Abstract:

Distance learning during the global pandemic brought new challenges in the field of forms and methods of education. Digital game based-learning (DGBL) is also coming to the fore, which as an educational strategy is gaining more and more support and recognition among global researchers, pedagogues and parents. With the survey we carried out at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia), we tried to find out the opinions of students on the application of the DGBL strategy during their studies at university. We were interested in what students think about the application of the DGBL strategy in educational process and whether they are interested in learning how to create simple educational games. Since they are students of teacher-oriented programs, gaining the ability to create simple educational games without knowledge of programming languages will allow them to be independent from commercially available educational games during planning of educational process. These are often unaffordable for teachers, and they also do not cover all educational content thematically and objectively. 137 students of teacher-oriented programs participated in the survey using a questionnaire with 30 items based on a 5-point Likert scale with verbal anchors of 5 (Strongly Agree), 4 (Agree), 3 (Neither Agree nor Disagree), 2 (Disagree), and 1 (Strongly Disagree). The conducted survey forms the basis of a quantitative-qualitative study aimed at searching of possibilities of applying the DGBL strategy in the future teachers preparation from the point of view of their preparation for the profession. The main goal of the contribution is to present the findings of the conducted survey and to show other possibilities that the issue offers for pedagogical praxis at universities with teaching specialization. This contribution is a part of realization of the project „Creation of a web portal for methodological support of foreign language teaching in primary education“ (KEGA 011UMB-4/2022) supported by the Cultural and Educational Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, science, research and sport of the Slovak Republic.

Keywords:

Digital game-based learning, university education, digital educational game, opinions of students, questionnaire, distance learning.