Gamification in Education: 7 Principles That Make It Work

Gamification has potentially unlimited applications in different spheres of our life. This method has already made its way into many industries. Even government institutions have been creatively implementing this approach in their work.

Many schools and universities have also adopted this trend. Gamification is becoming a primary method to enrich their learning strategies and boost student engagement. There are several aspects that make games an ideal solution for educational purposes. Read on to know the details.

Gamification in Education: 7 Principles That Make It Work

Student Ownership in Learning

Gamification provides learners with the opportunity to explore the topic comprehensively. One can use various tools, resources, and strategies to build their expertise in the given field.

They can also establish subgoals within the larger task and thus define their own route to success. For instance, a student may turn to essayeditor to polish their academic assignment while focusing on other objectives.

This way, students take greater responsibility for the learning process and its outcomes. Besides, such practice ensures the active participation of all learners.

Developing Autonomy

Game-like elements help learners gain more control over learning activities. It means they can track their progress and reflect on their achievements based on mastery of the educational content. Moreover, students can use their skills and knowledge to direct their learning experiences.

Rewards

The reward system is used as a means to

• create positive reinforcements
• measure student success
• add a sense of competition

This way, gamification can meet young people’s needs for

• recognition
• praise
• achievement
• status

Thus, rewards are seen as the most powerful tool to motivate learners. They can take different forms outlined below.

Points

These are incentives offered to the player for completing a specific task, answering a question, or solving a problem. They can serve as in-game currency that provides access to some exclusive features. It can be exchanged for upgrades or used for unlocking bonus levels, enabling tip function, and so on.

Points could potentially be worth credit in the course. During the learning process, students can build up the scores that will form their final grades. Learners who earned a specific number of points might also use them to get assignment deadline extensions, access to extra content, or help on certain homework problems.

However, those who don’t get enough points can still enjoy some special features that make college life much easier. For instance, you can pick the option “write essay for me by domyessay” or use essay templates to complete your assignments faster. So, explore various opportunities as a student!

Badges

Badges can be awarded for a task accomplishment, mastery of a skill, or achieving specific milestones. They can be given for

• passing a certain point in training
• completing a module
• scoring a certain percentage on a quiz
• doing extracurricular work

They may even be the result of simple participation. This includes

• contributing to discussions
• doing course readings
• sharing notes with another student

Leaderboards

These are visual prompts that display students’ status and achievements. They introduce elements of competition and encourage participants to take action.

Leaderboards can be organized in the form of completion bars showing how much training content each student has completed. They can also unveil the distribution of points that players have accumulated through various activities.
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Loss Aversion

In the gamified environment, players make choices that include both the possibility of a loss or gain. Each of these outcomes can become a powerful force to boost learners’ motivation.

Studies suggest that people are naturally inclined to avoid losses, and this bias can greatly affect our decision-making. According to the loss aversion theory, students who received some acknowledgment for their work will be ready to go the extra mile to maintain their results.

Safe-to-Fail Environment

Educational games allow players to

• experiment
• take risks
• test different hypotheses
• experience the consequences of their decisions

They give participants a certain number of “lives” to complete the task or allow them to freeze their level and start again from that save point. This encourages students to delve deeper into the learning content with each new try. Multiple attempts to succeed also reduce the anxiety associated with the potential failure and shift focus to positive results.

Boosting Persistence

To follow through with a game to its completion, players need to overcome their limitations, challenges, and struggles. As the tasks become more demanding and difficult, students need to embrace their resilience and persistence to achieve the expected goals. And because classroom activities are designed to mimic real-world situations, they prepare students to better deal with challenges they will face in their professional life.

Immediate Feedback

Games encourage students to move on with a series of targeted feedback provided immediately. Thus, the participants know whether their move or answer is correct and can dispute their result. This way, learners can evaluate their advancement at the interim stages of the educational process and make necessary corrections.

Feedback can also be given after each individual task or at the end of the level. This helps players see the situation as a whole and adjust their learning strategy accordingly.
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Takeaway

Gamified learning makes a degree-earning process an interesting journey to follow. It creates a positive and active atmosphere that motivates students to progress from one lesson to another

Jane Smith

Jane Smith is a freelance writer specializing in design, technology and marketing. She works as a web designer and uses her passion as an opportunity to learn about the new trends, and educate others.