Enter Hogwarts: Lessons on how to gamify education from the wizarding world of Harry Potter

The design of an engaging educational experience is a challenging endeavor. Various attempts have been made to gamify education as means to improve learner engagement and learning outcomes, yet the search for more engaging and effective educational designs continues. This pursuit can borrow inspiration from the fruits of popular media; namely from, e.g. the global, sensational school of magic education: Hogwarts, as described in the Harry Potter novel series by J. K. Rowling. In this paper we investigate the research question: What can we determine about gamified education at Hogwarts and what implications can gamifying education have? We employed a textual analysis method and coded evidence of gamified education in the first novel in the popular media series: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. We identified overlaps between the design of Hogwarts and the gamification design practices that attempt to cultivate learner engagement through the self-determination theory, competition, collaboration, clear rules, roles, badges and aesthetics. This work hence enriches the discussion of the possible positive and negative consequences of gamification in education. Moreover, this treatise functions as a cultural commentary on the interaction between artefacts of popular media and what we perceive as virtuous in the different walks of life.