Abstract:

Gamification can be defined simply as the use of game elements in non-game contexts. Although it has been used in education for many years with basic practices, the gamification of learning environments has become much more common lately. While research shows the positive impact of gamification on the teaching and learning process, it also highlights that teachers need professional development opportunities to keep up to date and integrate new technologies and methods into their teaching. In this sense, it could be indicated that there is a need for teachers to be trained in gamification. From this point of view, an open online course for teachers about gamification has been developed within the “GATE: On the Way to Gamify Your Teaching” Erasmus+ Project (2020-1-BE02-KA201-074681) funded by the European Union. Three universities from different countries, Hacettepe University, Valencian International University, and UC Leuven-Limburg University, worked collaboratively and brought their expertise to this output of the project.

Professional development studies show that teachers are more likely to apply the teaching methods they have experienced in their classrooms. With this in mind, the course on gamification was developed in a gamified way.

This study presents the online course on the topics of:
(1) What is Gamification?
(2) What is not Gamification?
(3) Gamification and ICT
(4) Gamification for learning
(5) Game mechanics for education
(6) Different learning environments for gamification
(7) Gamification design for learning situations
(8) Gamification tools
(9) Web-based gamification application: GATE
(10) Gamified assessment
(11) Feedback in the context of gamification
(12) Critical look on gamification. The course is delivered via the open gamification tool called GATE, which is developed within the same project.

Badges, avatars that could be customized, the map that represents the learning journey, and content unlocking by replying to questions following videos form the main structure of the course.

Within this study the course will be presented in detail by following the gamification design steps as:
(1) listing the main and sub-goals of gamification,
(2) defining challenges by combining game mechanics and these goals,
(3) determining clear, small, and challenging learning tasks,
(4) matching the game elements and learning tasks,
(5) making the progress visible,
(7) providing different individual paths to follow,
(8) giving feedback and opportunity to improve. Each step will be explained and exemplified regarding the developed course.

Acknowledgement:
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Keywords:

Gamification, teacher training, gamified course.