals develop a sense of identity, how we grasp meaning, how we evaluate and follow a command, pick a role model, and perceive the world. It will cause you to think differently about the gamers sitting in your classroom and may even cause you to challenge the way you approach engaging and educating students altogether.

Steele, Darren and Christine Chung. I’ll Eat this Cricket for a Cricket Badge: A Gamification Novella. Mindspace, 2012.

This novella accomplishes painting a picture of gamification by way of relating the concept through a storied experience. Gamification is the process of applying game mechanics to non-gaming situations in order to increase productivity among the people involved. The events of the story unfold as follows: This is the story of Lara, a senior director at Albatron Global. Today she learns she has 24 hours to prepare for a once-in-a-decade meeting with "The Brotherhood," the triumvirate of terror that founded the company. With her career on the line, she's out of ideas and shackled to a consultant with Cheetos-stained fingers. While the novella does come across a little preachy to its point, I think this is an exceptional resource for schools and staff to use when approaching implementation of a gamification-based project in order to give context to all shareholders in the school.

Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Broadway Books, 2012.

The billionaire founder of a virtual utopia known as the OASIS dies, leaving the world with his last will and testament: a global hunt for the keys to his fortune. It’s the year 2044 and the entire world is plugged into the OASIS for all manners of commerce, entertainment, and daily habits. And with the broadcast of this will, the whole world is racing to find the three hidden keys that unlock the three gates that stand between them and infinite wealth. Wade Watts is a student who has devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, life as he knows it is turned upside. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Bissell, Tom. Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. Vintage, 2011.

Tom Bissell’s humorous and insightful commentary on the art and meaning of games offers up new understandings on the benefits of playing video games of all types. Each chapter is written as a blend of memoir, criticism, and first-rate reportage examining the art, sophistication, and meaning of video games. What results is a conversation about video games that attempts to break down what is going on during the experience of playing a video, from the art and game play of the game itself, to the process, response, and strategy employed by the person playing it. Bissell draws examples from some of the best selling games and walks the reader through gaming experiences so much to the degree that it’s as if your experiencing the game itself, only now you have Bissell by your side adding commentary on why the game works so well to engage and frustrate you, and why playing vide games matters on a larger scale.

Meg, Hearn, and Winner Matthew C. Teach Math With the Wii: Engage Your K-7 Students Through Gaming Technology. Eugene: International Society for Technology in Education, 2013. 

The Nintendo Wii is the bestselling video game console in history, but what implication does that have on the school or in the classroom setting. Schools today use gaming technology as a way to engage and connect students with familiar technology tools. This book embraces the Nintendo Wii as a tool to support mathematics instruction, allowing students to make real-life connections with math concepts. Wii activities can be engaging, student-friendly, and accompanying data production tools generate scores, times, and rankings for students to explore and discuss in the mathematics classroom. As students play the games, teachers have the opportunity to guide students through rich dialogues, posing questions to elicit mathematical thinking. Included with this book are 48 lesson sparks organized by grade level and aligned to Common Core State Standards.