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Jagpreet
26 August, 2024
Table of Contents
Let us begin by understanding what is gamification. Why do you think not just children but even adults enjoy playing video games? The way these games are constructed with visually appealing features, scoreboards and exciting rewards has a long-lasting impact that transcends the age brackets it originally caters to. Games have the ability to connect people through the digital medium and offer an interesting yet fun experience through their creative construct. You would be surprised to know that gaming has not only been restricted to the entertainment industry but has now also been extended to non-game environments. These are
Websites
Online communities
Business intranet
With the purpose of boosting interaction among the users, gamification can be understood as a process of featuring these games on such platforms where the consumers, employees and partners are motivated to collaborate, share and interact seamlessly.
Let us understand this with an example, imagine if this blog was written using some of the toughest words and terminologies, would you be able to enjoy reading it? Perhaps not! When you are looking for some information, you want to understand it either in the simplest terms or in a fun way that helps you understand it better. Similarly, gamification is often used in applications such as your step tracker. Like many other applications, this gives you rewards on your task completion and keeps a record of your steps, sets goals for your health and even motivates you. This kind of feature encourages you to exercise more often or reach your targets. This is just one example of how gamification is incorporated to make an application’s user interface more engaging.
In the field of education, when new game-like features are added to classroom learning to make it more fun and engaging, it is called gamification in education. Points, badges, and challenges are used. These forms of rewards are used to make learning more interesting and students are more deeply involved in their classroom lessons which helps them learn better. When such changes are introduced, they enhance the problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills and collaborative skills among students. Let us understand the role of Gamification in Education and Its Effectiveness:
This methodology involves the use of fun and interactive activities in the classroom to keep the students involved in the learning process. Through such activities, they begin to explore more and try out different things related to their lessons. This encourages creativity, and curiosity and children develop a genuine interest in learning. When mundane and difficult concepts are broken down into simpler formats and communicated through fun ways of teaching, students are able to catch on to the concepts much faster.
When gamification is introduced in education, it helps address the different needs of the students. Not every child learns the concepts at the same speed. Some learn faster while others take more time. When game mechanics are accommodated in learning styles, teachers are able to optimise the learning outcomes.
When students begin to learn through features that are more visually appealing and interactive, there are better chances of memory retention. The ultimate purpose is to ensure that students understand the concepts that they learn. The trick works here as the students learn to associate the concepts with the creative aspect with which they were taught. This association is helpful in the recollection of the concept.
Psychology explains the concept of positive and negative reinforcement. When a particular positive behaviour needs to be encouraged, it is often associated with some reward. In order to receive that reward, which could be anything that is lucrative for the individual, they must showcase that positive behaviour. Similarly, when any negative behaviour needs to be discouraged, there is a punishment associated with it. If the behaviour is repeated, the individual will be subjected to punishment making that behaviour seem highly undesirable. This is also something gamification fosters in education.
As simple as, the more rewards that you get by walking 10,000 steps a day, the more encouraged you feel. It instils a sense of achievement in the individual and boosts their self-esteem. As a result, the reward system, token system, and other similar tactics that are used all encourage positive behaviour. Therefore, gamification, which works on similar principles, fosters positive reinforcement through its creative addition to education.
However, there are certain concerns that must be addressed:
Overdependence on rewards
Even though positive and negative reinforcements are by far some of the most effective techniques, they are not the most desirable in the long run. When the students learn to rely on external sources of motivation, they perform only in the presence of the rewards. Their performance can even be hampered if the rewards are absent or not motivating enough.
This leads to overreliance on extrinsic motivation. This is not healthy in the long run and may lead to less motivation to work or study.
Students who come from privileged backgrounds can afford to be a part of a system that relies on the gamification of education. However, the same is not applicable to those who live in rural areas or study in schools that are not well-constructed enough to offer such facilities. This economic disparity can result in severe accessibility gaps and only a section will truly benefit.
Gamification is a relatively newer concept. It has been introduced to make learning more interesting. However, it does not successfully reach the depth of the concepts. They may simplify but the learning is largely surface-level.
Learning should never lack fun and engagement. At the same time, it should not be amalgamated with technology to the extent that without its presence, education becomes mundane. The effort to make learning an interactive process also relies on the hands of the educator and the system that designs the curriculum. As long as the complex concepts are broken down into simpler terms for students to understand, they will never find learning cumbersome. Therefore, there should be limited exposure to gamification and the use must be monitored.
While the concerns are valid, at this point, it is not possible to completely take over the education system with the help of technology or replace the traditional methods. There can only be a mix of both. Gamification can only enhance learning methods, but replacing them is neither completely possible nor desirable.
The ethical concerns associated with gamification are
Data Privacy
Digital citizenship
Inequality
Yes, students across all the groups can access the benefits of gamification in education.
The positive impact is that there is a more enhanced recollection of the concepts, however, the negative impact is that students may want to learn these concepts faster in exchange for the rewards without understanding the meaningfulness of the concept.
The extent solely depends on the purpose. If the purpose is to engage and simplify learning, it is always a good decision to introduce gamification. However, the limit must be set. To what extent this must be done, and in which areas the concepts really be simplified and clarified? Additionally, the reliance on these sources must be closely monitored.
