INNOVATIVE AND DIVERSE LEARNING Braeside School (LN)
DR BARBARA LOCKEE & DR KIBONG SONG
Three Perspectives to See Students in Gamified Classes Researchers and practitioners in various fields have been interested in gamification in solving a problem in a specific context. Gamification refers to “a set of activities and processes that solve problems by using or applying the characteristics of game elements”. Some researchers and practitioners focus more on the use of gamification to solve educational problems. Though gamification is outcome-oriented and focuses on organizational performance in many cases, gamification aimed at developing students’ academic skills and talents should focus more on the cognitive development process of students rather than the final outcome of the gamification. To support the cognitive development of students, it might be required to see the students in a gamified classroom with the following perspectives: cognitive explorers, social beings in the real world, and individuals with sincerity and conatus.
Cognitive explorers Students in a gamified class can be viewed as cognitive explorers. They are not just the audience of an instructional event, but also the players of a game. They explore different
situations and conditions embedded in the gamified class and expect accurate, prompt, and fair feedback during their exploration. While many students are afraid of not being able to answer questions in a normal class, students in a gamified class do not tend to worry about the accuracy of their first attempt to respond. Rather, they come up with various answers, even though they already know some of the answers are likely not correct. However, by comparing the different feedback provided for each of the various answers, they can elaborate and internalize the concept they are learning in the class. As a result, they will construct an efficient knowledge structure that stores what they learned in the class. Some researchers argue
“Students are cognitive explorers on the journey to their own learning goals.” | 31
