How Educational Games Motivate Learners -
When it comes to learning using games, it can be a great method to aid students in understanding complex concepts and encourage them to master challenging subject areas. By adding in a sense of achievement or competitiveness students will feel compelled to achieve milestones in order to reap their reward.
Gamification is an extremely popular tool in the field of education. Gamification, which is using game elements, even when they are not game-related aids in engaging people who are engaged in routine activities. Since the early 2000s the trend towards gamification has exploded, becoming an integral part of the strategy.
Let's explore how educational games will boost motivation, and also how to add those features to the WordPress course.
The importance of games for education
The short version is that a great game hits that sweet point between impossible and boring.
Gamification Solutions
Accomplishments
17 supported achievement triggers around WordPress and are able to award users of your site. Registration, login, clicking an article, or adding comments all can result in the creation of a badge. It's a fantastic opportunity to transfer knowledge out from the classroom and onto different areas on your website to provide a more immersive learning experience.
Do you want to know how? Watch our webinar replay to see Achievements in action: Achievements & Gamification using and WordPress
GamiPress
GamiPress can award learners with a variety of points, awards as well as badges, ranks and points for their contributions. Points can be awarded for participating in the lessons and for the completion of tasks. Achievements may be awarded for satisfying a set of requirements, for example, posting in a forum for getting a pass on a test. Ranks let learners climb in status, such as scoring high on games of learning, to earn elite badges.
A few additional features include:
- Customize how you use the points, achievements and ranks
- To add or subtract points an individual's account without micro-managing
- The features can be locked or hidden if they meet certain criteria.
- Include time limiters to give the sense of being under pressure to complete a challenge before the next lesson
Simple , but effective GamiPress has a wealth of gaming features that have the potential for engaging students. Installation is simple too and is a simple process for installing the plugin.
myCred
myCred can help students earn points as well as badges. Custom badges can be awarded to students based on the needs and goals of your course. Points may be given or removed from groups to help drive competition toward completion.
myCred features an intuitive menu that is easy to navigate and has a simple layout of the badge pages, as well as options for social media sharing of badges that you have earned. It also has " treasure" options with appealing graphics for the various ranks and badges. MyCred can be integrated anywhere you want to add some gamification to your courses. It is free and comes with assistance and one year of upgrades.
Enhance Learning by Gamification through Gaming and
The applications for gaming in online education are almost endless. They will increase as more tools are made available to a greater range of instructors.
Are you interested in learning how to incorporate educational games into your next course? Play around in our Demo and build a course using Achievements to discover the possibilities this tool can provide for you.