Education technology - higher education
R. Tohand; M. Alinejad; B. Daneshmand
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The gamification approach is one of the newest and most attractive developments in recent years, which has been effective in various fields, including education. This approach attracted the attention of its audience by creating excitement and interaction. Gamification means ...
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Background and Objectives: The gamification approach is one of the newest and most attractive developments in recent years, which has been effective in various fields, including education. This approach attracted the attention of its audience by creating excitement and interaction. Gamification means the application of game elements and components in a non-game situation, which, according to an attractive and predetermined process, considers certain goals. The gamification approach with the effectiveness of the curriculum created a dynamic and interactive environment for the learners and improved their educational and learning status in a suitable context. This research was conducted with the aim of identifying the experiences of experts in connection with the application of the elements of the gamification approach in the higher education curriculum.Methods: This qualitative research was conducted using a phenomenological (descriptive) approach in the year 1401. In this study, a deep question was posed to experts to obtain their experiences, and if necessary, elements of the gamification approach were explained for the interviewees to express their experiences related to them. The participants included experts from across the country who were involved in education, research, the production of electronic content for higher education systems related to gamification. Based on targeted sampling and snowball technique, 18 participants were identified at the national level. The interviews, which lasted for one hour each, continued until theoretical saturation was reached. After conducting and recording the interviews, they were transcribed full. The transcriptions were then reviewed multiple times, comparing the text with the audio, and subsequently subjected to a coding and analysis system.Findings: Based on the experts' experiences, the elements of gamification approach that can be employed in higher education curriculum were as follows: Create excitement (presenting engaging content, using active teaching methods, behavioral cues, competitions and questionnaires, adventure and avoiding repetition), Create partnership and interaction (instructor with learners, utilizing virtual space, through content and among learners), Create competition (group competitions, time constraints, individual competitions, and lottery-based competitions), Create motivation (creative techniques, fostering intrinsic motivation, fostering extrinsic motivation, motivational statements), Provide feedback (appropriate feedback for effort, qualitative feedback, immediate feedback after the test), Scoring (opportunity for remediation, progress bar, irregular scoring, and role determination), Rewarding (giving rewards, types of incentives, designing certificates, and awarding them), Create challenge (by posing questions and using tools), Determining rules and regulations (setting multidimensional goals for the lesson and announcing them at the beginning of the term, drawing a roadmap by the teacher, and sweet penalty) and Leveling (leveling the content and progressing step by step from easy to difficult, from concrete to abstract, from known to unknown).Conclusion: The gamification approach has elements that, by implementing it in the curriculum of higher education, could lead to the attractiveness and dynamism of teaching and facilitate the learning process. Therefore, it is possible to use the experiences of the experts of the gamification approach in the educational process to change the class from a dry and boring teacher-centered atmosphere, go out and use the elements of the gamification approach to move towards inclusiveness and make the learning process attractive, enjoyable and lasting. This approach has paid special attention to the audience and their interests and considered the participation and interaction of learners to put learning in a happy, attractive, active and effective process.
Game-based Education
M. Ahmadi; S. F. Noorani; S. Hosseini
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Environmental crises are threats to all creatures and the balance of nature, and their root is human activity. Therefore, the current change in human behavior will be able to solve environmental problems. The purpose of environmental education is increasing people's sensitivity ...
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Background and Objectives: Environmental crises are threats to all creatures and the balance of nature, and their root is human activity. Therefore, the current change in human behavior will be able to solve environmental problems. The purpose of environmental education is increasing people's sensitivity to events and changes in the physical, biological, social, economic, social, and political environment and their effects on the environment so that the ability to recognize environmental issues can acquire the necessary skills in devising methods and tools to protect the environment and solve its problems. Currently, gamification is one of the techniques that can be used to increase students' environmental literacy. Gamification is a new method that has been translated into ‘playmaking’ in some sources and means the use of playful elements and thoughts in areas that are not the nature of the game. Gamification has been one of the topics discussed in recent years, which can be used to increase efficiency and user interaction. Properly applied gamification in educational environments will lead to better learning of students. This study investigated the impact of gamification on the promotion of environmental literacy of the first-year elementary school students in TehranMethods: The research was conducted as a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test and post-test design along with the experimental group. The statistical population included all male students whose age ranged between 6-7 years, who were studying in the district 15 of Tehran in the academic year of 2021-2022. With multi-stage cluster random sampling method, 60 participants were included in the sample and 30 people were randomly assigned to the experimental group; They have received part of the concepts of environmental literacy through gamification-based education for 12 sessions. The questionnaire was devised by the researcher and its formal and content validity was confirmed by the experts. Also, its reliability was reported using Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.86, indicating acceptable reliability. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics via SPSS 24 software.Findings: The results of the data showed that gamification had a significant and positive effect on promoting environmental literacy (F = 1.57, 70.6 and P = 0.001). Also, gamification made a significant impact in promoting environmental literacy (water consumption management (F = 1.57, P = 0.001), electricity consumption management (F = 1.57, P = 0.001), gas consumption management (F = 0.001, 04 F1.57/58 and P=0.001), waste management (F1.57, 40.8 and P=0.001), forest preservation (F1.57, 337.63 and P=0.001), animal protection (F1.51.06) ,57 and P=0.001) among the students of the first year of elementary school.Conclusion: Taking into account the effective role of gamification in improving environmental literacy (water consumption management, electricity consumption management, gas consumption management, waste management, forest conservation and animal conservation), it can be concluded that the use of gamification in education is a new approach that has caused a wide transformation in the education system and increased the hope of the effectiveness of learning environmental concepts and related literacy among the students.
Educational computer games
A. Salimei; H. Zangeneh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Teaching English as a second language has grown exponentially in the world over the last two decades with mobile or computer-assisted approaches. New learning technologies have increased their popularity through interactive language learning content in listening, speaking, ...
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Background and Objectives: Teaching English as a second language has grown exponentially in the world over the last two decades with mobile or computer-assisted approaches. New learning technologies have increased their popularity through interactive language learning content in listening, speaking, writing, and comprehension skills and paved the way to increase the learner's control over the learning process, the time and place of learning, or even choosing instructional media and learning activities so that the learner should have the freedom to act, which has led to more personalization of instruction to welcome learning through more technologies. This type of learning may be among their preferences in which the basics of language learning skills are vocabulary learning which can be of significant consideration. In contrast, word-learning in language learning is a dull, boring, and monotonous activity that learners face constantly. At the same time, it is essential and fundamental because other language skills highly depend on vocabulary learning. New learning technologies have also been effective in this area by gamification of the vocabulary learning process and adding elements such as competition, leaderboard, reinforcement and reward programs, feedback, challenges, and the like. They have made learning vocabulary an engaging and enjoyable activity through the instructional design of the learning environment. Vocabulary learning, is a repetitive and tedious activity, the learner must pronounce the word well, understand the explicit and implicit meaning of the word, recognize its usage and function well, write the word correctly, discriminate the root of the word to form different words for the intended functions. All of these add to the complexity and difficulty of vocabulary learning because the number of variables involved is high, and they are interrelated. Vocabulary learning is crucial because its traces in learning other language skills are well recognizable. On the other hand, as the circle of linguistic vocabulary expands, it sometimes becomes difficult for an individual to understand the semantic subtleties of words required to internalize the words; otherwise, they are forgotten. Therefore, based on understanding such problems and difficulties in learners' language learning, educational technology has been considered a helpful solution in this field. Most studies have shown that educational technology is also valuable in terms of emotional and motivational dimensions for cognitive effectiveness and can play an irreplaceable role in gamifying vocabulary learning. With this in mind, this study aimed to investigate the effect of gamification on English vocabulary learning among the fifth-grade Iranian students.Methods: The method in this study was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design and an experimental and a control group. The study population included all fifth-grade elementary school students in Hamadan in the academic year of 2020-2021 (N=8431), of whom a sample size of 40 people was chosen. Convenience sampling method was used and the participants were chosen from the schools whose students had access to a laptop, tablet, smartphone, or personal computer to run the gamification (games developed for vocabulary learning). They were assigned randomly to the experiment group (20) and control (20) one. The data collection tool in this study was the teacher-developed academic test for both pretest and posttest (including 30 four-point questions) and was the same in both groups. The experts` views were used to determine their validity, and also their reliability was calculated based on Cronbach's alpha as 0.78. Descriptive and inferential statistics (covariance test) were used to analyze the data using SPSS software version 22.0.Findings: Based on the analysis of the data, the ratio of f for the independent variable was equal to 5.956, the significance level was 0.02; for the covariate, the f ratio was equal to 0.687, and the significance level was 0.41. It can be said that the effect of intervention in the experimental group was significant, but the impact of covariate was insignificant.Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, the pretest scores as covariates had no significant effect on posttest scores, but the impact of the intervention on posttest scores was significant. So, it can be concluded that gamification improved English vocabulary learning (as a second language) among the fifth-grade Iranian students.
e-learning
M. Mohammadi; Z. Khoshneshin; N. Mohammadhasani
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Gamification means the use of elements and mechanics of a game in a non-game environment increasingly used in learning environments as a way to increase student motivation and learning outcomes. While several studies have been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of gamification ...
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Background and Objectives: Gamification means the use of elements and mechanics of a game in a non-game environment increasingly used in learning environments as a way to increase student motivation and learning outcomes. While several studies have been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of gamification in education. But there are blind spots regarding the precise application of gamification elements using new educational tools in various educational fields. In this study, using the educational tools of Kahoot and Mentimeter with focus on the leaderboard, the effect of the elements of competition and has been investigated cooperation on learning and approach motivation of math lesson. Methods: The statistical population of the study included all fourth-grade male students in Divandarreh in the academic year 2020-2021. The study sample was selected using the available sampling method from the classes of the city. consisting of two classes of 20 people and placed in experimental groups. The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test design. The research instruments included researcher-made learning tests and Aminifar and SalehSadeghpour motivation questionnaire whose reliability coefficient was calculated with Cronbach's alpha criterion for learning test 0.93 and approach motivation 0.81. The learning environment of the experimental groups was presented simultaneously and separately surveyed for ten sessions using the educational tools of Kahoot and Mentimeter were influenced by gamification’s elements of competition and cooperation. Findings: Mean and standard deviation indexes were used to evaluate descriptive statistics. The difference between the mean pre-test and post-test learning of students who were trained in a gamified environment using Kahoot the competition-based educational tools was 19.45 and in a gamified environment using Mentimeter educational tools based on the cooperation element was 23.9. In the variable of approach motivation, the difference between the mean of pre-test and post-test obtained in the gamified environment using Kahoot educational tools based on the competition element was 4.95 and in the gamified environment using Mentimeter educational tools based on the cooperation element was 8.1. respectively. Based on the results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the variances were equal and the normality of the data distribution was confirmed. According to the results of the variance homogeneity test, since the significance level is greater than (0.05), the null hypothesis based on variance homogeneity was confirmed and the assumption of variance homogeneity was confirmed at a 95% confidence level. Data analysis by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANOVA) in SPSS statistical package showed that with a significance level of less than 0.05 and a 95% confidence level, there was a significant difference between the use of Kahoot and Mentimeter educational tools based on competition and cooperation gamification’s elements in learning and students' approach motivation. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected and the opposite hypothesis is based on the inequality of the average learning rate and approach motivation in a gamified environment with a focus on the leaderboard using the teaching tools of Kahoot and Mentimeter based on the elements of competition and cooperation, was accepted. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the application of the Mentimeter educational tool based on cooperation element, compared to Kahoot educational tool based on competition element, has a more significant effect on student's learning and approach motivation in the gamified environment. Therefore, it is better to design gamified learning.
Educational Technology
M. Ranjbarfard; M. Zandvakili
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Today, the presence of computers in training classes has been expanded. Therefore, preparing appropriate software and games as well as conducting research to examine their impact on education and their comparison with the traditional teaching method (face-to-face and PowerPoint) ...
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Background and Objectives: Today, the presence of computers in training classes has been expanded. Therefore, preparing appropriate software and games as well as conducting research to examine their impact on education and their comparison with the traditional teaching method (face-to-face and PowerPoint) is essential. However, a game-based and a professional software-based teaching method as compared to the traditional teaching method has not been evaluated from the perspective of the students including various aspects, such as motivation, satisfaction, interaction, pleasure and learning. This study aims at making a comparison between the evaluation of various teaching methods, including game-based , professional software-based , and traditional teaching method. The evaluation of each of these three methods has been conducted from the perspective of the students in one of the courses of the field of Financial Management, using measures such as pleasure and interaction.Methods: First, the theoretical framework and the research hypothesis were determined based on the literature on three teaching methods, including game-based and professional software-based, and traditional teaching methods. The statistical population of this study comprised of 70 individuals who were undergraduate students of the course of technical analysis at the Financial Centre of Iran as well as at the Association of Stock Exchange Brokers. The selection of this course was due to the possibility of running all the three teaching methods in the time period of conducting this research. The evaluation data for each of these teaching methods were gathered, using a separate closed questionnaire (totally 3 questionnaires) with 5-point Likert scale. The questionnaires of the traditional and software teaching methods were distributed after 3 sessions of the classes had passed and the questionnaire of the game-based teaching method was distributed after 14 days of running the game (this was one of the time periods defined in the game). The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS and Excel. The paired t-test was used to analyze the differences in the evaluation of the three teaching methods at the significance level equal to 0.005. The normality of data was tested and confirmed by using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test before running the paired t-test. Findings: In the comparison of professional software-based with the traditional teaching method at the significance level of 0.000 and t= 6.454, it can be said that professional software-based teaching was better. In the comparison of game-based with traditional teaching method at the significance level of 0.000 and t=6.097, it can be said that game-based teaching method was better. In the comparison of professional software-based with game-based teaching method, at the significance level of 0.000 and t=4.861, it can be said that game-based teaching method was better. The mean for game-based teaching method was significantly much higher than that of the other teaching methods. This means that based on their ability, the students were more satisfied with the game-based teaching method; they regarded this method more interactive; they have enjoyed this teaching method more than the others; and this teaching method has increased their motivation, and they have regarded it more effective in their learning.Conclusions: With respect to the significant difference in the evaluation of the game-based teaching method compared with other two teaching methods, it is recommended that the educational institutes, teachers and developers of computer games pay more attention to game-based teaching method and gamification with the teaching objectives. At least, based on the subject and content of the course, besides the traditional method (face-to-face and PowerPoint) which is a common method in teaching, use of a combination of various teaching methods including game-based professional software-based teaching method along with the traditional method can be beneficial and increase the level of satisfaction, learning, motivation, capability, interaction and pleasure of the students. Lack of teaching games relevant to academic courses was one of the main challenges of this research. As a result, it was impossible to study the effect of game elements (such as leaderboards, scores, medals, …) in teaching through game-based method. Due to the impossibility of running educational games related to academic courses in the time period in which the research was being conducted, the spatial scope of the research was limited to two organizations in Tehran province and it was impossible to gather data from other educational institutions and in other classrooms for the other courses.
Educational Technology
M. Ghasemi arganeh; S. Pourroostaei Ardakani; A. Mohseni Ezhiyeh; R. Fathabadi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Pillars of civilization of any society is based on the system and structure of education; and without any doubt health, comprehensiveness and efficiency of the education system of that society depends on the scope, breadth, diversity and quality of comprehensive educational ...
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Background and Objectives: Pillars of civilization of any society is based on the system and structure of education; and without any doubt health, comprehensiveness and efficiency of the education system of that society depends on the scope, breadth, diversity and quality of comprehensive educational programs and educational services that are offered to students in regular schools or special classes. We have often seen students who are very similar in terms of learning ability and talent; but there are many differences in their academic achievement. We see these differences not only in school learning but also in other non-academic activities. This aspect of human behavior is related to the field of motivation. Psychologists often see motivation as a process that is involved in motivating, directing, and sustaining behavior. Motivation is the basis of human behavior and the most important factor of various behaviors and in fact the driving force of human activities and their directing factor. Gamification is currently one of the techniques that can increase motivation. Gamification is a new method that has been translated as ‘playmaking’ in some sources and means the use of playful elements and thoughts in areas that are not the nature of the game. Gamification has been one of the topics discussed in recent years, which can be used to increase efficiency and user interaction. Properly applied gamification in educational environments will lead to better learning of users. This study investigates the impact of gamification on educational motivation for mentally disabled students. Methods: This research utilizes a quasi-experiment research method through which pre andpost-tests are organized for two groups of students, i.e., control and experimental. The reserach population covers all mentally challenged students in Kermanshah Providence in Iran. The experiment sample consists of 32 students selected using a convenience sampling method. They randomly formed two groups of 16 as control and experimental. The experimental group was taught by game-based instructions, whereas the control received ordinary lessons in the classroom. For this, a 20 sessions (ordinary and game-based) course were designed for both groups of students. Harter motivation test was used in this research to collect data from the students. The collected data was analyzed using a one-way analysis of covariance. Findings: In the descriptive statistics section, the studied variables were analyzed using statistical index tables, mean and standard deviation; and in the inferential statistics section, the research hypotheses were analyzed using analysis of covariance. According to the results, game-based education has a positive impact on educational motivation for mentally disabled students and the effect size of the Eta squared in research is 0.49 on the internal motivation and 0.51 is the external motive. Conclusions: According to the findings of the analysis of covariance, gamification-based teaching methods have a positive effect on internal and external academic motivation (p <0.01). It is concluded that motivation plays a key role in learning, specifically if the students with mental disabilities join game-based educational environments.
Game-based Education
S.A.H. Hosseini Anari; M. Neshati
Abstract
Background and Objective:In recent years, we have witnessed a dramatic growth of digital gaming media in entertainment and popular culture. Games are firmly entrenched in human culture and have consistently impacted their social life and leisure on an unprecedented scale. One of the achievements of digital ...
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Background and Objective:In recent years, we have witnessed a dramatic growth of digital gaming media in entertainment and popular culture. Games are firmly entrenched in human culture and have consistently impacted their social life and leisure on an unprecedented scale. One of the achievements of digital gaming media is that it stimulates issues beyond entertainment. In general, the game can be described as a voluntary activity in which the player has freedom of action and can enter or leave the game at any time. An emerging strategy in the field of play is gamification, but gamification is slightly different from normal play. Gamification can be defined as the use of gamified thinking in areas that do not have the nature of play, which is created to create interaction and motivation in people to achieve the desired goals. Nowadays, gamification has been turned into a strong motive tool to engage and increase users’ participation in the educational systems. Previous research indicates generally the importance and efficiency of gamification methods to improve educational processes, but in these researches, the characteristics of each audience and its effect on their behavior were not investigated. In this research, we attempt to study individual characteristics such as their gender and education background on their effectiveness rate from gamification. Methods: For this study, we designed an educational system based on gamification approach named as “Elenow” and gave it to the students (N=41) who were studying “Technical writing and presentation method” course. Elenow is a web-based system which is accessible on users’ mobile. In addition to the data collected by Elenow system, a questionnaire was given to the audiences and asked them about the effectiveness of gamification process implemented by the Elenow system. Also, the information about the students’ educational background was extracted from the university educational systems. Findings:The most important findings of this research revealed that the individual characteristics of audiences are significant factors on their effectiveness from gamification. Therefore, we can’t consider a single approach for all individuals participating in a gamified activity. Conclusion: The most important results of this research are: as the audience of educational systems has different individual characteristics, such as gender, the effectiveness of each element of the designed gamification is different for them. Also, their level of interest and satisfaction with the elements of gamification, such as; signs, points, etc. are not the same; therefore, in designing gamified mechanisms for educational purposes, a single version cannot be considered for all audiences. For this reason, it is important to consider these features in gamified designs. In particular, some symptoms motivate female students and others motivate male students. While women get better feedback than homework-related symptoms, men are more interested in receiving skill-related symptoms.
Educational computer games
Z. Batooli; F. Fahimnia; N. Naghshineh; F. Mirhosseini
Abstract
Background and Objective:Despite the advent of new technologies and the consequent change in lifestyle in recent decades, education systems have retained their traditional way of teaching and have not adapted to the characteristics of the digital generation. At the same time, the characteristics of digital ...
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Background and Objective:Despite the advent of new technologies and the consequent change in lifestyle in recent decades, education systems have retained their traditional way of teaching and have not adapted to the characteristics of the digital generation. At the same time, the characteristics of digital people have also influenced their teaching-learning methods. One of the latest developments in the field of new technologies is the revitalization of educational environments. Despite the emergence and advancement of new technologies and, consequently, the change in lifestyle in recent decades, education systems have maintained the same traditional method of education and have not changed according to the characteristics of the digital generation. Meanwhile, digital generation features have been effective on their learning-teaching methods. One of the most important and recent developments in the field of modern technologies is gamified learning environments. The purpose of this study was to review the studies in the field of ‘Gamification in e-Learning’ and to provide the content analysis of this field and its effectiveness in education. Materials: After searching the databases with related keywords and based on input criteria, 60 relevant articles were selected in this study. The selected articles were analyzed in terms of the game elements, gamified e-learning courses and the purpose of the articles. The effectiveness of the gamification on participation, learning, motivation, anxiety, peer assessment, collaboration, website optimization, cost reduction and faculty load were among the subject areas of these articles. The programming languages and English language were the most gamified educational courses. The game element point, leaderboard, badge, levels, challenge and feedback were used more than other elements. Findings: The results indicated the effectiveness of gamified e-learning environments to increase learning, engagement and motivation of learners. Conclusion: The present study tries to have a comprehensive review of studies in the field of gamification in e-learning, although it was accompanied by limitations such as not reviewing articles in non-English languages and not reviewing studies published in a format other than journal and conference articles. Undoubtedly, in order to succeed in projects related to gamification in e-learning, looking at its different dimensions and planning in those areas will be very fruitful, and research such as the present study can provide a comprehensive view for designing long-term gamified e-learning environments. The subjects obtained from the analysis of the field studies of gamification in e-learning can be done in Iran, although additional and more detailed research with various methods will help to enrich it.
