To make their mark in today’s fast-paced digital society, twenty-first-century professionals need not only suffice the marks criteria but demonstrate exceptional qualities to stay abreast of technological advancements. Learning by doing, also known as active learning, has been recognised as the most effective teaching method for developing skills as well as good thinking abilities. Active learning pedagogies are based on the premise that to learn, a student needs to be engaged in activities. However, just because a student is engaged in some activities, it does not mean that s/he is actually learning. Hence, the learning activities need to be planned and rolled out very carefully with proper instructional interventions by the teachers. Here, the teacher transitions from functioning as the sole transmitter of knowledge to serving as a mentor in the creation of this knowledge. Active learning becomes even more effective when social aspects of collaboration and competition are also infused in learning activities. This infusion is often used to create game like experiences to promote interaction and student engagement to enhance their learning.
Gamification and game-based learning, bound by a common objective of making learning more engaging, are two different things. While the former incorporates game-style incentives, e.g., badges, points, ranks, leaderboards, levels, etc., and other game element, e.g., collaboration, competition, rules, etc., in existing learning activities, the latter involves learning activities that are intrinsically game-like. For example, gamification might include rewarding students with ‘badges’ as a visible symbol of achievement to recognize their effort. The effort could range from anything like completing an assignment on time to taking initiatives like helping another classmate in the completion of a project to others. Gamification is effective because it leverages people's natural desires for socialisation, competition, achievement, mastery, etc.
For teachers who practise active learning based pedagogy, incorporating gamification into their teaching doesn’t require a total transformation. Many active learning strategies or activities that they already use can be gamified into even more effective learning tools. For ages, innovative teachers have been using different elements of gamification to make their classroom teaching more engaging. A simple example often used by many teachers is to divide the class into groups and hold quiz competition in the class. I recall that in one of my earliest teaching sessions in late eighties, I divided a B.Tech. (Computer Engineering) class of 40 into 2 groups and conducted an in-class competition where each group will alternatively ask a challenging question related to the subject matter. Acceptable quality answers, even if not fully correct, resulted into points for the other group. Since the early days of e-learning and online education, IT based gamification has been used by many educators in their e-learning or online courses. However, it really saw an acceleration during Covid period when EDTech industry saw a much rapid growth and many teachers introduced live, online quiz-show style games into their online teaching using platforms like Blooket and Quizizz.
Gamification must not be misunderstood as a strategy for effortless learning. Nor is it appropriate for every learning situation. It should be used to enhance students’ interaction with the content, peers, and the instructor. It should also provide opportunities to students for deep thought and reflection. Gamification can be innovatively used to increase students’ curiosity and propel them through the content for knowledge acquisition, motivate actions for skill building, influence behaviour, try alternatives, and also drive innovation.
Gamification in education is broadly classified into two broad categories – structural gamification and content gamification. Structural gamification uses game elements to propel learners through content without changing it. It uses game elements like rules, reward structures, leaderboards, points, currency, badges, leveling up, and social sharing. On the other hand, content gamification uses game elements and game thinking to alter parts of the content to make it more game-like, e.g., starting a course with a challenge rather than with a list of objectives. It uses elements like story, challenge, curiosity, character, interactivity, feedback, and freedom to fail.
Gamification has been used frequently in corporate trainings. Its use in higher education especially online education is also increasing. An often cited early example of the application of gamification in the higher education was developed by Lee Sheldon, a Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He converted the points earned by the students into experience, their grades into different levels and created student-avatars. Efforts are underway as some institutes have already integrated gamification in some of their courses and many others are planning to do so. Some EdTech companies are also supporting them in this work. Gamification can be enhanced further with the inclusion of technologies like AI, Big Data, IoT, cloud technology, mobile learning, and VR, among others. However, all these technologies need to be carefully selected and used to avoid creation of meaningless gamification. Although some new features may initially look attractive, the lack of proper integration with the underlying learning activity may make it meaningless. Meaningful gamification requires proper integration of the various game elements with those aspects of the underlying learning activities that are meaningful to the student.
Gamification and other modern educational technologies leverage students’ intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation of students. However, we must also remember that the primary aim of the educational process in formal education, school or higher, should be to strengthen intrinsic motivation of students as their learning outcomes ultimately depend upon it. Extrinsic motivation, if used without proper planning, can reduce their intrinsic motivation. Students’ intrinsic motivation comes from their love for learning, the pleasure they seek to derive from their occupation as well as the satisfaction through their own growth. Hence, to be really meaningful, gamification or any other educational technology or pedagogy planned to be used in formal higher education must also aim to gradually strengthen their intrinsic motivation.
About the author: Dr.Sanjay Goel is currently the Director of the Institute of Engineering and Technology at JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur. He is an alumnus of BITS, Pilani and IIT, Delhi. He is actively engaged in developing, demonstrating, and leading new models of engineering education as a progressive researcher and educationist. Through an illustrious 35 years of professional experience, Dr. Goel has been associated with a number of educational institutions and organisations in various roles that include Programmer at the National Informatics Centre, Faculty of Computer Engineering at Delhi University, Project Manager and Director of Multimedia at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, HoD of Computer Science at Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, and as visiting faculty at Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi and IMT, Ghaziabad.
