AOLE Blogs

Oxford Analytica states that “games are a universal part of the human experience”(2016, p.4). On the other hand, Miller (2013, p.196) states that “humans of all ages and cultures like playing games. We have always played games and likely always will.” What makes games so attractive to humans ? They are exciting, thrilling, competitive, engaging and much more, many attributes that are very attractive to humans. McGonigal, J. (2011) describes game players sentiments that they are “fully alive”,” engaged”, “have a sense of purpose”, “perform at maximum potential”, and “feel most creative” when playing – something that they are unable to experience in their jobs. With the use of this positive reaction, gamification can be used as a process to harness these feelings and channel them into making the learning process much more interesting. It is important at this stage to distinguish between gamification, game based learning (“GBL”) and educational games. Gamificati...

Digital technology has had a major impact on almost every aspect of life today including a change in educational practice. It has greatly expanded access to educational opportunities in ways we could never imagine before. A school classroom does not look very different to how it did decades ago although instead of just using books, students and teachers will be seen using laptops, tablets, smart boards etc. Considering that we find most of our reliable sources from books, the internet access has opened a next level magnitude to massive amounts of information online and has enabled new ways of learning, communicating and working collaboratively. Many people have asked the question if technology would ever replace the role of a teacher and many have answered saying no and that educational technologies are currently aiding teachers in their work, not completely taking over them. They are seen as tools not replacements. The bearing of technology on the role of the...