If you are familiar with educational content creation, you will have already heard of the term "gamification." Along with online learning, it has gained great popularity to become a must-have educational strategy.

Its objective is to turn the learner into an active agent of the process by involving them in fun challenges on whose performance the academic evolution depends. In this way, gamification in online education is much more than points, rankings, or badges.

This market constantly expands globally and is expected to reach 37 billion dollars by 2024, thanks to the great development of video games and e-learning.

Even though succeeding in this technique is more complicated than it seems, it is not necessary to be an expert to start taking advantage of its educational and personal growth benefits; you need to implement specific keys that we show you throughout the article.

What is gamification?

Gamification incorporates game elements into non-game contexts to improve user motivation, participation, and learning.

It is a relatively recent approach that has become increasingly popular in the last decade, although its roots go back to the 1970s with the introduction of educational games in schools.

The term "gamification" is attributed to Nick Pelling, a British programmer, who first used it in 2002. However, the American expert, free paper writer and game designer Jesse Schell popularized it in his 2010 book "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses."

In it, he argued that gamification could be applied to various fields, including marketing, healthcare, and education. Currently, gamification in online education is considered one of the best teaching strategies thanks to its conjunction with new technologies.

Examples of gamification in education

These gamification examples focus on applying an educational approach to classic games in which the mechanics can be customized according to the study plan.

Stop

Also known as "Scattergories," is an entertaining game that aims to find words starting with a specific letter in different categories before time runs out.

To play, each player needs a piece of paper, a pencil, a die, and a stopwatch or timer. The game begins by rolling the dice to choose a random letter.

Then, various categories are agreed upon, such as fruits, names of people, cities, etc. Players must write a word beginning with the letter in the round.

When time is up, they compare their answers and eliminate any repeated words several players have. Each initial response is scored one.

Memory

This is a board game with cards that have matching pictures or numbers in pairs. The object is to find all the pairs, turning them face up in turn and remembering their location to make corresponding pairs.

A minimum of two players is required, although a more significant number can play. If the cards are the same on each turn, the player removes them and places them in front of him as a won pair.

The game continues this way: cards are revealed until all pairs are found. This game is fun and challenging for both children and adults, and its adaptations are endless, so it has many educational benefits, such as cognitive development.

Charades

Players act out a word, phrase, or concept without speaking, using gestures and body movements for the rest of their team members to guess.

Among the advantages is the development of non-verbal communication or the ability to interpret body language while assimilating new concepts. In addition, it helps to foster creativity and imagination, as players have to think of ingenious ways of representation.

Scrabble

This strategy game was created in the late 1930s and popularized a decade later in the U.S. It uses a board, tiles with letters, and scoring values assigned to each based on their frequency of occurrence.

It is a handy tool for teaching students reading comprehension, spelling, and vocabulary. Participants must form words of the longest possible length using the letters available.

Scrabble encourages healthy competition and collaboration, as teamwork is possible. In addition, the score values assigned to each letter are based on a mathematical formula, which means that players must add them up to find out their ranking.

Math Blaster

"Math Blaster" is an educational video game designed to teach math skills to children in a fun and interactive way. It was produced by Davidson & Associates in 1983 and has since been adapted for different platforms.

The mission is to help Blasternaut, the main character, save the universe from alien invasion by solving a series of challenging math problems. Students must use their knowledge to navigate through mazes, learn fractions and decimals, identify patterns, etc.

It is designed for children from 6 to 12 years old and has different levels of difficulty adapting to different needs. In addition to teaching mathematics, it also encourages decision-making, planning, or analysis of situations to advance. Another outstanding feature is the possibility of customizing each player's character and appearance.

Taboo

It is intended for players to get their team to figure out a word without using specific keywords associated with it, which are "taboo." They have a limited time to guess the maximum number.

Taboo can have several educational applications, especially in foreign language learning. 

Students practice vocabulary, pronunciation, and listening comprehension by trying to get their team to guess concepts in another language without using taboo words in their own language.

It can also teach effective communication by finding creative and clear ways to describe a word in a collaborative environment quickly.

Bananagrams

It can be played with 2 to 8 players. The game consists of letter tiles that are used to create a grid similar to a crossword puzzle. The winner is the first player to use all his tiles to form interconnected words.

Each player takes a certain number of tiles at the start of the game and can change them or take new ones from the pile throughout the game. One of the particularities of Bananagrams is its fast-paced mechanics.

There are no turns; rather, all participants try to form words simultaneously. As you might guess, it is especially effective for developing spelling or vocabulary skills in different languages, among other benefits.

What advantages of learning by playing?

Education constantly evolves and requires innovation, which implies significant changes in teaching methods, materials, training content, or the learner experience.

In today's digital age, the traditional one-way approach of transmitting information from Teacher-Student is no longer effective in capturing attention and interest. Gamification in online education stands as one of the most compelling new methodologies.

Learning while playing is fun and teaches you crucial skills that will stay with you throughout your life. At the end of a gamified course, the participant will have acquired the confidence to engage their knowledge in complex situations, make decisions and learn to make mistakes.

It is essential to consider a good implementation of gamification in online education, an appropriate content design for its participants, and a digital teacher who guides the process.

5 essential Elements of Gamification in online education

Use of Avatars

Incorporating customizable characters or users that the learner can identify with is vital to recognize their learning achievements and getting involved in the game.

Visual appeal

Any gamification platform in online education must take advantage of technological advances to provide quality graphic design and, above all, aesthetics for stimulating the student according to their age.

At the same time, the design must be consistent with the contents; for this purpose, resources such as color psychology or digital marketing strategies can be used.

Competitiveness

Leaderboards or leaderboards allow students to check their position in the learning ranking, adding a healthy competition component.

Another way to encourage it is through team participation; this way, you will awaken their participation and collaborative skills.

Rewards

As you can imagine, the objective is to incentivize motivation and maintain long-term commitment. Symbolic rewards such as badges, stickers, or unlocking levels work especially well in this context.

Feedback

This is an indispensable requirement of gamification in online education, and the user has to receive instant and personalized feedback on their participation every certain period of time. These reports encourage concentration and serve as a frame of reference for the teaching work.

Types of Gamification in online education

Role-playing games

These are equally useful for the business environment; each participant adopts a certain role within a situation related to the area of study in order to develop specific skills and solve a problem as a team.

Simulation video games

Surely you know video games like "The Sims" or "Minecraft," both of which simulate real environments in a virtual environment. You will be surprised to know that their applications are not merely recreational, but thanks to this type of software, creative thinking or decision-making is encouraged.

Everything depends on the gamification approach in online education designed by the teacher in relation to the subject matter, so the digital competencies of the teacher are becoming increasingly important in the educational career.

Questions and answers

A classic alternative to gamification that, thanks to ICT, acquires a dimension of greater interactivity and fun. But above all, they are an educational strategy to measure knowledge at any level without resorting to traditional evaluation.

Within this category, Wizer.me or Kahoot stand out, websites where students can also create quizzes and challenge their classmates. If you prefer to opt for the famous mechanics of Trivial, the best version of gamification in online education is Trivinet. 

Flashcards

This idea also exists in analog format, but new technologies offer much more interesting possibilities.

Now you can interact with the cards and customize them according to their type or subject. You can also incorporate symbols, images, or graphics that complement the definition and sort large amounts of information quickly to review at any time.

Superficial Gamification

This is an approach to gamification in online education that involves adding game elements to an activity without significantly changing the original experience but seeking greater participation.

This way, scores, leaderboards, or rewards are added to standard classroom practices but contribute to personal and academic growth.

There are online platforms specifically dedicated to gamify tasks of any kind, such as Badgeville, from which it is easy to transform daily life into a game.

5 benefits of gamification in online education

Applying learning to practical cases

As we have already pointed out, technology can easily recreate real scenarios; in this way, students are immersed in knowledge from a pragmatic point of view, in which they understand the theory thanks to an infinite number of examples and acquire a greater sense of responsibility.

Encouraging teamwork

Most of the dynamics used in gamification in online education require forming teams in which collaborative work will be a crucial element if they want to succeed.

This is how this tool trains academically and in ethical values that apply to any field, such as respect for diversity and active listening.

Increases motivation and interest

Perhaps this is the most apparent benefit; the nature of a child is to discover the world through play, so over the years, the motivation to face challenges and overcome them remains so attractive.  

Thanks to gamification in online education, the contents captured on paper become exciting challenges with an educational background. Constant stimulation in an entertaining environment fosters learning addiction.

Reduces the fear of failure

Presenting a course under the structure of gamification in online education reduces the intimidation that arises when facing an unknown challenge since nothing is as close as the game to achieving learning at your own pace.

Failing to pass a level or failing to defeat an enemy is more naturally faced than the demotivation of receiving a low rating. Remember, it's not about making failure acceptable but just another part of the fun.

Personalized progress reports

One of the pillars of endorsed personalized learning is to constantly consider each student's rhythms and skills to adapt their assessments. Implementing this strategy has never been easier, thanks to gamification in online education.

4 strategies to apply gamification in online education

Create missions  

Although the course is stimulating, it is easy for gamification in online education to be ineffective if it does not have a previously marked goal that involves a challenge. However, the objectives must first and foremost be realistic and short- to medium-term, adapted to the game mechanics.

Add surprising elements

When you get hooked on a series to find out how the plot will continue, certain games give the possibility to create unpredictable narratives that arouse the curiosity of their participants.

It is unnecessary to elaborate a whole script but simply insert surprises or changes in the mechanics that invite the learner to pay attention to emerge victorious.

Use close codes

A basic strategy is the creation of captivating stories for the game's target audience; their characteristics include a continuous appeal or appeal along with epic meaning.

Integrate these games into the curriculum

After some testing, you can implement gamification techniques in online education as part of the official assessment; studying for improvement in a fun mechanic will promote school performance. It is necessary to incorporate all the curriculum contents without losing gamification.

Conclusions on the Benefits of Gamification in online education

Therefore, gamification in online education is an educational model that allows you to transform any activity into a recreational experience to explore new ways of interacting with the world and discover your true potential in any age range.

Contrary to what has believed a few years ago, nowadays, most parents affirm how a controlled use of video games has positive impacts on their children's education, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

Distance education can be a challenge for many students, as it often lacks face-to-face interaction. However, gamification in online education offers an exciting and effective solution to this problem.