Impact of Gamification on Student
As the process of education continues to progress, conventional teaching methodologies are slowly being advanced by a variety of useful motifs that make learning experience more effective.
Of these approaches, the one known to be growing increasingly popular is gamification. This article focuses on Exploring and defining gamification, its advantages and outcomes when implementing gamification in to classrooms.
Understanding Gamification: Definition and Key Concepts
This means that gamification is the use of features that are related to games for defining a particular context, for instance, learning activities. Thus, using the elements of rewards, competition and progress check, the process of learning is supposed to be more fun. This makes students engage in learning activities, incentives them to complete activities and tackle obstacles.
Challenges, rewards, levels, points, badges and leader boards are terms linked to the actual Gaming Models in which points, badges, leader boards and levels are keywords of gamification.
The Psychologist’s Perspective on the Use of Games in Educational Contexts
The reason for adopting gamification revolve in the fact that these techniques uses basic survival instincts including competition, achievement, and incentive. Mechanics activate the reward system of the brain given the production of dopamine when students achieve the goals set or when they garner points in a game.
Positive reinforcement given in the assessment fosters incentive of the students to learn and aspire to do better. Thirdly, rivalry if it is between the students or within the student themselves makes them be creative and try their best.
Gamification vs Traditional Learning: A Comparative Analysis
When gamification is compared with other forms of learning, several benefits are seen more clearly. In traditional education systems, what the learners realize is that they get to be bored and overwhelmed by what the teacher is teaching. While gamification turns the process of gaining new knowledge into a journey, each level of which can be equated with a step towards mastery.
In contrast to the classic paradigms that often create an environment where learning occurs at the consumer level, gamification involves active participation and cooperative learning, as well as a much higher level of material retention in learners’ minds.
The Effects of Motivation and Rewards in the use of Gamiification in Learning
Game intrinsic motivation can be discussed as one of the key factors influencing gamification process. In concept, learning through rewarding point system, badges, and certificates encourage students to do tasks and instill interest in the learned material. These rewards are pleasant, and knowing that one has solved a problem gives students confidence.
People may have extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in gamification, so that solutions may be more effective. According to the reinforcement theory, points which are given to the learners are extrinsic while the boost acquired from overcoming a subject is intrinsic and helps in sustaining motivation.
Pros and Cons of Using Gamification in Learning
However, as seen before, gamification has its strengths and weaknesses. On the same note, students might become obsessed with incentives to the extent that learning will lose its value.
Furthermore, not all the students shall be receptive to such fun filled learning process due to difference in learning preference. The introduction of gamification calls for a lot of planning so that it can indeed enhance learning without dominating the course content.
Gamification and Collaborative Learning: A Powerful Combination
Another is that specific elements of gamification can help improve the success of collaborative learning as individuals work together in groups and need to convey their ideas. Unlike traditional Learning-teaching processes, most gamified learning processes entail a problem solving or challenge solving activity that can only be accomplished in group work hence fostering teamwork and peer interaction.
Not only does this bring some fun into the learning process, which is always a plus, but further illustrates good social and interpersonal skills that are required throughout life.
Free Advice on How to Incorporate the Concept of Gamification in Learning.
So, the educators, who want to implement the strategy of gamification correctly into the learning process, should act step by step and introduce the game elements to the process gradually. One can start for instance with facilitative tools such as quizzes, points, and leaderboards.
There is also a need to make sure that gamification is well aligned to learning goals and does promote positive learning experience. Extra information, cooperation, and the ratio between entertainment and academic results are the factors that contribute to the success of applying gamification into learning process.
conclusion
Here there are plethora of advantages of applying gamification offers of students and their performances improvement. Aidopting a game based fun approach to education is more engaging, calls for participation and boosts retention since learning is no longer passive.
Despite these observations, it is necessary to follow the elements of best practice to make use of gamification meaningfully supplement traditional forms of approach and meet the needs of all learners.
With the progress of the educational technology in the future, the conception of gamification will be a significant facilitative factor for the improvements of learning for students around the globe.
