With gamification being a trend in education for some time now, it is often primarily thought of as a way to make learning more engaging and interactive for students. However, gamification can be used in other ways to help promote overall well-being and even strengthen social emotional learning, especially during this time where the challenges of remote and hybrid learning are still being addressed.

Apps like Habitica, which gamify daily activities in the hopes of creating better habits, can nudge us and our students towards making better decisions that will ultimately help us in the classroom and in our everyday lives. 

Let’s take a look at the app and see how it’s used

Habitica is an app that can be accessed from a web browser or downloaded to a smartphone or tablet. Once it is downloaded, we will need to create an account or use single sign on to login with our Google, Microsoft or Apple accounts. Once we create an account, we will create our avatar and choose what type of habits we want to build and what kind of healthy behaviors we want to be rewarded for.   

Students can choose to get rewards each time they complete an assignment, eat something healthy or even take a short break to decompress and destress. The options are nearly limitless!  Each time a student completes a habit or daily activity, they press the + and get rewarded with points. Rewards will give students new items that they can then use to continue on in their quest.  

If this sounds like something you think would help with your students’ social emotional learning and overall well-being, check it out for yourself and see how it makes forming new habits fun!  

For more tips, tricks, and tools for teaching in and out of the classroom check out more articles on our blog.

We also offer virtual professional development, training, and remote learning support for educators with OTIS for educators. Explore the technology, tools, and strategies that can spark student success — no matter where teaching or learning are happening.