Using Gamification to Overcome Anxiety and Encourage Play in the Graduate Classroom

Using Gamification to Overcome Anxiety and Encourage Play in the Graduate Classroom

Using Gamification to Overcome Anxiety and Encourage Play in the Graduate Classroom

Lindsay Kistler

Abstract

"Gamification strategies have become a popular means for increasing engagement across a variety of contexts: social media platforms, marketing techniques, corporate settings, and classrooms. In the classroom, learning management systems have embraced elements of gaming, incorporating badges and integration of tools, such as H5P, that allow instructors to test student knowledge through crossword puzzles and matching games rather than traditional quizzes. While some have dismissed gamification as a passing fad in educational contexts [1], gamified elements can increase student engagement, empower students to take ownership of their learning experience, and overcome their anxieties when faced with challenging topics. Despite the prolific use of tablets, computers, and smartphones, graduate students report high levels of anxiety related to a perceived lack of technological skills, dispelling the myth of the digital native [2, 3, 4]. These technologies are understood as black boxes: Computers receive input from users, but the processes that generate what users see on the screen are a mystery to most. However, students across many fields of study must engage with digital tools and methodologies to be successful in their professional practice. Many Master of Library Science programs include technology-focused classes and coursework to meet the demands of the field [5, 6]. Students enrolled in the Introduction to Computing course at the University of Iowa consistently reported high levels of anxiety related to their perceived lack of technological skills [7]. As an instructor, I was challenged with the task of introducing a broad range of digital tools to students who were intimidated by unfamiliar technology and anxious about the demands of the graduate classroom. In an attempt to relieve the students' anxiety around the subject matter, the Computing Foundations course was initially designed around a series of project-based assignments. Grading was focused on the process rather than the end-product. By removing the students' focus on reporting the "right" answer, the pedagogy emphasized reflection on the engagement with the technologies covered in the course. Students completed guided exercises framed around a generic suite of technologies that they would encounter across the curriculum and in their future professional practice. The projects increased in complexity over the course of the semester, beginning with building simple websites with HTML, moving toward encoding descriptive metadata with XML, learning to write simple scripts with the Python programming language, and ending with configuring their computers as web servers to host WordPress. Students engage with these technologies daily through their use of web-based resources, the projects demystified the tools, demonstrating how websites and computer programs are constructed while encouraging students to reflect on their learning experience. In doing so, students developed methods for navigating new and unfamiliar tools rather than building expertise with specific platforms or technologies. This strategy prepares students to work with commonly used tools in their professional practice, while ensuring they have the skills to adapt and modify practices and workflows to new tools in the future. The course demonstrated high levels of success, but I found students did not feel confident or encouraged to experiment, play, and collaborate with others as they explored the lessons. Students rarely deviated from the provided instructions and often panicked if they encountered a challenge that was not addressed in the project script. Consulting with an instructional designer as I prepared for a new semester, the course was reframed to include elements of gamification that invited students to look at their learning experience differently and embrace the challenge of the course."

Reference

Kistler, L. (2023). Using gamification to overcome anxiety and encourage play in the graduate classroom. ACM Digital Library. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3609266.3603505

Keywords

Gamification, Student Engagement, Technology Anxiety