What is one thing that entices children towards games and nudges them away from books and classroom teaching? It is incorporating interactivity and the ability to participate, act, and react as part of the lesson plans and curriculum that has failed often. The one way flow of information from teachers to pupils has not just injured the learning process but has also damaged the system to a large extent. As Benjamin Franklin clearly puts it, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I will learn”. No real learning can take place with a student being a passive player in the process.
The current generation are students who are digital natives and rely heavily on technology and smart devices. Sticking to archaic methods and brick and mortar style of teaching within a classroom setup will not be of value addition anymore to their growth. The need of the hour is creation of an atmosphere of experiential and interactive learning, tailored to the understanding of concepts and strategies at low cost. Developing social reward systems is the way mobile games have kept people engaged. Emerging education pedagogies will learn from this. The need to ensure students’ interest and participation has meant that game mechanics – such as rewards and group tasks – will become core teaching tools. Making learning a playful experience with challenges and hurdles to overcome, in order to move to the next level of learning will eventually serve as motivation for students to engage sincerely.
A shift away from the conventional teaching methods will not only facilitate flexible and automated learning, but also provide liberty to both students and teachers to fail, experiment and learn again. Additionally, it will freely allow one to express oneself. Gamification will allow the use of different teaching methods and approaches that allow students to be active participants with strong motivation and engagement to their own learning. Modern pedagogical paradigms and trends in education, reinforced by the use of ICT, allow for the use of new approaches and techniques in order to implement active learning. Gamification in training is one of these trends that rewards efforts and results by points, levels or awards, which leads to increased motivation for participation and activity.
Leveraging this game technology, many innovative learning management systems along with various playful technological frameworks have recently come to the fore creating a paradigm shift in educational institutions. There is a new awakening in digital learning owing to a greater use of audio-visual, as well as video-game based curriculum powered by AI, IoT, etc. Technological resources and mobile connections have played a major role in such transformation. However, for students who lack access to technology, for schools facing financial difficulties, and for students performing well under conventional teaching programmes, a transition towards gamified education could prove limiting, if not damaging. WIth the imposition of lockdown, even this strata of learners are slowly adopting digital learning tools and strives are being made to make such technologies accessible to this population of students and teachers. Many organisations are on the path of utilising innovation and frugal science to make these models a part of inclusive learning. There is still a long way to go to witness mass adoption and accessibility of such tools but the impact it is going to have on the learning levels and career progression cannot be ignored or denied anymore.