Elements Of Gamification & How to Use it in Education Mobile App Development

Education has been and will always be crucial for the growth of an individual and the world as a whole. So when the world is going towards digitization and there is so much of advancement in technology, how can education be left behind?

Over the past few decades, the methods of education have transformed enormously and changes will keep on taking place. So it is essential to update the teaching method as the world changes and educational mobile app development is one way of doing so. 

Mobile phones, laptops, gaming, and social media are some of the things that have been occupying the minds of the learners for a long time now and will continue to do so in the future as well. And all of this becomes more interesting for the learner if gamification takes place.

Let’s deep dive into the concept of gamification and its benefits of the education mobile apps.

What is Gamification?

Gamification is a way to encourage and increase involvement in something particular that already exists through integrating game mechanics into it. Now if we talk about mobile phone users, the larger portion will agree that they spend most of their time on their mobile phones playing their favorite games.

So, it is evident that games are where the interest lies and thus it would be a great platform to teach them. 

• Gamification elements make the learning procedure more captivating and enjoyable. 
• Gamification adapts the data-driven techniques which are used by the game designers to engage players and then applies them to non-game models such as the use of these techniques in Educational mobile app development. 

Few of the free gamification apps for education include TEDEd, Khan Academy, Udemy, and Coursera. 

What is Gamification in Education?

Now, you may think that gamification means developing games for educational purposes, but it is not just that. It also means to make education and the process of it interesting by making use of the various motivational techniques that make games so engaging.

When these techniques are involved, and education is gamified, students become keen to learn more and more. In fact, there are real-world examples such as Blooket, Kahoot, Socrative, etc.. Not only the gamification techniques separately but a combination of them can also be used which further can be of different types. 

The reason why gamification works is that it leverages the motivation and desires in learners that already exists in all of us. This is why it is able to provide so much output.

Different types of gamification techniques lead to custom mobile application development that provides a variety of digital learning experiences to students of all ages. Researchers and educators have found that although gamification is still in its early stage, it stimulates productivity and creativity among learners. It is one of the best benefits of gamifying education through mobile apps and e-learning web portals. 
 
From various elements of gamification in education described in the next section, you will see how students find playing games and winning different rewards quite absorbing and how it helps in increasing their knowledge and educating them.

Elements Of Gamification

According to researches and studies, there are over 2.6 million android apps and 2.2 million ios apps and a total of 194 billion apps were downloaded in the previous year 2018. So this data shows that the competition is way too fierce.

The other most important thing is that the users may download a large number of apps on their mobile phones but only after 3 months use barely any app survives. This shows that a large number of downloads is not enough, the users must also use those apps. Only then it would be productive and beneficial. This is where the functions and elements of an app come into play.

Hence to get productive and sustainable apps in the market it is necessary that the mobile app developers understand the key functions and elements of the respective app. This is also true for educational mobile app development. 

The main functions of an educational mobile app whether it is Android or iPhone application development can be:

• To create:

    1. Fun and enjoyment
    2. Activity
    3. Competences, improve the learning process
    4. Relation among the users
    5. Engagement
    6. Motivation

• Be meaningful
• Be goal-oriented

Such functions can be involved only through custom mobile application development. Now let’s take a look at the elements of educational mobile apps:

• Different levels of function and competition
• Scoring systems/ Virtual currencies
• Customized avatars 
• A number of controls
• Community(through chat)
• Longevity (appealing and interesting for a longer period of time)
• Rewards and badges(so that users feel value to their actions and knowledge
• Choice(meaningful choice)
• Progression
• Quests and problem-solving elements 

Significance of E-Learning Web Portal

E-learning is a great way to impart education. E-learning web portals create a virtual environment to learn and gain knowledge. It focuses on a continuous and steady pace of learning instead of a training session of a few hours and then no link. Such things allow learners to learn at their pace yet at a faster rate.

People refer to e-learning web portals differently and here are a few examples:

• E-learning centers
• Internal portals
• Online education centers
• Virtual universities
• Corporate universities

Such platforms provide an online learning platform to users where they can use different types of tools to access, navigate, aggregate different learning objects from a number of courses and websites, etc.

Conclusion

The founder of gamification platform “Badgeville” Kris Duggan said in an interview:

"Gamification is not a project...it's a program that gets invested in for the long-term. Those who understand that see the most impactful and meaningful results.”

We live in a world that connects wirelessly, a generation that consists of gamers mainly. So to keep them engaged in education, in their learning process, it is important that the education system adapts to their lifestyle.

There are a lot of young iPhone users, if we provide them education through hybrid application development, they will love to learn. Imparting education through small wins and challenges along the ride of learning will keep them motivated. Gamification in education is the reality of today’s world to some extent and definitely of the future.

By Manish

Sr. Content Strategist

Meet Manish Chandra Srivastava, the Strategic Content Architect & Marketing Guru who turns brands into legends. Armed with a Masters in Mass Communication (2015-17), Manish has dazzled giants like Collegedunia, Embibe, and Archies. His work is spotlighted on Hackernoon, Gamasutra, and Elearning Industry.

Beyond the writer’s block, Manish is often found distracted by movies, video games, AI, and other such nerdy stuff. But the point remains, If you need your brand to shine, Manish is who you need.