Gamification in education: threats or new opportunities

Abstract

This article discusses the expediency and efficiency of implementing gamification in education. This study is a meta-analysis of the modern experience of gamification application obtained from numerous international studies, practical cases, and reports of educational entities. The influence of gamification technologies on cognition and learning processes was proved by hardware neurobiological research of students’ brain activity during a game using electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance tomography, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy. On the basis of an analysis of gamification effects regarding efficiency improvement due to perceptive learning, the conclusions were obtained used in a generalized list of opportunities, problems, and threats of application of gamification elements in education. This study systematizes practical results presented by corporate cases and reference literature, which mention the necessity to use specialized online platforms or automated control systems for systematic implementation of gamification into education. The practical cases in the context of education considered the results of gamification application mainly as positive; however, at the same time, negative results were mentioned, which should be analyzed and which also should be included in the list of threats in this study.

Keywords

• gamification technologies
• education system
• neurobiology