Introduction
The team of Charles University, Department of Andragogy and Management of the Faculty of Pedagogy was engaged in research on the use of gamification during lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The research was carried out as part of the Progres Q17.1 project. In our article, we would like to introduce you to some interesting partial results of this research.
Main part
Gamification as "part of the process of connecting with virtual reality seems to be the fastest developing trend in the field of supporting education and learning. In the context of education, gamification is an elaborate concept of using game elements in education and learning. More broadly, we could define it as a smart design that actively engages users in a certain task or activity using a game" (Kursch, 2019). In the past decades, gamification in the field of education developed at a very fast pace. This development was mainly aided by the improvement of information and communication technologies (hereinafter referred to as ICT), its more frequent use and new trends such as virtual reality, augmented reality and mobile learning.
Gamification can be well used to motivate and inspire individuals to learn independently as part of lifelong learning in all types of organizations. With the use of game elements for educational purposes, organizations, schools, businesses can ensure a high demand for educational programs precisely because of their attractiveness, caused by the incorporation of game elements. Gamification thus represents one of the phenomena of the modern digital era, which all professional pedagogues and andragogues should be able to deal with. (Kursch, 2019)
How was gamification used in the time of Covid-19, i.e. in the period of lockdowns, when most pupils and students were dependent on distance learning? It was at this time that all the advantages of gamification, its strong motivational factors and relatively easy application in teaching could be evaluated. Research in this area was carried out by Kursch and Veteška (2021), who investigated the use of game elements in teaching in the time of Covid-19 in schools in the Czech Republic. Their research was based on Ferguson (2016), who succinctly summarizes the main game elements that can be appropriately applied within gamification:
- Leaderboards.
- Competition.
- Cooperation.
- Progressive tracking.
- Feedback.
- Playback.
- Special challenges.
- Rewards / badges.
- Game levels.
Kursch and Veteška (2021) found that 67% of the interviewed teachers stated that they use game elements in teaching. The authors state that they expected a higher number. It is interesting that gamification is used by approximately 72% of female teachers and only 60% of interviewed male teachers. Another surprising finding was that the group of teachers under 30 uses gamification in 85% of cases, the group under 40 in 64% of cases, the group under 50 also in 66% of cases, but the group of 50 and over uses gamification in 85% of cases. Regarding the use of specific game elements, the research results are summarized in graph 1.
Graph 1: Types of game elements most often used in education
The surprisingly small ratio of gamification use prompted the authors to qualitatively find out what problems or barriers prevented a higher use of gamification, especially among those interviewed who did not use gamification. The findings of Kursch and Veteška (2021) were as follows:
- The high demands of distance learning prevented innovation. "The school has more students with social disadvantages. The difficulty for the majority was that we had to find an optimal way to practice the existing curriculum and also focus on regularity in picking up and handing in tasks."; "By developing this form of distance education, we assume that game elements will be included in the following period."
- Assumed little motivation and added value. "In the 2nd grade, I consider it to be at least motivational considering the grouping of pupils."; "In my opinion, the game elements do not bring any improvements."; I apply competitions in face-to-face teaching, in distance learning I am happy if the students at least write down the lesson in their notebooks and practice."
- Insufficient IT literacy. "I'm not very ICT literate, I don't have a laptop with a microphone and a camera."; "I don't know how, I'm glad that I'm fine with sound and image."
- Lack of time. "I practiced examples with the students and they practiced the discussed material. We did not get to the games. I am planning a financial game in the future, but the students do not yet have the necessary knowledge for this game."; "We mainly used consultations - questions, answers, interpretation, face-to-face teaching. We assigned playful tasks, but we tried to make the most of online classes to clarify problematic subjects."; "It was important to catch up and master the curriculum, not to play."; "During one hour online, I taught three subjects at the same time to first-graders. I needed to sufficiently explain reading, to test how the children read."
- Character of the subject. "The nature of my subject does not allow the inclusion of game elements."; "This has no justification in my subject."
- Lack of imagination. "I hadn't thought of using these things. But I'll definitely think about it."; "Due to the large amount of preparation for online learning, there was no space and no desire to create/invent games. And why should that be?"; "Really - I didn't think of playing any games at all."; "It didn't suit me, I couldn't think of anything, the elements are better usable for older children."
- Technical Difficulty. "It was not technically possible to do it in context."
- Other stated reasons. "I focused the online teaching on discussing the basic subject matter and on providing feedback = joint control and correction of tasks assigned for distance offline teaching."; "It took me a long time to get used to classic online teaching. I didn't teach online in the spring."; "I find the distance learning environment inappropriate."; "Cooperation on the part of the pupils was considerably limited."
The results of similar research abroad reach similar results (see meta-studies Nieto-Escamez and Roldán-Tapia, 2021; Para, 2021). However, the problem is to compare the frequency of use with the past before the Covid-19 pandemic. Although there is previous evidence of the use of online tools and games in education, the number of studies using gamified strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic is limited (Nieto-Escamez and Roldán-Tapia, 2021). All the examined studies within the metastudy, which was carried out by Nieto-Escamez and Roldán-Tapia (2021), were aimed at improving learning by improving the motivation and involvement of participants. Some studies used an already existing platform that was gamified, but there are also experiences in which the authors deliberately developed a gamified application. In most cases, the gamified activity was well received by the students, considered effective, educational and engaging, and in some cases also fun.
In recent years, several innovations have appeared in the field of education. In the age disrupted by COVID-19, the development of gamified teaching strategies can be considered a promising option to provide knowledge and strengthen student cooperation during social distancing. Thus, although traditional academic curricula are focused on content and largely ignore personal development, some publications on gamification state that collaborative activities can stimulate motivation and improve learning (Rutledge et al., 2018). It is obvious that the period of Covid-19 brought us the opportunity to work with gamification in distance learning. A study by Kursche and Veteška (2021) revealed an approximate frequency of gamification use of 67%. Furthermore, she qualitatively identified the most common problems with this form of teaching – gamification cannot simply be implemented remotely with all pupils; competitive elements and cooperation in distance learning are very difficult to classify; insufficient participation of children; limited use of tools and software; preparation time; technical equipment and participation of parents. The study also provides suggestions for improvement. Such topics are: increasing student activation; better assessment techniques; use of case studies; use of special applications, websites; practicing the material in a fun way; collecting and incorporating feedback from students into teaching; increasing motivation; encouraging attention; use of elements of drama education in distance education; use of whiteboards; looking for details and concentration and playing escape games. Finally, the study summarizes and discusses the main reasons for not using gamification, which are: high demands of distance learning preventing innovation; assumed little student motivation and little added value; insufficient IT literacy of teachers; lack of time; the nature of the subject; lack of imagination; prejudices and technical difficulty.
In the future, the gamification trend will certainly affect lifelong education and learning and further research in this area. The study of their indisputable advantages, but also their shortcomings, will help set the course for the continuous improvement of these digital educational methods.
Conclusion
The partial results of the research on the use of gamification in the era of dominance of distance education shows that this method is used, but not as often as we would think. The potential of gamification itself is therefore not used at the time when we were most expecting it. One of the reasons are the barriers that were revealed in our research. However, in order to better understand other factors of the use of gamification, we also collected the advantages and disadvantages of gamified teaching from the teachers' point of view as part of the research, which we would introduce the readers to in the next article.
Author: PhDr. Martin Kursch, Ph.D. The author has published publications devoted to talent management and the use of ICT in education.
List of bibliographic references
FERGUSON, Daniel M. The Gamification of Legal Education: Why Games Transcend the Langdellian Model and How They Can Revolutionize Law School. Chapman Law Review [online]. 2016, 19(2), 629-657 [cit. 2018-11-02]. ISSN 23813237. KURSCH, M. Trends in digitization of educational methods. In VETEŠKA, J. (ed.) Adult Education 2018 – transformation in the era of digitization and artificial intelligence = Adult Education 2018 – transformation in the era of digitization and artificial intelligence: proceedings of the 8th International Adult Education Conference, 11-12th December 2018 Prague. Prague: Czech andragogical society, 2019, p. 199–210. ISBN 978-80-906894-4-2. ISSN 2571-3841. KURSCH, M., VETEŠKA, J. Research on gamification usage in distance learning during the Covid-19 period. In Kursch, M., Veteška, J. (eds.) Adult education 2020 – reflection, reality and potential of the virtual world. = Adult Education 2020 – Reflection, Reality and Potential of the Virtual World: proceedings of the 9th International Adult Education Conference: 16 December 2020, Prague. Prague: Česká andragogická společnost, 2021. 379 p. ISBN 978-80-907809-7-2. ISSN 2571-3841. ISSN 2571-385X. NIETO-ESCAMEZ, Francisco Antonio and María Dolores ROLDÁN-TAPIA, 2021. Gamification as Online Teaching Strategy During COVID-19: A Mini-Review. Frontiers in Psychology [online]. 12 [cit. 2021-8-15]. ISSN 16641078. Available from: doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648552. PARA, Anna, 2021. Mozligowści wykorzystania grywalizacji w zdalnej edukacji / The use of gamification in distance education. E-mentor [online]. 88(1), 21-29 [cit. 2021-8-15]. ISSN 17316758. RUTLEDGE, C., WALSH, C., SWINGER, N., AUERBACH, M., CASTRO, D., DEWAN, M., et al. (2018). Gamification in action. Acad. Med. 93, 1014–1020. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002183.
1 Progress Q17 – project – Teacher training and the teaching profession in the context of R&D.