Gamification is a term first coined early in the 21st century, and the application of its principles has been seen in the business world. Department stores, convenient stores, airlines, and credit card companies have implemented loyalty points to keep customers buying their products. From the business world, to the daily lives of students, gamification has become familiar, but not clearly defined. The daily lives of high school students are filled with constant feedback through social media sites, massive online gaming, PC games and instant access to information through the Web 2.0. Gamification is the bringing of game elements, into non-gaming environments to capture the motivational factors found in games. Self-Determination theory, Flow Theory and Self-Efficacy theory form foundational principles to support gamification. This study is an overview of gamification and its foundation and research using ClassDojo in a high school online program for students needing to retake a course required for California university admissions. This quantitative causal-comparative study attempts to discover if there are any significant differences when using gamification and not using gamification for course completion in an online high school course.