The article title is Gamification in Classrooms: How it Boosts Engagement in Students. For many students, learning and studying always seem to be dull, repetitive, effortful and boring. Hence, students tend to procrastinate to avoid and delay studying. However, Gamification is transforming education by turning learning into an engaging and fun experience. In this post, we will explore how gamification works, the benefits and how it is being used in classrooms every day to make learning more effective and enjoyable.    What is Gamification in Education?  In simple terms, gamification or gamifying processes means adding game-like elements into your learning to encourage participation and engagement. In recent years, Gamification has made its way to classrooms, transforming tiring study sessions into goal-oriented and fun experiences for students. Let's explore the different ways gamification has been implemented in classrooms.    How is Gamification used in Classrooms?  1. Leaderboards - Friendly Competition  Every child enjoys a little friendly competition in the classroom now and then, especially when it's just for fun. Kahoot! is one of the platforms that teachers often use in classrooms to not only encourage students to participate but also test their knowledge in the process. Kahoot! has a leaderboard system that allows students to view their rankings after every question. The points are calculated based on the correctness and speed of their answers. The students are then ranked after every question.    By implementing tools like this, students are not only applying their knowledge in class but also learning enjoyably. This will result in a positive outlook on learning and remove any negative feelings about studying for the students.  2. Identifying Side Quests and Goals  Chapters, topics and subtopics can be easily renamed into missions, quests and side quests. It is the small tweaks we make in our learning environment that make a difference in studying. By viewing the chapters and topics as goals and mini quests, the environment already feels more lighthearted. Gamification does not have to be complicated; all it takes is viewing things differently and creating a small mindset shift to little things like these to make learning engaging and fun.    3. Progress Bars and Rewards  Most games use progress bars to measure the amount of effort and experience you have earned in the game before you can "level up". It essentially shows you how far along you are. Then, players get rewarded once they have attained a new level with coins, goods, items, etc.    Now, gamifying this would mean turning a 3-part series of practice questions into a progress bar. Once students have finished all 3 practice questions, they are ready to "level up" or move on to the next topic. Then, coupled with a reward system, teachers can incentivise students by offering a reward after completing the 3-part series of practice questions.  For example, teachers can set up a star reward system to award students. The stars can be exchanged for something else, whatever the teacher deems fit and appropriate.   By doing this, learning suddenly feels like a game, and everything a student does is recorded and tracked. Rewards are also given at appropriate times to encourage active participation. This helps to boost students' confidence and motivation in the long run as their efforts, big or small, are being recognised and they can see the growth and improvement they are making in their studies.    With a progress bar and a reward system, you would have successfully gamified your learning session. From completing side quests, to earning stars, then exchanging for items - it's a full package!    Benefits of Gamification  1. Improves productivity  Gamifying learning helps students to view studying less as a chore and more like a fun task to complete. This shifts students' mindset and perspective of studying - it would no longer be dull.  In addition, gamification is a goal-oriented learning approach. With a clear goal in mind, students leave out the guesswork to find their strengths and weaknesses in a subject. By implementing this game-like structure early in the semester, students would have a clear overview of their best and worst topics through their progress trackers. This eliminates the time spent trying to figure out one's weak topic to revise and work on and boosts productivity and clarity in the long run.    2. Improve attention span and focus  When there is a goal in mind for studying, it becomes intentional and fun. Students are far more likely to focus and complete their study when they are clear about their end goal and what they are looking to get out of the study session. By gamifying studying, it clearly outlines the goals students need to attain. For example, with the progress, goal and reward system, students will already have an idea of what their focus should be in their next study session. This leaves out a lot of uncertainty, which could lead to procrastination and unnecessary time wasted. A clear goal and progress tracker give students a straightforward answer to what their next focal point should be.    3. Cultivate goal-oriented individuals  As emphasised throughout this article, gamification is primarily built upon setting goals and attaining them for a period. By separating subject topics into main quests, side quests, etc, it highlights clear goals for the students.    For example, to complete the chapter on differentiation (the main quest), students need to first master the rules of differentiation, understanding limits and derivatives, to name a few (these are the side quests). Only by mastering or completing the side quests can the main quest be completed. By cultivating such thinking, students learn to set clear goals, state their success metrics and form logical game plans to tackle the main quest. All these help to build critical thinking and teach one to be effective at time management and resource planning.    In conclusion Simple changes can be made in the classrooms to gamify the overall learning experience for students. For instance, instead of calling it homework, teachers can simply call it their "quests" to complete. For mini tests, it would be a "mission". By implementing small changes in the learning environment, students can be motivated to study and learn on their own without the need for motivation. Gamification is all about changing the perspective and mindset towards learning. If we view every learning opportunity as a quest that students need to complete, studying could just become less pressurising for the students.    Over at Tutopiya, students can track their progress with our progress tracker. For every quiz or test they take, Tutopiya records and tracks their attempts and displays progress over a graph. Progress trackers are not only a great way to visualise the improvements that students have made, but they also highlight students' strengths and weaknesses in a subject. By recording these metrics, our tutors can make informed choices about students’ learning, such as knowing where their knowledge gaps are and how they can structure their learning plan to better suit the student.    Let Tutopiya take care of identifying your learning strengths and areas for growth!   Sign up and book a free trial today on our platform! Our progress trackers are also available for first-time users!