Blog Post — 7
Gamification is a popular approach that is used by educators to motivate their students by game elements. On the other hand, Game-Based Learning means using games as a part of teaching. Hence, a lot of teachers are trying to include gamified activities in their classes. Throughout the years, there has been a lot of researches about the use of gamified tools and their effects on students’ motivation and engagement. They enhance students’ motivation and engagement (Cahyani, 2016).
Since these tools have gamification elements as leaderboard, points and reward, the students prefer to have them as a part of their learning process. Following their names on the leaderboard and gaining points positively affect the way they approach the lessons and keep them engaged more in the lessons because they think that gamified tools are fun, attractive and encouraging (Rafiq et al., 2019).
On the other hand, leaderboards used in non-gamified traditional classrooms may affect students negatively. Some students are sensitive so they easily lose their motivation by their scores or ranking so they don’t participate in the lesson enough. Therefore, another reason the learners like these tools is they can join the games anonymously so they make sure no one sees their scores. In this manner, these platforms improve students’ self-esteem and self-confidence.
Consequently, gamified tools have a vast impact on student's motivation and engagement. Thanks to these tools, students participate more in the lessons and they get to benefit from them. They actively take part and explore their learning process.
References:
Cahyani, A. D. (2016). Gamification approach to enhance students’ engagement in studying language course. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 58, p. 03006). EDP Sciences.
Rafiq, K. R. M., Pazilah, F. N., Yunus, M. M., Hashim, H., & Sabri, M. H. M. (2019). Gamified-Learning Brings Out the Hero in You!. In INTERNATIONAL INVENTION, INNOVATIVE & CREATIVE (InIIC) CONFERENCE (p. 67).
