Gamification in Education

Gamification in Education gives you a chance as a teacher to take the learning journey to the next level. Because provides you the option to include games and activities in the class to make it more enjoyable and meaningful for your students.

You must plan and pick these activities or games very carefully because your students have to leave the class knowing that they have learned something new. Now, how do you know which ones are the ones and which are not? well, that’s very simple, as I’ve mentioned before in other articles it is imperative that as a teacher you know what the learning styles of your students are, if they prefer to work alone or in groups, etc.

The activities that you can include in your plan will depend if the class is online or if they have to go to school, or college. Because it will be some in particular that you can perform just online or just in person, or maybe you can do so but with changes, possibilities are infinite.

Gamification it also give you the chance to keep your students motivated and engaged in the class because they will never know what to expect, they will be always excited to go to your class because they know that you have prepared something special for them.

Just remember that you have to find a balance between the topics that need full attention and explanations that can’t be provided with games and the ones that you can program a game or activity.

Gamification in education can take a variety of forms, from simple points to complex emulation. Here are some examples of activities that you can include in your classes:

1. Leaderboards – It is essential to induce competitiveness among the students by creating a leaderboard to track their performance. This is really helpful in subjects like math, wherein they the kids may see their improvement in the real-time and can always target being in the top of the leaderboard.
2. Badges and achievements: Students should be awarded badges and achievements when they complete certain assignments or reach certain milestones. Like, you may gratify a scholar who reads certain number of books, or solves a tough math conundrum, by awarding them a badge.

3. Quests and challenges – Devise quests or challenges that will require students to provide answers if they want to continue to the next level. This task can be planned when you design a quest that university students try to decipher a sequence of puzzles to unravel a treasure chest.4. Role-playing game – Develop a role-playing game where the students play different characters and work together to solve a particular problem. Such as, you could develop a game with students who are scientists to work together and protect the world from a deadly virus.

Gamification is more than just one approach to everlastingly capturing the attention of students and not without its drawbacks as well. It is important to know what are some of the cons against this practice as well:

1. Too much emphasis on the awards: there is a chance for the students to get distracted from the main learning purposes. It would be necessary for the equilibrium of both motivation and acquisition of knowledge.
2. Limited applicability: Subjects or themes that don’t easily fit well may present difficulties in gamifying them. Deciding which activities can fit the topic is essential.

3. Time wasting: It is quite often a very time-consuming process, especially for the ones who try to create different gaming activities for the very first time. Make sure you make adequate arrangements in advance as well as make a provision of sufficient time to ensure the completion of the implementation.

On the contrary, gamification can emerge as a case in point that the learners find enjoyable and the outcome of the learning process is remarkable. With the aid of game design ingredients, you stir up learning itself towards more exciting and captivating activities that will entice your students.