Education is a treasure that has been misrepresented for a long time. The manner in which it has been packaged and delivered to the student has been too formal; like a life and death situation. Read or fail in life! There has also been a serious misconception that education is only found in the classroom and lecture halls.
This has approach has however not stood the test of time; experts and laymen alike have come to appreciate the more effective holistic approach to education. Many curricula are now not just class oriented but also emphasize on general education, sports, arts and the like. Technology has also been incorporated into many learning methods and has proved revolutionary to the learning process. Be its applications on mobile phones, computer software, e-learning, the benefits are numerous.
Then came game-based learning
It is from this elaborate background that the concept of game-based learning was born. It is a concept that creatively incorporates real academics into various game settings or environments. The game could be physical or digital meaning on a computer or mobile device.
The whole concept aims at getting maximum attention of the learner by incorporating something that the subject will naturally find interesting and captivating. It“s like opening a door to let someone in. The game opens the door to let in the educative material.
There are three basic elements that demonstrate the functionality of game-based learning:
- Competition
It is the first element and is used to ”˜set the pace“. Everybody loves some competition and people tend to put their best foot forward when exposed to a competitive environment. So the subject here is ready to do what it takes to win the game.
- Engagement
You will have to engage your mind to think of tricks and ways of navigating the various tasks in the game in order to win. Each game is tailored for specific disciplines and as you engage yourself to finish a particular task you will knowingly or otherwise pick up doses of information delivered precisely not to upset the balance between the game and learning aspect. It is not supposed to feel like you just walked out of a classroom after the game. You are supposed to look and feel as relaxed as you were when you started the game. The catch is to win or even finish the game you will have to complete certain tasks which you cannot without encountering the educate components of the game.
- Reward system
It will be incomplete if there were no rewards offered to keep the player coming back to finish another level. The reward is like a certificate to confirm the completion of a particular level. It will mean that you grasped the intended content without which you would not have completed the level.Â
It goes without much saying that indeed this is an ideal model to disseminate academic content to students. It makes learning more interesting and offers a very easy and fun way of delivering this information. There are games to attract and capture the attention of different age groups so the model can be used across the board.
Eli Taylor is the community and content manager at computerplanet.co.uk who design and build custom gaming PC“s, CAD workstations and desktop computers. Eli is a keen gamer and can be found on twitch when not working.
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