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BRITISH EDUCATIONAL SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION (BESA)


Can gamification support personalised learning?


Comment by JULIE FISHER, Product Enablement Manager, 3P Learning


In today’s dynamic educational landscape, student engagement and personalised learning are paramount. So how can we continue to seek innovative approaches to enhance our students’ learning experience?


Some of the earliest uses of online gamification in a learning environment go back to the 1980s, when video and computer games started to become popular.


Gamification provides us with a way to create an immersive and interactive


learning environment for students, tapping into their intrinsic motivation and enjoyment. This leads to increased motivation, active participation and ultimately, improved learning outcomes. Professor Thomas W. Malone published a study, “Toward a Theory of Intrinsically Motivating Instruction”, proposing four principles that can enhance intrinsic motivation in educational settings — challenge, fantasy, curiosity and choice.


In a class of learners with mixed abilities, it’s also important for teachers to provide personalised learning experiences. Malone adds that an environment should be both responsive to the learners’ activities and helpful in letting them take a reflexive view of themselves.


Gamification can support personalised learning if there are personalisation elements embedded within the program. When considering a gamification option for your school, here are five key features to look out for:


1. Ability to assign individual or group work Are you able to assign work for your students by class, group, or individual within the program? Having this ability allows you to plan learning journeys based on each student, rather than as a whole class. This allows you to tailor tasks to individual needs and offer differentiated learning.


2. Empowers independent learning


Once students have finished their assigned work, are they able to explore other interactive quests or missions within the program? Having the autonomy to explore quests empowers them to challenge themselves, discover new knowledge and pursue their own unique learning path. 3. Having the freedom to express who they are Can students create a digital version of themselves in the program? When students are given a platform to express themselves freely, they’re more motivated to take ownership of their learning. Creating their own personal avatars also makes a great engagement booster and conversation starter among peers. 4. Know how each student is performing


To make informed decisions about our students’ progression, we need to have the right results and data. A good online learning program isn’t just about fun and games. It should also provide teachers with data to show how students are performing within the program. For example, what are their strengths and weaknesses, and where have they developed mastery? 5. A personalised learning path


Having a personalised space where students can see how far they’ve progressed promotes student-driven learning. Look out for skill trees or progression paths that visually map out your students’ achievement and growth.


Making learning personal through gamification doesn’t just boost engagement, it also shows students that the learning journey belongs to them. By assessing these features in an online program, you can identify those that truly provide meaningful, personalised learning experiences for students.


September 2023 EARLY YEARS What about the cost of


children’s wellbeing? This month, in our ongoing collaboration with Edge Hill University curated by ALICIA BLANCO-BAYO, Early Years Lecturer and WTEY Programme Leader at the University’s Faculty of Education, we’re delighted to hear from HANNAH LEE-HARGREAVES. Hannah has recently completed a PGCE Primary Early Years at Edge Hill University and has a particular interested in supporting children with emotional needs.


The aftermath of the Covid-19 lockdowns is still being felt through the academic and social, emotional needs of the children within education. The NHS official statistics show that the mental health crisis within our children is ‘remaining stable’ with 1 in 6 children across 2020,2021 and 2022.


As the bank of England’s interest rates continuing to rise - it currently stands at 4.5% almost echoing the heights of the 2008 recession, 5.75%, in a time of a cost-of-living crisis, it seems imperative to consider the effects the 2008 recession had on the emotional, social, and mental health needs of children growing up through it. Whilst in my research I have found little that directly explores the impact of the recession on children’s emotional wellbeing, many researchers state that economic stress and recession can significantly influence children’s emotional and mental wellbeing. If economic stress can do this to children, then it seems wise to consider strategies to help promote emotional and mental wellbeing. Not just to help support the 1 in 6 children who are already struggling but also to support and pre-empt the strain this ‘cost-of-living crisis’ will continue to cause.


There are hundreds of schemes and techniques that focus on supporting emotional wellbeing, such as ‘calm corners’, ‘zones of regulation’, the ROAR approach, therapy dogs/ pets, books such as ‘the colour monster’, mindfulness and yoga. Despite the schemes and techniques, a school-wide approach to promoting emotional wellbeing is incredibly important. As it can be sometimes tricky to maintain the relationship between a child’s home and school, consistency across a child’s world is paramount. During my time working with children, both as a trainee and before I began my PGCE programme, I have observed how practitioners can be confident and happy to support the children and their grown-ups with these needs. We must remember though that we need to see children as unique individuals, and so the methods to support and promote their emotional and mental health needs must be unique too. Whilst there are schemes that expect strict fidelity to achieve the desired and advertised benefits, the emphasis should remain on adapting the schemes, and techniques to the individual child, always with the intention to support the child with their individual emotional development in the most appropriate way.


If statistics show that it is probable that 1 in 6 children have a mental health problem, we need to be watching out for this. We are still facing the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and its lockdowns, and looking at the present situation in our country, a ‘cost-of-living crisis’, inflation and the Bank of England’s interest rates rising rapidly, it is now a priority to prepare for the impact this will have on the children’s emotional development. Whatever the scheme, let’s be properly there to support the emotional wellbeing of the children in our care.


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