What is Game-Based Learning?
New ideas and concepts
There is a constant discussion ongoing regarding what the current generation should be provided with by schools in order to adequately satisfy their requirements.
Annually, teachers confront fresh terms, thoughts, and ideas that seem like the lone solution for all of the dilemmas faced in education.
Education is not a problem with a single solution that could completely improve the teaching-learning procedure.
The answer is to explore various possibilities, test various options, and evaluate the outcomes.
Incorporate games in education
Game-Based Learning is an easily implemented approach that can be used in the classroom.
The evidence that this teaching method works has revealed that including games is very beneficial as it can motivate students, which is always an issue teachers have to take into consideration in their lesson planning.
If you’re curious to learn additional approaches and techniques to inspire your pupils, take a look at our educator workshops.
But what is GBL? EdTechReview claims that Game-Based Learning is created to join together subject material with gameplay and the capability of the individual to keep and employ such content in reality.
Acer for Education, a business focused on educational programs, is applying their creativity and using modern technology to better the educational experience. It is asserted that GBL is a powerful tool which enables learners to strive in the direction of achieving a desired aim. Through testing and trying out procedures and ways of thinking, pupils can assimilate information from a synthetic scenario to use in everyday reality.
It might be concluded that GBL is fundamentally an interactive activity and interactive activities have been among the initial approaches people use to gain knowledge; infants and children play interactive activities to explore their environment and increase their understanding.
Game-Based Learning vs Gamification
Game-based learning (GBL) and gamification are commonly mixed up, especially in educational settings. EdTechReview characterizes gamification as the utilization of game components and digital game plans to issues outside the scope of gaming, such as ventures in education technology and social effect obstacles.
Items such as points, awards, accolades, and ranking boards are referred to as “game elements”. Essentially, traditional classroom activities make use of them as external motivate systems.
The two concepts of GBL and gamification often overlap; often game elements can be found in a GBL activity, rather than the other way around.
Greater Board Learning (GBL) ordinarily involves a simulated game environment and the enactment of educational material through theatrical and role-playing exercises.
In GBL, playing the game is what produces the learning experience. Using elements of a game to spice up typical tasks is the concept of gamification.
Although Quizzes can be thought of as a type of GBL (gamification), applications like Kahoot or Quizizz which generate quizzes are not considered GBL.
They are nothing more than a set of queries, a narrative, or a situation without any figures or regulations.
Are you keen to explore the utilization of GBL and Gamification in instruction or utilizing board games for educational purposes? Check out our teacher training course.
Different types of GBL
To gain a better understanding of GBL, one should take a look at several types of the game and contemplate the area and atmosphere in which players engage in it. The three types of GBL are:
01 – Board games
Monopoly can be considered an educational game. This piece contains all the key components: an engaging narrative, characters, objectives, rivalry, and more. Many different educational Monopoly-style board games exist that have been tailored to specific topics or disciplines, such as History or Math.
N.B. The important thing to remember when it comes to board games, as well as the next 2 types, is to make sure the game is properly set up – that means the board and the rules need to be followed correctly. Pupils should take part in the formative stage of the game, as it can be both stimulating and instructive. Remember that creating an educational video game could be an excellent task for project based learning.
02 – Real life games
It is common for real life games to be associated with theatre, due to the possibility of entering a designated area. This type of game learning has a variety of options, such as role playing, simulations, and dramatization. It is simple to locate these activities. Pupils pretend to be a figure from the game, decide what to do considering their objectives, the environment, and the regulations.
03 – Digital games
The environment here is online. Digital games can be compared to board games. In point of fact, a lot of electronic programs for GBL make use of Web-based boards that an educator can alter or supplement with educational materials related to the game being played. Also, in this kind of activity, students can be involved in the development of the game, especially if the educator is unable to operate internet applications without their assistance. Learners possess a protagonist (even if they do not have a personal account) that crawls through the game in which they are met with difficulties that appear during the game’s progression. A digital game does not require physical abilities or taking place within a physical space, however it can still educate students to collaborate with one another in an online environment.
Why we need more games
Nowadays, many cultures are training the upcoming generations to be able to adjust swiftly to different and constantly evolving conditions. In the past, having qualifications like degrees or certificates was an assurance of employment. Nowadays, it is imperative to possess hard skills but they are not enough on their own. Consequently, it is crucial to possess interpersonal abilities such as speaking, collaborating, and prioritizing tasks. A school that does not take into consideration soft skills is not providing its students with the necessary tools to have a content life and achieve their goals.
It can certainly be argued that the importance of developing certain interpersonal abilities (which include empathy, listening, problem-solving, and critical thinking) in contemporary society necessitates that such skills and emotional intelligence be given more attention in educational settings.
Are you curious about how to acquire and utilize these delicate abilities? GBL is one possible solution. Gamelearn, a prominent firm that brings together gaming and education regardless of the level, acknowledges that “Game-based learning is the premier choice for developing soft skills.”
Benefits of Game-Based Learning
1. Competition motivates learners
The game-based learning experience fosters healthy competition. It serves as motivation for learners to perform better. Students anticipate being rewarded for their success in the games, gaining points that help them to be more competitive than their peers on the leaderboard. This boosts their drive to study and become involved in the material.
2. Learners are more engaged
GBL is a great way to foster learner engagement. Feedback, competition, and other game-like features maintain their attention and make the learning experience seem not like a tiresome task or dull.
3. Instant gratification
With GBL, learners receive prompt rewards for doing well, creating a shorter feedback cycle. Students become more engaged in the educational experience when they receive positive reinforcement or rewards in a timely manner.
4. Instantaneous reinforcement and feedback
Video games use the concept of immediate reactions and rewards for why people become addicted so fast. This approach to education encourages students to become more accustomed to a topic or skill set, improving learning as they set achievable goals and progressively become more confident.
5. Improves learning retention
It is widely understood that people will remember what they have learned better if the educational materials they use are applicable and make sense to them. Game-based instruction unites relevance and realism to produce an educational experience that boosts students’ memorization of the material.
6. Utilizes common technology
Game-based eLearning usually utilizes customary devices including cell phones and tablets to help the teaching process. By doing this, students do not have to be familiar with any new technology or modify to a distinct educational atmosphere in order to obtain the advantages of game-based education.
Mobile learning is gathering a lot of followers from people who enjoy having their educational materials always within reach.
7. Encourages learners to use their imagination
Gamified Blended Learning provides an incentive to be creative, as it necessitates students to employ their inventive and analytical thinking while resolving issues. Every game is usually seen as a puzzle that must be deciphered or rectified. Having that perspective in mind encourages students to use their imagination to search for inventive solutions to the educational challenge at hand.
8. Realistic simulations, learners won’t forget
Game-based learning involves the simulation of real-world situations. This boosts the students’ capacity to retain knowledge, since they can immediately see the ways in which they can use what they have learned to tackle real-life matters and issues.
9. Simplifies complicated concepts
Game-based learning makes it easier for educators to transform complex ideas and concepts into more understandable formats. Teachers can help students comprehend certain topics better by presenting them in the form of enjoyable games.
10. Learning by doing
The core principle of game-based learning is active learning. Rather than hearing about abstract uses of the ideas, learners get to experiment and develop their abilities as they make progress towards a specific aim.
11. Increase sales
An example of how game-based learning can be used in the workplace is by having the sales team partake in a simulation to increase their efficiency at closing sales. By constructing situations in the workplace that imitate genuine sales tactics, personnel rapidly comprehend the techniques necessary to strengthen their capability to complete sales: the ensuing outcome, sure businessmen and women who can enhance product income.
12. Facilitates collaboration
Game-based learning enables collaborative learning in a team environment. Participants can come up with creative ideas and exercise their aptitude for finding solutions in the game representations of real-world problems. This partnering is not restricted to video games and plays out in the real world too.
13. Safe place to fail
GBL employs activities that are like real-life scenarios. This gives an opportunity to have a go at novel ideas, to test out theories, and to gain experience from any mistakes without causing significant effects on actual events.
Some Tips for Implementing Game-Based Training
1. Create content directly related to specific departments
Your game designers should ensure that the material developed for the gaming simulations is closely linked to the areas which require improvement.
An example of this would be upping the skill level of the marketing department by utilizing game-based learning methods and filling them with marketing educational material.
2. Use gamification elements and an interesting narrative to engage learners
Subsequently, maintain the interest of your students by using engaging stories. Stories have always been an effective way of teaching students, and the same applies when it comes to game-based learning. Construct an ongoing story which engages learners from beginning to end throughout the educational journey.
For instance, a fascinating narrative would involve crafting a tale of assisting a fashion designer in difficult times and also increasing the business acumen of fashion designers.
As students progress, they become immersed in the main character’s tale, while game mechanics like awards, rankings, and scores maintain their focus.
3. Use real-world simulations
Incorporate simulations of everyday situations into the academic area being studied so that students can practice their problem-solving abilities and receive personalized, immediate feedback on their application of these abilities.
An illustration of this might be a game where students change the layout of a living space to teach them about interior design. As they are engaged in the game, they receive immediate feedback to show them their level of development.
4. Make it personal
Create a distinctive and individualized gaming experience instead of employing regular game-playing models. In this manner, they would be enthusiastic about gaining knowledge and interact with the educational material.
5. It’s not about winning or losing
The main focus of GBL is learning, rather than winning a competition when using gamification. Having a need to win undermines the major goal of game-centered education-creating a safe place for students to experiment and make mistakes without excessive repercussions.
Encourage students to attempt different techniques and study behaviors if they don’t understand the material immediately.
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