The inclusion of gamification to a subject such as Art History could potentially lead to more learner engagement with the content. Generally, in the context of Graphic Design teaching, Art History is seen as the boring subject, due to its content-heavy workload. Student engagement with the learning content has always been problematic, even more so within the advent of the virtual classroom. Introducing Gamification could potentially motivate students to actively engage with the content.
Gaming elements such as those highlighted in the previous answer would hopefully motivate students to actively pursue the learning content instead of just being passive recipients. This type of active engagement would hopefully engrain the knowledge they have acquired because they had a reason to want to learn it. In the case of my lesson plan that would be an appreciation of Afrofuturism as an Art Movement.
In building upon the examples I laid out in my previous answer, the unlockable rewards or purchasable items could be related to the subject matter at hand. As mentioned Art History has an embedded narrative and this story could be used to unveil or inform the overall look and feel of the elements available for the students at that time. Such as customisable clothes for their Avatars that specifically relate to Afrofuturism in my example lesson plan. This would then also speak towards the Key development areas of Developing an appreciation of contemporary African aesthetics and the role it plays in decolonisation.
In the end, games are fun, and they make not only the learning content fun but the learning experience as well. There is always that thin line that needs to be considered, whether the students are in it for the learning or for the gaming.
The task in my previous lesson plan that I would impliment gamifying would be the Pre-class forum discussion about the relevance of Euro-centric art history to the African context. My reasoning for this is that during this activity there is no actual learning of new content taking place or a revision of any content. The activity serves as a means of gauging the learners pre-knowledge in the form of a discussion forum. Gaming elements can often have an element of achievement attached to them which implies a form of judgment regarding the success or failure of that particular activity. Seeing as the discussion forum asks the students to provide their own opinion, an action that is already subject to personal emotions and positioning the student in a potentially vulnerable position, I would not want them to feel judged for their responses. This would lead to even less engagement and be counterproductive.
On the other hand gamification can be a good motivational device used in a particular learning engagement. From my lesson plan, the activity of the Interactive images highlighting some of the examples presented in the video, providing more specific contextual and semiotic information will be more aptly suited to gamify. Seeing as art movements have an embedded narrative in the learning content, this narrative could be used to craft a story or scenario. These scenarios would then be crafted in a way where students would require to do research surrounding the particular movement and its characteristics to progress. In other words, their progression is dependent on their mastery of the content. Think of a virtual "escape room" scenario as an example. Students would be faced with riddles or puzzles which would require knowledge of the movement to solve and unlock a door in order to progress. This also provide immediate feedback. This could hopefully motivate the students to engage with the research part of the learning content, effectively giving them a reason to research beyond the sake of doing research for itself.
These puzzles and tasks can be completed either individually or in groups creating a more social learning environment. Furthermore, there would be no failure (hopefully) in such a task. Unless a time limit is provided, the learners may take as long as needed in order to figure out the puzzles. So upon completion of the "escape room" (no matter the time it took) there is still a sense of achievement and mastery. This would hopefully build on further motivation to engage.
As a means of gamifying the entire learning experience, into which such activities could feed, would be the implementation of a reward system in terms of expendable experience points or currency (fake of course). In my own gaming experience, I have learned that customisation and showcasing individuality is a big driving force. Therefore, these currencies obtained for task completion can be used by learners to "buy" customisations of their choice to outfit their Avatars or to create custom banners that would showcase their achievements in a manner that they choose.
In essence, these gamifying elements would hopefully foster more motivation in the learners and result in more engagement with the learning content.
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