Gamification in Learning: Playing Can’t Learn?

In 1896 Sperry & Hutchinson issued unique stamps that consumers received for purchases at the chain’s retail stores. By collecting several stamps in an album. It was this approach that, according to marketing analyst Gerald Christians of the University of South Carolina, is considered the first example of the use of gamification elements in marketing. Education waited about a hundred years before gamification began to be implemented there. I also provide a lot of information about education and write tips for students on the wow essays blog.

What is gamification in Education?

Gamification uses game-based approaches for non-game processes, including learning and work. The authors of the article “The Impact of Gamification on Historical Thinking” in Nature emphasize that gamification promotes immersive learning for students, focusing on achieving their goals.

Although elements of gamification in Education have existed for a long time (e.g., the star grading system in the United States for elementary schools, where each star is a reward for “winning” a task), only in recent years have it been applied consistently, not just in separate parts.

Let’s look at a few simple examples of gamification in everyday life. When you collect stamps at your favorite coffee shop to get a free drink, that’s gamification. That’s gamification when your bank gives badges for some transaction in an app. When your favorite social network motivates you to fill out your profile with information to get that coveted 100%, that’s gamification, too.

Gamification in Education is based on a simple but effective principle: rule — feedback — reward.

We are not talking about abstract scores and grades, familiar to everyone since school, but about accurate, measurable results and successes.

Other students see the outcome and learn, particularly from other people’s experiences.

Successful gamification in Education, according to Scott Osterville, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Education, will give students four freedoms:

• The freedom to fail: games allow for error without significant consequences;
• the freedom to experiment: games allow them to be unafraid to discover new strategies or information;
• freedom to “look differently”: with games, one can look at the same problem from different angles;
• Freedom to try: games allow you to work and learn in periods, interspersing activity and relaxation — a student or student can reflect on the task they have already done during the pause.

Gamification for children and adults is different.

In 2018, the Erasmus+ program, in collaboration with Education Centers, conducted a study on the effects of gamification in different groups. Children ages seven were more motivated to learn through play than older respondents.

Increasing adult motivation in gamified Education may differ from children’s goal-setting. Children want to see the results of their work here and now: instant stars for their achievements, for example. Adults are more forward-looking. It is not so much today’s achievements that are important to them, but rather opportunities to use the knowledge, skills, and experience gained in the future (e.g., at work). Here game modeling of situations is practical: how the person, having specific knowledge, would act in this or that situation.

Why use gamification in educational courses?

There is a term “state of monotony” in psychology and physiology. It arises from the constant repetition of the same actions, which adversely affects the effectiveness of learning. Monotony is one of the factors that can very quickly turn your favorite work into a real test of will and in Education — reflect any desire to develop further.

The World Bank writes: “Education is now in crisis. Although learning is more widely available than ever before, unfortunately, school is not learning. Hundreds of millions of children worldwide graduate without the skills they need for modern life, such as digital literacy or critical thinking. One likely reason for this is that students lose interest in learning, do not feel progress, or understand how to put knowledge into practice.

Interesting observation on the experience of education companies

Regarding making educational courses gamified by developing IT systems, we rely on three basic gamification mechanics of the learning process.

Gamification

Students are faced with a specific task. They are given certain tools to solve it and almost complete freedom of action. Rewards — a “closed” project, success, real-world skills. Our students can choose their way to achieve the goal, not just learn the theory and repeat teachers’ actions. They are pioneers.

Competition

Excitement, adrenaline, desire to prove yourself, and finding a way to solve tasks better and more effectively than others are the main engines to learn better and constantly grow on themselves. We make sure that this competition is healthy and fair.

Constant shifts of activities.

The learning process must constantly be changing. Monotony is the greatest enemy of practical IT training. That’s why every course lesson is fundamentally different from the previous one. No self-repeating and routine!