Key points:
- Harnessing the power of video games can foster a deeper, more meaningful educational experience
- 3 ways educators leverage gamification strategies
- The future of gamification
- For more news on gaming principles, visit eSN’s Teaching & Learning page
Student engagement is vital for any educator throughout the length of a course. The unfortunate reality is that a great teacher only has control of a student’s environment for a short period of time. When a student goes home, they are inundated with many other potentially more engaging activities. In the last few decades, the main attractor for many students have been video games. Video games have become so mainstream over the years that children are just as engaged watching the games on streaming services like Twitch as playing them. The challenge posed to educators is how to gamify coursework that students can play, enjoy, and learn.
The most successful video games have a stratified reward system that rewards players at spaced intervals while the player works towards a goal. The best way to explain this is by looking at a successful game–let’s use World of Warcraft as an example. Players progress through levels toward the end objective while, along the way, completing objectives and earning in-game equipment. At the same time, the player can work and collaborate with other players to defeat more difficult challenges. This is analogous to the education system on a much more condensed time scale. There is an end goal in mind, achieving the maximum level or graduation. This is completed by working through objectives that, in education, are various courses: algebra, history, English, etc. Students earn grades as they complete objectives and even collaborate with classmates on projects. Understanding how the education system is similar to games is vital to redesigning an education-based learning system that would be more engaging for students.…Read More