Gamification in education

According to Edu Trends magazine of the Institute for the Future of Education, Monterrey Technological Observatory, “Gamification works as a motivational didactic strategy in the teaching-learning process to provoke specific behaviors in the student within an environment that is attractive to him, that generates a commitment to the activity in which he participates and that supports the achievement of positive experiences to achieve meaningful learning”.

1. What is gamification?

It is a didactic strategy that transfers games to the educational-professional environment with the purpose of improving educational results, it is implemented in order to achieve better absorption of knowledge, improve some skill, motivate, or improve communication between students and teachers.

Gamification is applicable in different contexts, such as business and education. It is possible to use gamification in any area of knowledge and educational level, from basic education to higher education.

2. Benefits of gamification in education

Gamifying classes has important benefits in the teaching-learning process, some of them are:

• Teamwork
• Encourages the spirit of self-improvement
• Improved academic performance and results
• Increases motivation
• Self-knowledge about their capabilities and skills.
• Promotes knowledge retention
  

3. Elements of the game

The following are some game elements with the purpose that teachers can see the possibilities they have to gamify their classrooms. When designing a Gamification strategy, it is not necessary to consider all the elements described, but to take those that, due to their characteristics, may be more valuable for the learning experience to be achieved.

• Goals and objectives: Generate motivation by presenting a challenge, missions, challenges or a problematic situation to be solved.
• Rules: To limit player actions and keep the game manageable such as, assigning turns, how to gain or lose points, staying alive, etc.
• Narrative: Inspire students by identifying them with a character, situation or cause through avatars or three-dimensional spaces.
• Freedom of choice: Provides the player with different routes or alternatives to achieve his goals.
• Freedom to make mistakes: Encourage experimentation without fear of making mistakes.
• Cooperation and competition: This dynamic generates greater motivation among participants as it challenges them to do better than their opponents.

4. Digital tools to gamify classes

There are a large number of digital gamification tools, which are flexible, making it possible to create tailor-made activities to achieve specific learning objectives.

• Nearpod Nearpod: Provides memoramas, peer-to-peer search, drawing, virtual reality, drag and drop.

• Tomi: Create quizzes, interactive games, true-false, text-picture matching, complete the sentence.

• Genially Quiz or escape room, videos, board game, hidden image and tangram.

• Pear Deck : Allows you to draw, create quizzes, multiple choice tests, open-ended questions, integrate links and add audio.

• Kahoot : Allows you to create quizzes, multiple choice questions, you can add videos and slides.

Gamification in the classroom motivates continuous renewal and improvement of knowledge. With the purpose of overcoming the challenges of education and growing in an inclusive and sustainable manner.

5. References

Educational Innovation Observatory of the Tecnológico de Monterrey. (September 2016). Gamification.

Retrieved from Link

Santander Universities. (March 02, 2022). Gamification in the classroom.

Retrieved from Link