Module 4- Engaging Students

[Kamla Deonauth]

Does gamification increase teaching and learning outcomes?

[aicha.lompo@bison.howard.edu]

Gamification is making something potentially tedious into a game. Gamification is effective because it taps into people’s natural desires for competition and achievement. Thus, gamification increases teaching and learning outcomes. For instance, teachers can use gamification to increase participation and improve productivity in their teaching environment. The most effective gamification systems make use of elements such as narrative and connection with fellow players/learners to really capture the learner’s interest. Indeed, students feel like they have ownership over their learning as well as having a more relaxed atmosphere regarding failure, since learners can simply try again. That bring fun in the classroom and learning becomes visible through progress indicators. Students may uncover an intrinsic motivation for learning and can explore different identities through different avatars or characters. Students often are more comfortable in gaming environments, so are more proactive and open to making mistakes. Higher engagement and concentration levels amongst students are noticed. Most importantly, gamification gives students the opportunity to think outside of the box.

[ghadeer.abdullah@bison.howard.edu]

As we know, the primary learning styles are based on visual, auditory, physical, verbal, and more. Gamification has become a new style to increase learning outcomes. Thus, gamification can enhance teaching and learning outcomes if it is used at the right time. Moreover, choosing the best type of gamification to receive the right impact. I believe that gamification is a strategy for improving levels of students’ engagement, particular skills, and optimizing their learning. In addition, some time the social element of gamified learning, whereby students in groups, which leads to share knowledge and to increase social interactions between students in a positive way. Also, we should not forget that gamification can affect students differently depending on their personality traits.

[Rachelle Allen-McFarlane]

The response I’m making in this post is largely based on my analysis of a paper entitled “ Gamification and learning: A review of issues and Research” by Faiella et al. 2015.The term gamification was only coined in 2002 and it seems more research needs to be done to get a clearer understanding of its impact on the teaching and learning process .It is known that in terms of intrinsic motivation of students gamification can have a negative impact when rewards such as badges and coins as well as the encouraging of competition and social comparison via digital leaderboards is used. One research involving students of an e-learning course showed the negative effects of social comparison on motivation. It proved especially that gamification is not an important motivating factor for all students because some students do not like to compete with their classmates. There are studies however that have shown that gamification increases student engagement and participation in class and online settings. Engagement, however, tends to decrease with time as novelty wears off. In terms of learning outcomes gamification can increase/develop the problem-solving skills of students when the activity is design to have concrete challenges that increase in difficulty as the student’s skills expand. Additionally, feedback from gamification can increase some student’s motivation and their results. Where teaching is concerned, teachers/ instructional designers need to look carefully at the pros and cons of the particular gamification tools they intend to select, ensuring they are effective in actualizing the educational objectives and desired outcomes of the learning process.

[Rachelle Allen-McFarlane]

Hi Ghadeer, it definitely seems that gamification is an excellent tool where increasing students’ engagement is concerned. Some literature however suggest that where gamification is concerned, student engagement can wane with time and familiarity. What gamification strategies do you think a teacher could employ to ensure high levels of engagement are maintained?

[Rachelle Allen-McFarlane]

Hi Aisha, indeed gamification can increase the teaching and learning outcomes on several spheres. I see you also highlighted intrinsic motivation. But, I came across literature that suggest gamification can have a negative impact on intrinsic motivation of students e.g. when rewards such as badges and coins as well as where there is encouragement of competition and social comparison via digital leaderboards. What do you think about this?

[aicha.lompo@bison.howard.edu]

Hi Rachelle, I like the comment about being careful about adopting gamification because it has some negative aspects that can create the adverse effect. Also the aspect of wear off that can emerge quickly for some students can cause a complete disengagement from the course. It is a challenge to find the right balance for most of everything in reality.

[aicha.lompo@bison.howard.edu]

Hi Ghadeer, the last point you mentioned is extremely relevant since students are different with specific personality, characters, background, culture, and environment. The challenge is how to accommodate each students (if possible) and if not how to accommodate the majority of the students to keep them engaged and above all wanted to learn.

[fatemah.alhakami@bison.howard.edu]

Gamification can be a way of solving problems by using the different game elements because it makes the hard stuff more fun and it could motivate students and make them more engaged with the subject. Another interesting point is increasing competition with classmates.

[ghadeer.abdullah@bison.howard.edu]

Hi Aicha, you are definitely right on the point of using gamification as tool to increase students participation. I have difficulty to make students engaged on some lesson activites especially after the pandemic. I believe that gamification can be as an Icebreaker.

[gretchen.johnson@bison.howard.edu]

Gamification can certainly be beneficial to help students review important concepts taught during a course, improve learning outcomes, reinforce active participation and help to motivate the work students complete with their classmates. Gamification may also allow students to be more creative in a setting that they may already be comfortable in as gaming is often used by young people for entertainment. I believe these technologies will also help develop students’ problem-solving skills and the game elements may increase students’ intrinsic motivation level as a specific subject matter may become more interesting. Although, this may not be the case for all students, gamification might be a struggle for students who do not enjoy competitions in learning specific concepts in a course. Additionally, instructors who choose to use gamification in their courses should seek to obtain training and skills for the proper implementation of these technologies to enhance learning, exchange of knowledge and productivity.

[gretchen.johnson@bison.howard.edu]

Hi Rachelle, I like the comment that you made! I agree with you that there are some negative effects of gamification and I like how you highlighted the key elements that one must consider when using gamification. Certainly, “the social comparison via digital leaderboards” is an area that demands unique focus. Currently, society is addicted to social media and research has shown the impact that this has on individuals who use it daily and often compare themselves to their followers. Thus, in a similar sense, instructors who implement gamification in their courses must be mindful of the negative effects of using these technologies especially in regard to social comparisons.

[gretchen.johnson@bison.howard.edu]

Hi Aicha, I do agree that gamification definitely can help students to think outside of the box! I believe this adds such a new and vibrant dimension to learning for students trying to understand especially complex concepts in a course. The exploration of using different identities and avatars as you mentioned is definitely intriguing! I can definitely see how this can help students to essentially feel at home and comfortable when using these types of technologies.

[alysa.herrerataylo1@bison.howard.edu]

I think gasification does have the ability to increase teaching and learning outcomes. I can remember as a student sometimes teachers would create Jeopardy games in order to prepare us for Quizzes. It was fun being on teams and essentially quizzing each other on the material. When students can talk about the content/information with ease then they truly know/understand what you have been teaching them, rather than just memorizing and forgetting facts for the exam. As an instructor it can definitely be challenging to turn a standard lecture into a game, especially if you are not familiar with how the layout should look, how to make it fun with transitions and sounds, etc. But, I think it can help you to understand what areas the students have grasped and maybe what needs more work. Learning is not fun for everyone, and engaging students is hard, especially during the pandemic. I think gamification is another tool instructors should take advantage of, assuming they have the time, and it doesn’t have to be as elaborate as a Jeopardy game with buzzers. When we had the presentation about the different technologies available to us, we were shown simple games like the quizzes and whoever answered the fates won, or the spinning wheel. There are many things available to us (that are free!) that can supplement a regular lecture and break up the monotony.

[alysa.herrerataylo1@bison.howard.edu]

**gamification**

[alysa.herrerataylo1@bison.howard.edu]

Hi Gretchen, I like your point about gasification making students feel more comfortable in the classroom. Many students do game, be it xbox, playstation, or another console, and brining games into the classroom can definitely bridge the gap that may exist between learning and fun. Its also important to consider that other students may not be as comfortable competing with each other. I don’t think any tool we use will ever satisfy every student in our classroom, but its great to have different options!

Hi Rachelle, I love that you referenced some literature on the subject! I think it is very important to know that as instructors, even if we include games into our lessons that engagement will not always be 100% and may also fizzle out. It is so difficult trying to keep students engaged in an online environment, and I know students get tired of repetitive activities. My only experience with gamification has been in person, and I can imagine with people not wanting to turn on their cameras or mic that would make playing a game in an online environment not very fun.

[Daad Alrowaili]

I believe that gamification can increase student learning outcome. Gamification in education has the ability to optimize the brain’s processing of new information, and these may be facilitated by the general aspects of gamified lessons, along with the audio-visual presentation, minimized bites of schematic information, short time lapses, and often repetitive pattens.

 

[sadaf.ghaderzadeh@bison.howard.edu]

 

 

Gamification modifies the brains reward and pleasure part and ameliorates learning. So any achievements or win situation can activate the brain’s pleasure circuits. this happens with releasing Dopamine in brain neurotransmitter.

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