What is a game?
Gamification is “the integration of game elements like point systems, leader boards, badges, or other elements related to games into “conventional” learning activities in order to increase engagement and motivation”(8). It is a combined approach to (formal/non-formal) education and training, where game elements are added to the classic elements of the course to increase the attractiveness, engagement, interaction, mutual knowledge, creativity and, above all, the quality of the results.
We are experiencing it in one form or another, as a part of our daily lives, consciously or unconsciously; for example, the apps on our phones use gamification (notifications, rewards) to get us to keep using them.
Supermarkets, gas stations, coffee shops have a well-established reward system to keep track of their customers and offer bonuses, gifts or discounts; teachers and educators who use stickers as rewards or have a small competition based on quizzes with points and rewards in class are actually using gamification in the teaching-learning evaluation process.
Reflection time
When gamification is integrated into learning/training, it helps to facilitate learning and make it more immersive and interactive through active participation and observation.
Gamification does not mean turning activities into games, but rather using elements of a game to make activities more interesting and fun. List as many ways as possible in which you can gamify your educational activities with youth, by using: roles, leaderboards, cards, badges, avatars, rules, tasks, points, rewards, competition, deadlines, challenges, customization, difficulty levels.
