Gamification is one of the latest trends in education, whereby pupils and students acquire knowledge through play. There are software to gamify learning that involves the use of game mechanics and game design elements in the teaching-learning-assessment process.
Features of games – such as goal setting, rules, fun elements, feedback, rewards and promotions – are involved to convey information from different domains.
Today’s young people are attracted to games, to computer games, where their performance is quickly evaluated through scores or individualized feedback. Through play, they become actively involved, thus becoming able to understand and retain the information presented.
The term “gamification” was first used by the British developer Nick Pelling in 2002, with the meaning of “accelerating and making electronic tools more attractive using game-like graphical interfaces”. Later, the term acquired different connotations. This concept denotes the presence or addition of game characteristics in activities that are not traditionally considered games. It refers, above all, to computer games and online achievements that can be applied in various fields of activity.
During the game, people enter a special state, a mixture of concentration, involvement and a breaking of limits. During lessons, gamification can be integrated in a natural way, by transforming modular lessons or courses into authentic game situations, like an adventure game, for example. Students can create a character, participate in the game-lesson as members of a team. They earn points, diplomas and rewards for their various actions or for helping other students. In the game, there can also be consequences when they are wrong. In the so many different language courses organized, we successfully use gamification.
The benefits of gamification:
- Attracts and maintains the attention of customers
- Gamification motivates students to achieve the proposed goals
- Learning becomes attractive and fun
- Maintain teacher-student and student-student interaction.
- It makes students active and involved in the educational process.
- It facilitates the absorption of new knowledge and the ability to retain it
- It gives learners the opportunity to see the connection of acquired concepts to the real world
- Improve the overall learning experience – gamification integrates naturally into eLearning courses, so students don’t even realize they’re engaged in acquiring new information.
The teacher’s role is to skillfully guide students through the thicket of abstract concepts, using the principles of gamification. The teacher becomes a game leader who instills his enthusiasm in the children, motivating them to progress.
What can you do with Zoom during an online class?
- Present educational content
- You interact online with the learners (they can ask questions orally or in writing, on the application chat)
- Send different materials (documents, links, videos, etc.)
- You work with children in groups, using Breakout rooms (and it’s really fun to walk around the groups, see what and how everyone works)
- You use the interactive whiteboard integrated in the platform or you can share another virtual whiteboard.
- You integrate other digital tools into the lesson, which help you create games, quizzes, puzzles, online tests.
- You record the lesson in the Cloud and you can send it to any learner who could not attend the meeting.
- Learners can interact non-verbally through emoticons
- You can set whether or not students are allowed to share materials, whether or not they can make notes on the whiteboard or documents.
