Why Should Games Matter to Educators?

Woraya Laephuang

Learning evolves with the innovation of technology.  Video games used to be thought of as just that, games, entertainment tools that trigger challenges, emotions, and sometimes socializing. When a goal is reached in a game, there is a reward.  Applying these functions to learning opens a new avenue of possibilities to engage students at any age – because who doesn’t play games these days? Even fitness applications are gamified to encourage continuous healthy habits.  Gamification motivates learners to get involved, stay motivated, and retain outcomes much longer. Gamifying a lesson motivates the learner through gradual progression and achievement.  It recognizes excellent performance or strong participation and creates friendly competition among learners and teams (Mulkeen, 2021).

Some people think gamifying learning is just a distraction, but it’s actually a useful tool that many appreciate. People can now learn differently than they did even a generation ago, and holding someone’s attention does pose different challenges for educators.  Gamification can make simple tasks fun.

For example, fitness applications have features that reward you when you reach a certain step count, stay below a calorie count, or drink the recommended amount of water. Gamification is not just for fun.  Fun is a part of the delivery mechanism. If you can make something more fun and include notions of play, you can get people to do things they otherwise might not want to do.

Even very young children play to learn.  Toy companies make small replicas of kitchen sets and lawn tools to help children simulate adult activities.  Researchers suggest that play is a central ingredient in learning, allowing children to imitate adult behaviors, practice motor skills, process emotional events, and learn much about their world (Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff, 2008).

“Play is the highest form of research.” – Albert Einstein

Think of live play such as football.  What are the mechanics?  A player throws a ball to another player, and the objective is for that player to carry that ball to the goal without being taken down by the opposing team.  Each player is accountable. The fun is a mix of energy, determination, strategy, and encouragement, but when the player drops the ball or does not make the goal, do they stop playing?  No.  They review what went wrong and come up with a new strategy.  If you put all these elements into a game for learning, you can achieve the same emotions from players.  People want to win. It makes them feel great, so creating a tool that makes a learner feel like a winner helps them better engage with the lesson (Mulkeen, 2021a).   

One of the many benefits of gamification is that it makes learning fun and interactive. The rewards can be very satisfying and intensely motivating. Because of the competitive nature and socialization with the application, it can create an addiction to learning— a feel-good element. Gamification enhances the learning experience. There is more engagement with content, helping to encourage more cooperation and efficient learning. Gamification also unlocks the imagination that game elements can bring to learning.

Although, let us not leave out the adult learner.  Gamification works after K-12 levels, also.  Professional training can be difficult.  We all know the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”  This theory applies to adult learners, too.  We think we know everything or at least enough to accomplish what we need to, so why change anything? – Similar to the thought, “We’ve always done it this way.”  Well, we have to accept that the old way may not always be the best way, and there are possibly new skills we can harness to make our days more efficient and productive. 

Research shows that 70% of business transformation efforts fail due to a lack of employee engagement.  Making work and learning more fun increases employees’ ability to retain skills by 40% (Mulkeen, 2021b).  The modern learner or worker is impatient, overwhelmed, and distracted.  This is a challenge for human resources and trainers, as they need to figure out how to engage their workforce and improve productivity. With our own daily routine, work, or otherwise, we can find it difficult to engage with learning initiatives.

Gamification is a great option to implement for employee training.  Whether it is a new employee or a new concept, gamification can help employees pick up information quicker and learn in a risk-free environment by having an application or training modules that offer rewards based on employee answers.  There can also be some friendly competition between coworkers to get a team motivated.  As adults, we now know that gamification is about the game’s elements, like challenges and rewards, that are used to enhance learning, but not everyone agrees that it can be a key to learner engagement.  Some argue that gamification is not beneficial to learning for several reasons:

·   Costly to develop

·   Maintaining the applications to adjust to technological advances and learning curves

·   Educators have to be trained to use and understand the features of the application

·   Security concerns

· All learners may not have access to the internet outside the classroom, causing a disadvantage and imbalance in learning among students.

·   Not all topics can be covered. Some require a level of seriousness, and gamification may take away that focus

·   Students learn at different paces and levels; a game will need to be developed to cater to all learning styles

The criticism of gamification seems to be more about the time and money that it will take to develop a well-rounded game that any type of learner can use, with the ability for the game to evolve with the learner and technological advancements. On top of that, it is important to make sure the educators are well-trained to teach the game where it can be most effective for learning (Michaels, 2021).

Gamification does so much more than just create learner motivation; gamification of learning is serious business and can also start to tackle serious challenges faced by businesses in an era of massive cultural and technological change.  Gamification creates a gateway to a better learning experience. It can be used in any industry and with any age group. Gamified features keep getting better, with more opportunities to put students in real-life situations or engage them through activities and point systems. This powerful tool is bringing more skills and information to more people across the world.

As technology advances, should we not leave room to think that developers will also advance their skills and knowledge to create a learning game that is tailored fit to a particular subject with multiple options for learning aides?

References: 

Gatto, S. (2022, February 22). The Influence & Effectiveness of Gamification in eLearning. TechnologyAdvice. https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/gamification-elearning/#:%7E:text=Gamification%20increases%20engagement%20by%20providing,the%20information%20presented%20to%20them

Hirsh-Pasek, K., PhD, & Golinkoff, M., PhD. (2008, October 1). Why Play = Learning. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/play/according-experts/why-play-learning#:%7E:text=Researchers%20suggest%20that%20play%20is,learn%20much%20about%20their%20world

Michaels, L. (2021, March 8). When is Gamification in Education Not a Good Idea? Emerging Education Technologies. https://www.emergingedtech.com/2021/03/when-is-gamification-in-education-not-a-good-idea/#:%7E:text=Some%20topics%20deserve%20a%20certain,outrage%20from%20parents%20and%20communities.

Mulkeen, D. (2021a, May 26). The Top 5 Benefits of Gamification in Learning. Learnlight. https://www.learnlight.com/en/articles/5-benefits-of-gamification-in-learning/#:%7E:text=Since%20gamification%20increases%20learners’%20engagement,really%20is%20good%20for%20business

Mulkeen, D. (2021b, September 21). How Gamification Helps Drive Learner Motivation. Learnlight. https://www.learnlight.com/en/articles/gamification-drives-learner-motivation/#:%7E:text=So%20how%20does%20gamification%20work,and%20retain%20outcomes%20much%20longer