CONCEPT OF GAMIFICATION AND ITS ROLE IN IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23670/IRJ.2022.119.5.074
КОНЦЕПЦИЯ ГЕЙМИФИКАЦИИ И ЕЕ РОЛЬ В СОВЕРШЕНСТВОВАНИИ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ
Обзорная статья
Альбуали Хора Абдулкарим Абед1, Куприна Т.В.2, *
1 ORCID: 0000-0001-8639-8811;
2 ORCID: 0000-0002-8184-2490;
1, 2 Уральский федеральный университет имени первого Президента России Б. Н. Ельцина, Екатеринбург, Россия
* Корреспондирующий автор (tvkuprina[at]mail.ru)
Аннотация
Одним из инновационных направлений образовательной деятельности является геймификация, которая соответствует психологическим и возрастным особенностям молодого поколения учащихся всех уровней. Образовательные игры являются эффективным трендом среди образовательных технологий, так как они вводят элемент азарта и мотивации в процесс обучения. Экспериментально доказано, что геймификация повышает взаимодействие учащихся, помогает приобретать реалистичный, абстрактный и фотографический опыт. Особое внимание уделяется методу электронного обучения, связанного с индивидуализацией образовательного процесса и адаптированного под конкретного учащегося, который может использовать свои обучающие стратегии, осуществлять саморефлексию и самооценку. В то же время, следует учитывать, что геймификация требует дополнительных ресурсов, финансирования, технической поддержки и повышения квалификации преподавателей не только в предметной области, но и в области современных технологий.
Ключевые слова: геймификация, электронное обучение, современные образовательные технологии.
CONCEPT OF GAMIFICATION AND ITS ROLE IN IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Review article
Albuali Hawraa Abdalkareem Abed1, Kuprina T.V.2, *
1 ORCID: 0000-0001-8639-8811;
2 ORCID: 0000-0002-8184-2490;
1, 2 Ural Federal University Named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, Yekaterinburg, Russia
* Corresponding author (tvkuprina[at]mail.ru)
Abstract
One of the innovative areas of educational activity is gamification which corresponds to the psychological and age characteristics of the young generation of students of all levels. Educational games are an effective trend among educational technologies, as they introduce an element of excitement and motivation into the learning process. It has been experimentally proven that gamification increases student interaction, helps to acquire realistic, abstract and photographic experiences. Particular attention is paid to the method of e-learning, associated with the individualization of the educational process and adapted to a particular student who can use his / her own learning strategies, carry out self-reflection and self-assessment. At the same time, it should be taken into account that gamification requires additional resources, funding, technical support and advanced training of teachers not only in the subject area but also in the field of modern technologies.
Key words: gamification, e-learning, modern educational technologies.
Introduction
Electronic activities are considered one of the most important e-learning tools that support students, through which it is possible to achieve greater benefit from technological means and specific methodological goals.
Educational games are also one of the effective trends in educational technology, as they add an element of excitement and motivation to the academic activity.
So, here we refer to an attempt to learn more about electronic activities based on the principle of gamification, where educational computer games depend on integrating the learning process by playing in a simple model in which learners compete to obtain some points as a valuable gain.
Generally, gamification in the educational system take the form that magnetize a learner and turn out them not to leave the game without achieving the target goal. Most games are built on the standard of competition driving in demanded goals, as most games are built on the principle of contest that catalyzes the excitement of the learner and also relies on the educational capacities of the computer. It is possible to evaluate the learner's performance through some exercises that are dealt with indirectly and increases the possibility of achieving the objectives of the lesson.
Psychologists have also indicated that a game is an important natural tool that the student uses to understand and confront the world [1].
Gamification concept in e-learning teaching
The concept of gamification principle is widely used, as it has been applied in many fields of education depending on the mechanics of playing in posing puzzles and various activities. The model is applied to mathematics and natural sciences curricula in a number of Arab countries. The experiments show their effectiveness in improving the general framework of students and increasing interaction within the classroom among them.
As for the extent of the possibility of applying the mechanism of gamification in teaching languages, it is a matter that has not been sufficiently addressed to clarify the educational problem that gamification contributes to reducing or eliminating.
As the gamification method in general depends on purposeful activities, it means the mechanics of playing and not the games themselves, as it depends on certain mechanisms and rules that are applied. Besides, through it one can reach the specific objectives of its use.
In addition, gamification is employed in addressing educational problems in general. On the individual level, gamification is used to solve the problem of individual differences between learners and help them provide information and skills through an educational template that is popular with students.
The problem of individual differences between students in the education process in general is not a new problem but the expansion and development of the educational process. It concerns different motives and preparations of learners and the way teachers deal with educational units as a class as a whole and not the learner as an individual. It increases the gap between the members of the same class, making it difficult for the students and a burden for the teacher at the same time. It is also attributed to individual differences such as the physical and mental levels, in addition to the emotional features, as these differences emerge in the early stages of their lives. Hence, the teacher should realize the existence of these differences and has to take them into consideration and measure the extent of the students’ response in one class.
Electronic activities based on the principle of gamification are one of the most recent trends in the field of assistive education technologies because they push the learner, during presentation of information, to interact with educational materials and with other learners in educational situations dominated by purposeful activity, and develop communication skills and interaction with the surrounding environment which increases the ability of the learner on creative expression and creativity. It also allows him/her a space of freedom to express themselves in a socially acceptable framework and is enjoyable for them and those around them.
From here, a number of questions emerge, including: What are the criteria that determine how to design a mechanism for electronic activities based on the principle of gamification? What educational concepts motivate students and how effective are these activities based on the principle of gamification?
According to G. Salmon, electronic activities are activities carried out by learners via the Internet and motivate them to interactive learning through their participation by sending contributions to each other as well as responding to others' posts through asynchronous communication tools [2].
As for the principle of gamification, S. Smith indicates that gamification is the use of the playing mechanism in areas not related to it to achieve better results [3].
It can also be defined as models designed according to a certain stereotype to suit a specific group of students to develop their skills and develop their thinking, working on the principle of active participation and interaction between students to achieve a specific goal.
Educational activities are among the tools directed to effective teaching in e-learning systems which enhance the achievement of predetermined methodological goals, and the teacher, based on his/her analysis of the educational goals of those activities, and the characteristics of students, can design them to suit their capabilities and speed of learning [4, P. 132].
Educational activities are divided according to educational experiences into some main groups:
-realistic experiences: they are direct, modified, represented, applied or field experiences.
-photographic experiences: they are show, television, cinematic, photographed or broadcast experiences.
-abstract experiences: represented in the audible and visual symbols.
It can be said that the process of employing different educational experiences in the e-learning environment requires coordination between the educational designer and the teacher to work on planning, designing and implementing educational electronic activities using e-learning systems, and determining the appropriate experiences according to the characteristics and needs of students as well as how to represent, photograph and encode them in the form of technical programs and media.
The purpose of using educational activities bases on the principle of gamification in e-learning.
The use of educational activities based on the gamification mechanism of e-learning systems helps students to reorganize and adapt information, and enables them to see the internal relationships between the components of the scientific content. In an electronic format students are divided into small electronic discussion groups to achieve common educational goals. It is possible to combine more than one educational method at the same time, such as integrating electronic group learning activities to increase interaction between students [5, P. 243].
The main principle of e-learning based on the principle of gamification is to enhance individual education and increase students' motivation towards independent learning. Employing electronic activities based on the gamification mechanism gives students experiences in a self-taught way so that they teach themselves on their own. The gamification mechanism works to focus on developing the e-learning methodology that makes educational activities work in a manner centred on the individual characteristics of students using programmed learning strategies.
There is no doubt that the use of e-learning techniques helps to develop mechanisms and means, in addition to educational activities that help students to take on new experiences that may actually be characterized by risk, as it helps them to imagine and get virtual educational adventures [6, P. 859].
There are some strategies with electronic activities:
- aims in general to make the student learn according to a set of steps and challenges, mechanisms, techniques, characteristics and elements in order to solve problems or improve the level, and also depends on the characteristics of the students’ age, physical and mental. The games are more fun and interesting as they take advantage of the students’ previous experiences in electronic games, which are the dominant form of entertainment in the modern era to create interesting experiences and have an educational return. To make it possible, gamification must involve a set of pillars [7].
- makes the points collected by the student a temporary incentive to complete a specific task;
- designs a model for electronic activity in a gradual manner with the possibility of re-levelling again to upgrade skills;
-designs a board for the distinguished in the stage or game associated with electronic activity;
-makes the electronic activity a set of challenges that attract distinguished students and motivate them to learn.
Reinforcement is an important component of electronic activities based on the principle of gamification, ranging from positive reinforcement with gifts or decorations, or negative through decreasing points and so on.
In order to have an impact on students’ education, the educational activity based on the gamification strategy must be compatible with a set of standards, which are:
-connection of games with the special educational goals;
-appropriate for the age of the students and their level of mental and physical development;
-help the learner to meditate, observe, balance and arrive at facts in visual, logical steps.
Generally, these activities help the teacher by giving him/her feedback to diagnose the learner’s growth period in acquiring the required experiences and identifying areas of weakness in their achievement and then providing with the appropriate experiences [8] and should be related to the learning environment. The educational activity should be fun, easy, suitable for students’ interests and able to motivate them and to provide the student with some independence [9].
The gamification strategy also has an effect in activating students’ responses during the presentation of the lesson, as it contributes to activating the learners and moving the atmosphere and keeping boredom and indifference to the students’ selves, in addition to that this method increases the student’s motivation towards learning and competition [10, P. 597].
Gamification also contributes to the formation of a stage evaluation through which the teacher can, at the end of each lesson, hold a competition among the students to accomplish a specific electronic activity related to the lesson that he / she presented, and thus was able to evaluate the lesson by observing the students’ performance in the electronic activity [11].
Conclusion
Through the foregoing, it can be pointed out that the use of gamification techniques in education is still recent and limited where traditional education is still dominant in the mechanism of education in general. Besides, gamification is based on lengthy foundations that require a lot of resources, financial and technical support, development and qualification of teaching staff, as well as qualifying students to use this type of educational activities and mechanisms, which provides many opportunities. At the same time, the gamification strategy of electronic activities in the field of education can be one of the important tools in the hand of the teacher to develop the knowledge and skills of the students, including: preparation before the lesson, if the teacher wants to stimulate an idea on the subject of learning, to put it in the form of a game through an educational electronic activity, whether within the classroom if it is available in the computer lab or from home.
| Конфликт интересов Не указан. | Conflict of Interest None declared. |
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