Why can gamifying education be a transformative strategy?

“Gamification” is one of the buzzwords of the day. And it’s not by chance: in corporate employee training, research shows that 90% of employees feel more productive when gamification becomes part of their work routines.

This kind of engagement can be brought into education, too. In fact, many studies have indicated that the method can be very beneficial: according to research from Waterford, gamification in education can make students less stressed. Another research indicates that gamification increases the attention span of students — which is very important at a time when the attention span varies from seven to 20 minutes.

These gains can be part of your educational project. However, it needs to be applied with a very accurate and well thought-out methodology; otherwise, the results may fail.

In today’s article, I want to show how gamification of the teaching process can change the way your students view education forever.

What precisely is educational gamification?

Gamification is the process of applying processes analogous to those of games, especially digital games, to activities. These processes, or elements, are features such as the use of challenges, avatars, rankings, prizes, and rewards.

Within this paradigm, there are other game-related aspects, such as the competitive nature of games, that stimulate a higher level of interaction among students, and increase the dynamism of the educational process. All this makes the student more attentive, curious, and interested in the content offered.

Although some critics consider this kind of modification of educational development a gimmick, an “invention” of those who want to modernize education, gamification has always been present in education — just not with its current characteristics. Spelling bees, say researchers Luciane Fadel and Vania Ulbricht, are an example of how learning can be a game. Even in earlier periods, games have always been part of learning activities, as researcher Johan Huizinga shows in his book Homo Ludens.

In addition to the advantages mentioned, gamification also promotes:

• Content segmentation, making teaching more “on point,” increasing productivity
• Provides instant feedback on the student’s learning status;
• It makes learning more positive;
• Promotes multidisciplinarity;
• Promotes the development of socioemotional characteristics;
• Fixes knowledge through multisensory channels, not just “intellectual” ones.

How to take advantage of this opportunity?

There are some methods that can be used both in regular models and in hybrid education. Of these, I can say that there are four points that can be applied now and of which schools can already take advantage with their students:

Storylines with avatars. Create a narrative with your students, making learning analogous to an adventure. You can associate learning with a treasure map, and each new piece of knowledge acquired reveals a new clue to the whereabouts of that wealth. Apps like Bitmoji, Avatar Maker, Classcraft are good starting points;

Develop a scoring system. Offer points for participating in activities, engaging in learning, or completing assignments on time. Besides providing a reward for the students, this extra point can serve as an “extra life,” like in a game.

Create progressions. Many students complain about traditional methods because they don’t see “meaning” in what they are learning. Make each new activity require previously acquired knowledge, such as in a game where the character uses weapons and tools that are part of his or her inventory.

Increasingly, schools are required to be integrated with the reality of the world around them. Games, technologies and interactivity are part of the contemporary world. Why not make the school reflect reality, bringing modern and disruptive models to education?

Everybody wins.

Do you know of any successful cases using gamification? Share your recommendation here.