Gamification is the use of game-play to increase engagement, learning, and competitiveness in real life. Gamification in education can help teachers create a better rapport with students. It can also encourage learning instead of focusing on grades. Teachers can include gaming using game-based elements that the students are already familiar with to create a better educational environment.
WHAT IS GAMIFICATION IN EDUCATION?
One of the most common problems teachers come across these days is keeping their students engaged in physical and virtual classrooms. This is where gamification matters. Teachers can change their methodology to facilitate students and instill the love of learning in them.
If you possess a facilitator’s mentality, you can help students discover the joy of learning, no matter what the subject is. Best approach is to make learning fun because that is when the students learn the quickest. When students are having fun, they will happily work to achieve success and meet their goals and targets.
Gamification in education is not limited to school subjects. You can use it to facilitate college levels and even use it in self-taught courses and apps. The main point is that gamification works on every educational level, from young to adult.
WHY SHOULD YOU IMPLEMENT GAMIFICATION IN CLASSROOMS?
Technology has transformed everyone’s life. It affects how you live, how you eat, dress, shop, play games, and even interact socially is subject to technological tools. Especially in 2021, it has become an indispensable part of every area of life, including the education sector.
Keeping these advantages in mind, decision-makers are seriously considering using technology to streamline teachers’ workload.
One of the best ways to integrate technology positively is to use it via gamification in education. When you combine the two things that the students of all ages love, it carries many benefits. The biggest benefit of gamification in education is that this approach can retain the students’ engagement.
The more the learners are interested in learning, the more they can internalize their knowledge.
BENEFITS OF CLASSROOM GAMIFICATION
Gamification in the classroom is very versatile. You can incorporate game-based learning in various ways ranging from individualistic games to a group effort. Or, the whole class can interact together and learn from each other through teamwork.
The use of gamification in the classroom increases student engagement. Gamification allows everyone to come forward and interact. Even the shyest or reserved students in the class get a chance to participate in the whole gaming activity and enhance their knowledge and skills.
If used sensibly, gamification in education can lead to positive competition and boost creative thinking that is a valuable skill. Students can get feedback in real-time through various methods, and it becomes easy to keep track of their academic progress.
Here are some of the key gamification benefits in education:
- Improves engagement and attention span of students
- With gamification, e-Learning becomes more fun and interactive
- Students attain more knowledge and enhance their learning power
- Augments the learning experience for all age groups
Gamification in all educational settings, including e-learning settings works. For instance, it motivates the students to be happy. As a result, they are excited to learn and accomplish their educational goals.
HOW CAN YOU CAPITALIZE ON GAMIFICATION?
Integrating varying styles of gaming techniques can help you capitalize on gamification. You can include them in your lesson plan as a valuable addition to help you point across to the students. Instead of the traditional methods with gamification, students can focus on the learning. Therefore, high engagement and interaction in the classroom.
The nature of the games, their complexity or ease, and the frequency with which you include them in a classroom depend upon the age group and level of the students you are dealing with.
Here are three strategies for gamification in education that you can capitalize on to help your students discover the love of learning while avoiding external motivation.
- Keep Practicing
Consistent practice is essential for any game-based activities. The failure and success of these activities instantly affect the students. With continuous practice and innovative rewards, you can ensure that all students get a chance to make small achievements. It keeps them from quitting.
- Let the students set the goals.
When you allow students to set the bar and the goals, it gives them the motivation to maintain a record of their success. This initiative helps you understand how serious the students are towards the games’ concepts and goals.
- Keep the Progress Visual
Students and people of all ages love playing video games because they can visually track their progress. Whether it is tracking the highest points or reaching the set goals, the whole visual is in front of them. This visual tracking of progress motivates the students to do even better than before, and they try to achieve the rising bar more enthusiastically.
EXAMPLES OF GAMIFICATION
You can introduce gamification in education for almost any subject. Furthermore, some of the methods you can incorporate in your classrooms include narrative, “Supported learning,” where the challenges keep rising.
You can also use PBLs (points, badges, leader-boards) to create a gamification environment where students work towards achieving these PBLs.
Hence, all the fun games, social interaction like role play, mastering various levels of games, and player control are some of the ideas you can use to enhance engagement and learning.
The ideal combination generates continuous commitment, considers students’ unique needs, and does more than just use points and levels to motivate players. Especially, the most efficient gamification incorporates other elements that help students connect and captures their interest consistently.
GAMIFICATION IN EDUCATION IS A GAME CHANGER
Learning isn’t a game, but a little competition in the classroom can result in highly enhanced engagement and attention retention. However, game-based activities can increase student engagement, create active learners, and prevent student stress if they promote inner motivation.
Teachers can implement gamification to boost engagement in their classrooms as it gives many students a chance to come out and shine.