Gamification in Education 101
Control leads to compliance. Autonomy leads to engagement.
- Daniel H. Pink
Before we get into what gamification is and what education is all about today, I have a very, very important statistics to share. According to the report released by the World Economic Forum, we are at the risk of losing over 5 million jobs to artificial intelligence, automation and job redundancy by the year 2020.
Breaking down a report shared by Citibank, we learn that in the US, over 47% of the jobs are at risk while 77% of them are in China.
What does this mean?
Simple. Robots, bots or advanced computing devices (whatever you name it) will have the ability to do the tasks we humans are capable of in better, accurate and precise ways. Jack Ma — co-founder, Alibaba Group, also has been emphasising this for a while in his speeches and we have tons of reports to back this statement.
Now, why is a quote featured in the beginning?
Is it because it sounds fancy or powerful?
No.
The stats that you just read is directly associated with one of the most practical quotes by Daniel H. Pink. While watching a fantastic TEDx talk on YouTube by Scott Hebert on the Power of Gamification in Education, I had some really alarming thoughts on where and how education stands right now. It made me introspect my education and its methodology and compare that to the ones my parents and their parents had.
While tracking back, what became evident was we have all been trained in the same way. We have all been part of an ecosystem, where we were just passive participants in what was supposed to be an evolutionary practice. While we were being taught some of the most crucial concepts that would shape our life and careers, we were just there sitting day-dreaming and waiting for the bell to ring, detached and uninterested.
Education, something that has to make us feel empowered, creative, innovative and excited about life comes off as a burden, as part of a routine we cannot avoid. That’s when it became clear that gamification is inevitable and that it’s potential is truly undervalued.
What is gamification?
Gamification is everything that has concepts and mechanics of gaming in anything that is not even closely related to gaming. Ever wanted to earn a badge on Google or Zomato reviews as a top contributor? Did that profile completion meter on social media profile urge you to take it to a full 100%?
Welcome to the world of gamification — where companies use dynamics and reward systems of gaming to lure you to do something as boring as filling your personal details. At the time of instant gratification, gamification helps you get rewarded for everything you do.
Gamification in Education
In schools and institutions, especially, the potential of gamification is massive. Imagine this! Schools and colleges today have imbibed a fear in all of us of failing. What is supposed to be an environment to make mistakes, learn, innovate and apply our learnings on diverse scenarios has become a conveyor belt of sorts, where we have to answer in a line or two, rote memorise concepts and answer questions in the same way thousands of other students are doing, get grades and graduate without having an iota of idea of how to use trigonometry in real life.
Gamification just does the opposite. It fosters learning by allowing students to learn from their failures and rewards them for realisations. Through experience points or badges, students track their own progress and understand what they need to do to get better.
It’s like playing Fortnite but with subjects.
Why Gamification
Apart from empowering students to take charge of their own academics, gamification restores choice and liberty with students. If you notice, education is all about asking industry leaders, parents, institution owners and other stake holders about what can make education more interesting to students. This is surprising because only thing that matters the most is how students, the most crucial stakeholder in the entire chain, feel about it.
Gamification offers them autonomy. It allows them to use their liberty, stipulations and mind to get better in academics and become everyday learners — the kind of people the world needs tomorrow.
Now does that quote make more sense?
Gamification in Education Best Practices
Instant Feedback
One of the main reasons kids learn to quickly master games (of any kind) is because they experience results, consequences or feedback immediately. One wrong turn to the left, a gamer instantly falls down a pit. The game re-spawns from the last checkpoint.
In education, gamification has to do just that. Students have to be provided with quick and instant feedback on where they are going wrong and be left alone to come up with solutions. A game doesn’t complete by itself, it just gives players an idea of the other alternate routes available.
Solid Rewarding System
Gamification is all about inculcating a sense of accomplishment in students. So the rewarding system has to be equally powerful. From a concept of punishing students for going wrong, a rewarding system to identify their rise from failure is what will build confidence in students. A solid rewarding mechanism like a badge they could flaunt or a leaderboard they need to top are all part of healthy competition.
Tournaments and Premier Leagues
The spirit of competition yields better performance. Coming up with creative quizzes and exams in the form of tournaments will not just build an urge among students to perform better but give them a chance to explore their collaborative traits as well. They will start looking at collective growth and that is one quality that will take them forward.
Don’t Deviate from the Original Intention
While gamification is exciting for both teachers and students, you should be careful in not deviating from the original purpose of gamification. It is to make education interesting, immersive and impactful so knowledge and takeaways should always be at the fulcrum of the process. Do not focus more on the reward systems or game dynamics and weaken the process of imparting knowledge. Tying up mechanics with subjects’ learning objectives will have the most profound impact on students.
A Little Drama
Dramatisation of language and scenarios can also make for compelling sessions. Instead of using the word assignments, try using dramatic words like quest or adventure. The resonance and the connect of students with homework or other tasks will be stronger and intense. If scoring systems can be XP (experience points), nothing like it!
The psychological effect of gamification in education is deep and you can actually see students being reciprocative of the efforts you put in. They become more attentive, intuitive, enthusiastic and interactive in classrooms and reflect this outside school premises as well. Experiment this in your classroom and see how you could come up with unique ways to engage your students.
In the end, it’s not students but leaders, pioneers, entrepreneurs, scientists and artists of tomorrow we are working with.