Make E-Learning More Fun with Gamification

E-learning is now taking the lead; students are being homeschooled, teachers are offering virtual classes, and parents are just trying to make it all effective and more fun. Since the whole world is locked down, everybody is now depending on the internet, for work and education, that’s why it is always important for teachers and parents to find the right educational sources that would be interesting enough for the kids.

Gamification is one of the top known parts of e-learning and that’s exactly what will make kids more engaged in learning during their stay at home.

What is Gamification?

Since kids are staying at home, alone and with no peers, it is important to choose the type of content that would educate them yet at the same time make the education process interesting, because when kids get bored, their minds will not be collecting any useful information or try to accept anything delivered to it.

Gamification in e-learning is not considered just games as a lot of people think, but it is taking the best elements of games and applying them to a learning situation. To always keep differentiating between them both, you have to know that games are for fun and relaxing, but gamification might be fun, but it is not for relaxing, instead it needs a mind that is always working and paying attention.

Gamification is interesting for kids because even though it might be providing them with fun games to play, it is in return giving them information that they need to know. This type of e-learning has always proved to be successful because it does not make the student feel that he/she is always in some kind of a test. The best thing about gamification in e-learning is that it depends on visual storytelling, provides feedback for the learner, and it is based on visual cues.

Why Use Gamification in eLearning?

It’s always important to choose the right content for your students or kids if they are homeschooled, because usually homes are a mixture of little homework and studying, and lots of playing, relaxing, and sleeping. Gamification is important for e-learning for several different reasons, but before mentioning them, we should first say that this type of learning is composed of different elements that include: graphics, sounds, characters, bars or maps, competition and score, as well as timers.

Looking at these different elements, gamification will always seem like a game, but even though this is true, it is important to say that the outcome is different. Parents and teachers should try this type of e-learning with their students and kids because there are several different advantages which they are going to gain and which include:

• Increasing Motivation

Parents always ask one question when it comes to homeschooling; how to keep the kids motivated and excited to learn? That’s the most important question to answer at this point and we have to say that gamification in e-learning will definitely help in solving this dilemma. Gamification is always based on goals, achieving them, and rewards and that’s how the kids will turn to become active participants. Motivation is important because this is how kids will receive the information and deliver it to the long-term memory.

• Providing a Better Learning Experience

In addition to the motivation that gamification in e-learning provides the students with, it is important to mention the better experience it will provide, which will also play a great role in sending the information which the kids receive to their long-term memory instead of forgetting all about it so easily and quickly. If the level of engagement is high in the game, kids will be learning while having fun at the same time, and that’s exactly what gamification should be always based on: high engagement level.

• Providing Better Learning Environment

E-learning means that kids should come out of the lesson they have gone through with new skills and information. When it comes to the benefits or advantages carried by gamification, it is important to mention the better learning environment that it provides for the students that allows them to practice real-life situations and challenges but in a safe environment, this is believed to create a more engaged learning experience that facilitates better learning retention.

• Providing Better Recall and Retention

One of the most important things about gamification is that it provides instant feedback, and this is considered a very important part of learning; kids need to know what they are supposed to do, how to correct their mistakes, or even how to do a specific thing better. Gamification provides instant feedback for the learner upon finishing a level or a lesson, and that’s why students immediately know what they have done, where they are standing at the moment, and what they could do in order to improve themselves.

• Affecting Behavioral Change

As experts say, one of the most important things about e-learning is changing the behavior of the learner, and when it comes to gamification, behavioral change is one of the several benefits that will be delivered to the student.

• Making Learning More Fun

Gamification makes the whole process of e-learning much more fun and interesting for the kids because after all, they are still playing in order to receive new information. In addition to the fun environment that gamification will be sending, there is another important thing to mention when it comes to the benefits of this e-learning type, which is the addiction to learn. Students become more addicted to learning because when they complete one lesson or achieve a goal, they will be rewarded and this in return will make them happy and proud of themselves for what they have achieved, they will need to keep going and achieving more, and this is the type of addiction to learning and education which we are referring to.

HOW TO USE GAMIFICATION IN E-LEARNING?

As much important as gamification is in learning, and as much as online education and eLearning are now taking the lead, it is important to share with you how gamification is applied to e-learning. Gamification in e-learning is used through leaderboards to measure the student’s standing amongst his/her peers, badges as achievement trophies, points and currency, progress bars and level ups, as well as virtual scenarios.

Don’t worry, your kids might be stuck at home to prevent themselves from COVID-19 pandemic, but they could still get educated through the most interesting and motivational ways, such as gamification. If you are a teacher, you should search for some sources that bring gamification to their online education, and if you are a parent, you should search for the online education resources that will help make gamification part of your child’s homeschooling.

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