Using gamification in teaching: Engage, educate and excite

A teacher with children stood over a globe of the world, with children pointing to it
Reading time: 6 minutes

In an era where student engagement can be as challenging as the teaching itself, educators are constantly seeking innovative ways to capture attention and enhance learning. Gamification has emerged as a dynamic solution, promising to turn education into a more engaging and enjoyable experience. But what does gamification really entail, and how can it be effectively implemented in teaching? Let¡¯s have a look:

Level up your teaching with gamification
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What is gamification?

At its core, gamification is the strategic use of game-based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, encourage learning and solve problems. In an educational setting, it transforms the learning experience by making it more interactive and rewarding, akin to the way games captivate and hold the interest of players.

Essentially, gamification leverages the innate human desire for competition and achievement to foster a more stimulating and immersive learning environment.

This strategy not only makes education more appealing to students but also encourages them to take an active role in their own learning, fostering a positive and stimulating educational atmosphere.

Why is gamification important in education?

Educators today stand at the crossroads of tradition and innovation. With the advent of technology and digital tools, teaching and assessment methods are rapidly evolving. And as we continue to explore the vast potential of these trends, it's essential to gather insights from experts in the field.

The significance of gamification and play in the learning process is well-documented. According to Johnson, Smith, Willis, Levine and Haywood, in their work, '', gamification techniques encourage the natural desire for socializing, learning, mastery, competition, achievement, status and self-expression. They argue that these techniques help motivate students to learn and improve their cognitive and social skills, leading to a more engaging and effective educational experience.

This perspective aligns with the constructivist theory of learning, which theorizes that learners construct knowledge best through active engagement and experiences. Considering this, gamification in education is not merely about adding game elements to teaching but about redesigning the learning experience to foster active participation and immersion, thereby deepening comprehension and making learning more memorable.

By treating education as a form of play, learners of all ages find it easier to confront challenges, manage failures and celebrate successes, echoing the natural learning process experienced outside the classroom. This approach for teachers not only makes learning more enjoyable but also mirrors the rewards-based systems they're likely to encounter in the real world.

How gamified learning can increase students' skills

The effectiveness of gamified learning in augmenting and training students' skills cannot be overstated. By integrating game mechanics into the educational process, learners are encouraged to take an active role in their education, leading to a higher level of engagement and participation.

This, in turn, often results in a deeper understanding of the subject matter and a significant improvement in problem-solving skills. Gamification stimulates learners' curiosity and motivates them to progress through learning milestones, effectively turning the acquisition of new skills into an enjoyable and rewarding process.

Helps students engage with their learning

Additionally, research conducted by Hamari, Koivisto and Sarsa further underscores the positive impact of gamification on student engagement. In their study, '' they analyzed the outcomes of gamification across different settings and found that it indeed improves participation and engagement levels. The study concluded that when implemented thoughtfully, gamification could significantly enhance motivation and engagement, thereby promoting better learning outcomes.

This evidence strongly supports the notion that gamification, when aligned with educational goals and balanced with traditional teaching methods, can serve as a powerful tool for educators to facilitate more effective learning experiences.

The dynamic and interactive nature of gamified learning supports a diverse range of learning styles, making it an inclusive method of active learning that can cater to the unique needs of individual learners. Ultimately, by making learning more interactive and enjoyable, gamification not only supports the acquisition of subject-specific knowledge but also cultivates critical soft skills such as teamwork, communication and time management, which are invaluable beyond the classroom.

Enhances retention and recall

Gamification further stands out in its ability to enhance memory retention and recall among students. The engaging nature of game-based learning activities encourages repetition and reinforcement, key factors in consolidating new information. According to a study by Wouters and van Oostendorp in their paper, '', students who engaged in gamified learning showed significantly higher levels of retention compared to those who underwent traditional learning methods.

The study highlighted that the interactive and engaging components of gamified elements helped with encoding information more effectively, making it easier for students to retrieve information when needed. This aspect of gamification, therefore, not only makes learning more enjoyable but also more effective, particularly in fostering durable learning that extends beyond the classroom.

A teacher stood over their students working pointing at their work

Best practices for incorporating gamification in education

Implementing gamification in teaching requires more than just adding points and badges to educational activities. To ensure it enriches the learning experience effectively, educators should adhere to a set of best practices.

Firstly, it¡¯s crucial to align game mechanics with learning objectives. This means that each element of gamification should have a clear educational purpose, for example, whether it¡¯s to reinforce knowledge, encourage teamwork, or develop problem-solving skills.

Use meaningful rewards

Offering meaningful rewards is vital. Beyond physical rewards, intrinsic motivators such as unlocking new content or gaining access to more challenging levels can significantly enhance engagement and motivation.

The importance of personalization

Finally, personalization plays a key role in successful gamification. Allowing learners to choose their learning paths or avatars and personalizing rewards and challenges to their level of skill can make the learning experience more relevant and engaging.

Ways to implement gamification in your teaching

Here are practical ways to apply gamification in your classroom:

  1. Enhance motivation with game-based elements: Implementing point-scoring systems, leaderboards and badges can make learning more fun and motivate students to strive for better results.
  2. Encourage positive competition: Create challenges and contests among students to encourage them to engage more deeply with the material. Ensure the competition stays friendly and constructive.
  3. Interactive learning modules: Use technology to create gamified lessons that are interactive and adaptive, much like the AI tools discussed in our AI webinars. These modules can provide immediate feedback, which is crucial for language learning.
  4. Storytelling projects: Adopt the role of AI in fostering creativity, allowing students to construct stories using AI-enabled writing tools. This not only helps with language skills but also encourages creativity and imagination.
  5. Progression-based learning: Design a curriculum that allows students to unlock new levels or topics as they progress, similar to how they would advance in a game. This provides a clear sense of progression and achievement.
  6. Real-life rewards: Incentivize learning goals with real-life rewards, which can range from extra credit to classroom privileges. Doing so can encourage learners to take their 'gaming' achievements seriously.
  7. Feedback loops: Like AI, gamification thrives on feedback. Provide recurring feedback to help students understand where they're excelling and what they need to improve.

With these strategies in mind, you can begin to integrate more gamification elements into your teaching practice. Just as artificial intelligence is paving new ways for engaging learners, gamification presents endless possibilities for creating captivating and effective educational experiences.

Education is no longer just about conveying information; it's about actively engaging students in a way that makes learning irresistible. By using gamification, you can transform your classroom into an arena where each lesson is an adventure, each task a challenge to be overcome, and learning itself a victory to be celebrated.

Activity idea

Here is one idea/activity for using AI to gamify your learning:

  1. Use a text generation platform to receive either a long word or a short phrase.
  2. In teams, learners will work together to create as many new words as possible within a set time limit.
  3. Points will be awarded for each word created, with bonus points given for the longest or most creative word.

Learning more about gamification and AI

Don't miss the chance to deepen your understanding and expand your toolkit for engaging students through AI.?Be sure to take a look at?Billie Jago's?free video series and lesson plans, which provide a comprehensive introduction to using AI in the classroom. These will be showcased throughout August and September 2024.

Designed for educators who want to quickly grasp the fundamentals of AI and learn practical tips that can be implemented in the classroom immediately.

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    It¡¯s more important for teachers to help students find ways to practice their English outside the classroom. The more efficient students become at autonomous learning, the better they¡¯ll be able to overcome interruptions and make up for lost time.

    It will be even more challenging if you're a self-learner as you do not have a teacher looking over you and steering your learning. But it¡¯s helpful to learn from the teaching world and pick up teacher tips that you can apply to your own studies and techniques.

    Why are learning new words so challenging?

    Students learning new words in English generally progress steadily up until the pre-intermediate and intermediate levels. But after that, they start to struggle.

    This is because there¡¯s a big difference between the volume of the vocabulary that intermediate students and upper-intermediate students need to know.

    • Intermediate (B1/B2 level) students need to know about 2,500 words
    • upper-intermediate (B2/C1 level) students need to know about 7,500-9,000 words.

    That¡¯s a big jump in numbers. But the real challenge is that those 5,000+ new words are not very frequent. Consequently, students don¡¯t encounter them very often, making it difficult to recall them and leap from one level to the next.

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    1. Focus on the most important words:?Always teach appropriate words for the levels your students are currently at.
    2. Provide memorable first encounters:?You never get a second chance to make a first impression. So, ensure your student's first encounter with a new word is as memorable as possible.
    3. Teach effective word-learning strategies:?Provide your students with valuable tools, tactics and resources so that they can learn new words outside the classroom, too.
    4. Organize repeat encounters:?Vocabulary works on a ¡°use it or lose it¡± basis, so ensure your students encounter the vocabulary you want them to learn repeatedly.

    How to teach effective word-learning strategies

    There are three steps to teach students how to learn new words effectively:

    1. Help learners maximize their exposure to English and find opportunities to use English outside the classroom

    Thanks to the internet and technology, there are many ways that students can engage with the English language outside the classroom.

    However, simple exposure to a new language is not enough ¨C it takes much longer and is less effective than active learning. When students do something with the language they¡¯re exposed to; it is far more memorable.

    That¡¯s why it¡¯s crucial for teachers to help their students seek out English in their own time and use the language, turning passive exposure into active learning.

    • Encourage students to read, listen and view things that they¡¯re interested in or passionate about in English. For example, introduce them to new blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, or TV series that fit their interests ¨C since personalization leads to more effective learning.
    • Help students find ways to use English in different ways. For example, they can start a learning diary, make to-do lists in English, write social media posts, and create word cards to practice their writing. For speaking, they can record voice memos or video stories, take part in Zoom discussions, or participate in speaking projects and live classes.

    2. Provide ways for students to discover the meaning of new words

    It¡¯s crucial to help students improve their guesswork. Instead of asking online translators to translate every time they encounter a new word, they should be able to guess the meaning of new vocabulary differently.

    • One approach is to look at the morphology of words and consider word families. For example, you can ask your students to brainstorm words with a common root. Or, you can have them identify and practice common suffixes.
    • Explore ¡°true friends¡± or words that are similar in English and your student's native language.
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    • Ask students to collect ten new words that they¡¯re exposed to throughout the week and bring them to class, like a ¡°show and tell¡± for words.
    • Then have a debate about how useful each of those words is.

    This helps to connect learning inside and outside the classroom, and it¡¯s fun!

    3. Provide students with strategies to consolidate their knowledge of new words

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    Lastly, it¡¯s important to teach students memory tricks or mnemonics so they can retain the new words they encounter.