When I began teaching English to college students in the US, I hated games. It seemed like they too forever to create, and they often didn't seem to help students master the course objectives. Sure, they motivated students to laugh, but I wasn't sure that they motivated students to learn.
Now, though, the games have become more sophisticated, and assessment has become more sophisticated, and the idea of involving experience points (XP), digital rewards, and leader boards makes me wonder if, maybe, games could help with learning in ways I hadn't imagined.
Start with the following resources.
- Alsawaier, R. S. (2018). The effect of gamification on motivation and engagement. The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 35(1), 56–79. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-02-2017-0009
- Hilton, E., Tomko, M., Murphy, A., Nagal, R., & Linsey, J. (2018). IMPACTS ON DESIGN SELF-EFFICACY FOR STUDENTS CHOOSING TO PARTICIPATE IN A UNIVERSITY MAKERSPACE. DS 89: Proceedings of The Fifth International Conference on Design Creativity (ICDC 2018), University of Bath, Bath, UK. https://www.designsociety.org/publication/40740/IMPACTS+ON+DESIGN+SELF-EFFICACY+FOR+STUDENTS+CHOOSING+TO+PARTICIPATE+IN+A+UNIVERSITY+MAKERSPACE
- How Video Games can Make a Better World - Jane McGonaghal
Then your reseaerch becomes more fun. Spend some time playing these games and thinking of how this type of thing could help your students learn.
- Connecting through English (by Randall Gwin)
- Third World Farmer
- Spent
After your Pecha-Kucha or TikTok series, give us some thought-provoking questions (especially, think of how you could apply this in your cultural context).
Finally, monitor the discussion by replying quickly and challenging us to learn more!