Gamification in Teacher Education: Teacher Educators and Trainee Teachers' Perspectives in India

Introduction

Gamification is an innovative pedagogical strategy with researchers working on its application all across the world. Students playing computer games conceptualized this approach. Researchers saw the potential of gaming in learning (Ishak et. al., 2023). It first showed its application among engineering and business management courses, although gradually, a proper framework invaded the educational space (Bhatia et. al., 2023). Gamification is a widely used pedagogical strategy for various educational programmes (Begosso, 2018) for enhanced learner engagement.

Studies pertaining gamification in school education have their focus towards 21^st century. Digital games have achieved increased motivation and learner engagement in the last decade. Recent research studies showed ‘Game’ as a method for educational delivery (Sailer & Homner, 2020). Gamification is an effective way to increase motivation of students towards learning and it has led to better academic achievement (Zainuddin et. al., 2020). Thus, the theories and application of this innovative learning strategy are slowly coming into use (Xi & Hamari, 2019). 21st century education emphasises teamwork, group discussion, technology enabled learning, problem solving, task immersion with reward cycles, and gamification in teaching and learning (Md. Khambari, 2019).Studies have found that gamified tools lead to more student interaction with the exercises and assessments(Ramirez et al.,2023). Around 11.30% of teachers in the higher education sector use gamification on a regular basis in class whereas others want to know more and possess a positive perception about this. Studies reveal that gamification is more prominent as a pedagogical strategy in private universities than public universities (Martí-Parreño et al., 2016). Learning by doing, a Dewey’s notion, supports this and thus learning management tools like gamification for learning management systems (GLMS) help to create gamified innovation (Handayani et al., 2021). Researchers study various types of game design structures like rewards, leader-boards, levels or stage, progress-bars, storyline, and feedback-designs in order to discover an innovative learning practice through fun (Bitrián et. al., 2021). The fun learning with 99% participation of learners with a fulfilled learning objective thus shows that teachers should be trained about gamification or game-education (Siemon & Eckardt, 2017). Application of gamification in learning noted a statistically positive significance. Moreover, the level of educational interest, creativity and motivation boosted (Dehghanzadeh et. al., 2021). Additionally, student achievement is higher in this type of application (Yildirim, 2017). Empirical researches prove that gamification is not limited to engineering curriculum but in a lot more disciplines (Mangla et. al., 2022).

Different types of free, open, and virtual platforms show a significant positive and encouraging atmosphere (Alahmari et. al., 2023). Gamified uses of science education have a noteworthy effect on students as per research (Hursen & Bas, 2019).Students generally like the integration of game elements in their daily lessons that provides multidimensional framework enhancing more student engagement and motivation(Zourmpakis et al.,2023).Ease of learning, motivation, interactivity and interest are some of the necessary variables of gamification. Unfortunately, they are not accessible due to lack of resources, teacher’s consciousness and student proneness (Sánchez-Mena & Martí-Parreño, 2017). Moodle platforms with contents containing multimedia games show the level of increased motivation in students (Kaya & Ercag, 2023). The high learning effect as a result of gamification is therefore a bright sunshine for STEM programmes (Ortiz‐Rojas et al., 2019).