In the past few years, educational technology has seen many major shifts. From the first computer that was invented by Remington Rand, in 1951, to the audiovisual communication devices and the overhead projector that were invented in the 60’s, to the email that came about in the 70’s. The 70’s, also, saw the emergence of the term ‘internet’ which was an abbreviation of the word ‘internetworking’, in addition to desktop personal computers. Macintosh announced its first computer with a user-friendly interface, in the 80’s. World Wide Web was coined by Tim Berners-Lee in the 90’s, while WebCrawler was the first full-text web search engine. Blogging and Blackboard were founded in 1997. In 1998, Google was created as a means to develop a digital library. 1990 saw the introduction of the interactive whiteboards. Wikipedia was founded in 2001, while YouTube posted its first video in 2005. 2010 saw the rise of the iPads and, later, of tablets that acted like powerful portable computers. Since then, digital technology has emerged and new technologies and new mobile apps are being created everyday. Each of the above technologies has changed the educational process in its own way.
Shaping education by using technology:
Two of the emerging technologies that I want to consider in this post, and that were based on the invention of personal computers, game consoles, and tablets, are gamification and game-based learning (GBL). Gamification is the addition of game-like components to non-game settings. These components allow students to earn experience points and level up based on certain behaviors that are exhibited in class, for example. Game-based learning (GBL), on the other hand, is the use of games to improve the learning experiences of students, while adhering to the games’ rules. Games like SimCity and Minecraft have become very popular with children during these past few years. They allow users to build their own ‘worlds’, create ‘families’, overcome challenges, and basically, try to survive in a virtual world. Both, gamification and game-based learning have shown to improve student engagement, motivation, concentration, critical thinking skills, just to name a few learning outcomes.
Shaping education by using technology:
Two of the emerging technologies that I want to consider in this post, and that were based on the invention of personal computers, game consoles, and tablets, are gamification and game-based learning (GBL). Gamification is the addition of game-like components to non-game settings. These components allow students to earn experience points and level up based on certain behaviors that are exhibited in class, for example. Game-based learning (GBL), on the other hand, is the use of games to improve the learning experiences of students, while adhering to the games’ rules. Games like SimCity and Minecraft have become very popular with children during these past few years. They allow users to build their own ‘worlds’, create ‘families’, overcome challenges, and basically, try to survive in a virtual world. Both, gamification and game-based learning have shown to improve student engagement, motivation, concentration, critical thinking skills, just to name a few learning outcomes.
Problems and challenges:
One of the problems with gamification is that it can become predictable and dreary. Students can become very familiar with the setting that they might lose interest in pursuing further goals to earn badges or rewards. In addition, the teacher has to design the activities very well, so they do not seem meaningless and decontextualized. Being aware of these problems, gives rise to the challenge of how can we make the students stay interested in the activities for longer periods of time and how can we help teachers use the full potential of gamification?
Similarly, game-based learning has been problematic for teachers who do not have defined learning outcomes through which they hope to achieve certain objectives and goals. Minecraft can be used to teach History, for example, only if the instructor stays focused on what skills and concepts the students should learn. The teacher must, also, be very familiar with the game, so they can help students when they are faced with problems. Here the challenge becomes the appropriate choice of games the instructor should use to help students reach the desired learning outcomes
Societal needs and the benefits of gamification and game-based learning:
In the USA alone, 7000 high school students drop out of school every day. This website lists “they did not like school” as the first reason for dropping out. According to this website, high school dropouts are responsible for 75% of crimes committed in the USA. In addition, this rate has hurt the American society, which has retreated to number 24, according to this blog, in literacy skills and to number 14 in education on an international scale. This leads us to the conclusion that there are problems in the U.S. educational system that is stopping it from reaching higher ranks and hindering students from finishing school.
In this article, Christopher Lloyd’s daughters are just one example of students getting so bored at school that they lose their motivation and curiosity to learn. There are so many other children that hate school because of the way the different subject matters are being taught. Work at many schools, is not relevant to the lives of the children and is repetitive with only one correct answer. Teachers expect students to be seated for long periods of time listening to a teacher deliver the information that they need to know, which has been shown to be an ineffective method of teaching.
This trend is changing. But with any change, the process can be slow and painful. As New Media Institute suggested in this white paper, learning should be based on “acquiring the skills and thought processes needed to respond appropriately under pressure, in a variety of situations”. Gamefication and GBL provide students, even the academically weak ones, with the necessary skills to advance their learning experiences by challenging their thought processes and allowing them to solve real-life problems that helps them function in society. In a fast progressing world, children require faster and shorter activities. Games help students become engaged and motivated to learn more about a certain topic. Dr. David Thornburg’s video is one example of how teachers can teach many concepts and limit behavioral problems that usually occur when students are bored in class, thus, allowing children to further their knowledge and stay at school, because they will come to love school.
Pitfalls of Gamification and GBL and how to avoid them:
As with all other teaching methods, gamification and GBL can be valuable teaching and learning resources if they were created and implemented in a way that serves the teaching and learning end-goals. On the other hand, if they were used just to keep students quiet and amused for a certain period of time without actually adding any educational value, then they become just a waste of time. The quests should not be long and arduous leaving the students feeling frustrated instead of challenged. Gamification and GBL can lead students to value tangible rewards and badges, but teachers can give students verbal encouragement to allow them to value learning intrinsically. In addition, teachers should do their homework and research these emerging technologies before they implement them in their classrooms. They need to make sure that they have all the resources they need from the appropriate mindset to ICT tools to the support of administration that are required to make this change a positive one for all concerned, especially the students.
Thank you for reading my post. Please share your experiences with gamification and GBL.
As with all other teaching methods, gamification and GBL can be valuable teaching and learning resources if they were created and implemented in a way that serves the teaching and learning end-goals. On the other hand, if they were used just to keep students quiet and amused for a certain period of time without actually adding any educational value, then they become just a waste of time. The quests should not be long and arduous leaving the students feeling frustrated instead of challenged. Gamification and GBL can lead students to value tangible rewards and badges, but teachers can give students verbal encouragement to allow them to value learning intrinsically. In addition, teachers should do their homework and research these emerging technologies before they implement them in their classrooms. They need to make sure that they have all the resources they need from the appropriate mindset to ICT tools to the support of administration that are required to make this change a positive one for all concerned, especially the students.
Thank you for reading my post. Please share your experiences with gamification and GBL.