True Gamification in Learning
True Gamification in Learning
True Gamification in Learning
By Roger Stark
Summary
With so many students participating in remote learning this year, technology-delivered instruction has increased exponentially, but what hasn't increased exponentially is student engagement.
Gamification is powerful and helps engage students, but it doesn't always further instructional objectives.
The "Adding gamification approach" uses technology and some spelling characters to do the same thing that kids do on their own - rote rehearsal of spelling words.
Let's look at another approach - true gamification for skill development - and for this example, we won't use a hypothetical; we'll use a real program called LiteracyPlanet.
Some games involve recognition, others require distinguishing words from similar words, putting words in alphabetical order, visualizing where the letters of a word would be placed and getting them in the right spots, or on hearing and then spelling the word.
We see students who use LiteracyPlanet spending less time learning spelling words, having way more fun with it, and developing deeper and more enduring word skills.
What students experience as games are actually exercises that strengthen the cognitive processes involved in learning.
For students who struggle with learning because of specific learning disabilities, the result is significantly closing the gap to their typically developing peers.
The purpose of a game is to practice and get better at something, to try different things, experience a variety of outcomes and take that experience with us to "Real life." Just adding gamification to an activity that doesn't produce real learning is like putting lipstick on a pig.
We have increased our focus on measuring and developing the cognitive processes that are the foundation for performance in school, the workplace and real life and delivering meaningful and measurable outcomes for learning success through true gamification.
Reference
Stark, R. (n.d.). True Gamification in Learning. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://www.cioreview.com/news/true-gamification-in-learning-nid-32473-cid-174.html