New MIT Sloan study applies gamification techniques to improve online teaching techniques and
New MIT Sloan study applies gamification techniques to improve online teaching techniques and
New MIT Sloan study applies gamification techniques to improve online teaching techniques and learning outcomes for students
April 02, 2021
Summary
Online learning offers the opportunity to engage a much broader set of students with different learning styles, and to potentially supercharge outcomes.
Principal Investigator at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, finds that educators who borrow ideas and tools from the gaming community can improve their online teaching techniques, and improve learning outcomes for students.
"Teachers around the country, thrown online by surprise because of COVID-19, discovered that using many traditional, in-class teaching techniques didn't translate as well to an online environment," said Prof. Lo. "Thanks to evolution, our attention and focus are greatly enhanced when another living creature is physically close by, purely for survival purposes. And it turns out the gaming industry has figured out how to replicate this engagement in an online setting. My co-authors and I realized that this has incredibly powerful implications for online learning."
The ideas and techniques the researchers borrowed from videogame makers include using strong narratives throughout their lectures, providing students with constant streams of input that engage as many of the senses as possible, and giving them opportunities to join in the action to keep them feeling connected.
Prof. Lo uses a combination of the "Raise Hand" function in Zoom, polls, breakout sessions, and the chat window to keep students fully engaged at all times, switching tasks and/or scenes once every 15 minutes or so to maintain their attention and interest levels throughout the lecture.
Based on this data, the average number of new contacts made by students was forty-three.
"Gamification could be revolutionary for education, and a godsend for students with more visual and collaborative learning styles," said Prof. Lo. "Take the chat window, which facilitates the wisdom of the crowd. With technology, we can engage a much broader set of students with diverse learning styles, and supercharge the impact of their efforts. Even after this pandemic is over, there's no putting this genie back in the bottle."
Prof. Lo has created an hour-long video available on YouTube detailing how his teaching progressed from the lecture hall to his early struggles in transitioning to online learning to his adaption of gaming techniques that benefited MIT students.
Prof. Lo shares how he set up his home studio for online teaching here.
Willems provides a list and tour of his home studio here, and Stevens shares his journey into online teaching, which continues in a second video that also highlights his home studio set-up.
Reference
New MIT SLOAN study applies gamification techniques to improve online teaching techniques and learning outcomes for students. (2021, April 02). Retrieved July 17, 2021, from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-mit-sloan-study-applies-gamification-techniques-to-improve-online-teaching-techniques-and-learning-outcomes-for-students-301261165.html