Greetings to the followers of my blog!✋😁 Today's post will be focusing on my personal experience as a teacher with using AI-powered gamification tools.
I would like to start mentioning that digital tools in education are truly innovative in the way that they provide collaboration, even in remote educational settings. We are able to view individual practices during the lessons as social ones (Williams, Abraham and Bostelmann, 2014). Moreover, among digital tools present in modern world, AI tools with gamification elements seem to be changing the education's landscape. Artifical intelligence is viewed as a reformer as well as the facilitator of language learning (Alam, 2021). Therefore, let's explore some AI tools that changed student engagement in my classroom completely.
First tool that did wonders to the student engagement in my classroom was Memrise app. To be honest, I did not intend to use it in my practice on a daily basis since I had a belief that it was a great application to practice self-study rather than integrate it into teaching-learning process. However, as I started using Memrise from time to time with my students, I began noticing that it provided great learner autonomy. For instance, the students would learn new vocabulary during the class and then revise it with the help of Memrise's repetition exercises. The platform would provide valuable information on pronunciation of the words, which would make my students more confident in their speaking. In fact, a study by Aminatun and Oktaviani (2019) revealed that English language learners who use Memrise daily had anonymous learning skills and increased student motivation. Particularly student motivation was reinforced with the help of gamification elements like reward system and challenges the app provides (see full list of gamification instruments in Pic. 1).
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| Pic 1 |
Another helpful AI-powered gamification tool that I used to integrate in my classroom was Classcraft. This is a gamification tool with which the students choose a character for themselves, complete assignments and earn points that can be used for different purposes afterwards. For instance, the teacher may allow using these reward points when being late to the class or missing and assignment deadline. Particularly, Classcraft has role-playing game (RPG) elements that was very suitable for my teen students aged 14-16 since this is the age when the learners are into video games and want to complete some challenges with games rather than do any exercises on paper (Sanchez, Young and Jouneau-Sion, 2016). I believe this AI-powered tool had the most influence on increasing student engagement in my classes, considering that the students really seemed to be experiencing adventure and enjoying the process with its help. For the teachers, this tool is useful in lots of ways:
- Assignments and tutorials can be easily organized through interactive forums;
- Students can earn points directly on the forums when they answer questions and help each other;
- Performance analytics allows students' parents to receive complete information about their children's progress.
- Contains AI component that personalizes learning for each student.
References
Alam, A. (2021). Possibilities and Apprehensions in the Landscape of Artificial Intelligence in Education. IEEE Xplore. Available from https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCICA52458.2021.9697272.
Aminatun, D. and Oktaviani, L., (2019). Memrise: Promoting students’ autonomous learning skill through language learning application. Metathesis: Journal of English Language, Literature, and Teaching, 3(2), pp.214-223.
Williams,
L., Abraham, L. and Bostelmann, E.D., (2014). A survey-driven study of the use
of digital tools for language learning and teaching. Digital
literacies in foreign and second language education, pp.29-67.
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