All teachers want to introduce some innovations into the learning process. After all, students often seem disinterested in certain subjects and are ready to sabotage them. To overcome these problems, approaches such as gamification are essential. In this article, we shall review the essence of gamification in learning and its long-term importance. More importantly, we will take a look at some of the main strategies for gamification in learning. In the end, using this text, you will not only be able to answer the question “what is gamification in education?” but also understand some of the pathways to promote it in different scenarios.
Gamification in Learning and Why It Is Important
Above all, we should define what gamification means in terms of learning. This concept primarily signifies the use of game-like methods in classroom settings. For example, you can have some form of a quiz that would put the learners into a rather big competition. This method would help you activate their interest and push the individuals towards actually paying attention to the class. Obviously, motivation is the main reason for using gamification. In the world of disrupted attention spans, games in education can be a path to improve the long-term abilities of many students. In short, gamification is your path to pushing students toward productive work.
Strategies in Gamification For Learning
The ways to use gamification in learning are rather diverse. Here are some of the ways you can utilize the concept in your everyday work:
- Quiz of some kind: you can engage your students by giving them some form of questions about the material they learned. As mentioned previously, the game element here may come in the form of competition.
- Board games: today, we have hundreds if not thousands of diverging board games. Some of them are perfect for teaching the students about the key elements of some disciplines. For example, you can use them to teach tactics, strategy, and even economy. Monopoly has a rather impressive number of insights into behavioral economics.
- Story-/essay-writing competition: a common factor to consider is the ability to push students towards doing something creative. If you have people who are genuinely talented at creating fiction, why not put their talent to the test and let them create something genuinely interesting.
The list above is far from exhaustive. Almost every game element you can come up with may eventually turn into an opportunity for gamification in modern learning. Obviously, you’re also very likely to ask how to use the elements in question. Here are some opportunities:
- Use them as a supplement to your classes: use game elements to enhance the basis of your teaching and the concepts you promote;
- Utilize game elements as something central: for example, you can put the essay competition at the center of your class. Every theoretical material you prepare for it should eventually become the preparation for the final project.
In short, the approach is strong both as a supplement and a way to centralize learning.
Conclusion
The presented information clearly shows that you should think about implementing gamification into your classroom as early as possible. Today, the approach gives a very important opportunity for many teachers: it offers a path to attract the attention of the learners. In the world of constant distractions, this factor is essential. You can use the approach as both a supplement and a central piece for your teaching efforts. Thus, its flexibility is definite today. If you need any help with this aspect, contacting KeenEthics (https://keenethics.com/) is a great idea. Their professionals would be able to consult you on all relevant issues.