UnplugGamify : A Didactic Material to Support Student-Centered Unplugged Gamification

Abstract

Currently, an essential challenge in education in Brazil is to promote quality education that reaches all schools in the country, even those with limited technological educational resources. With this work, we have made a contribution to the field of gamified education by creating a comprehensive didactic booklet that has been translated into Brazilian Portuguese, English, and Spanish, thereby facilitating educators to gamify their classrooms in an unplugged and personalized way. We have introduced an innovative approach to designing unplugged gamified classes, aiming to provide engaging and enjoyable learning for students. This instructional material is based on a framework of five distinct gamification designs, offering teachers a versatile toolkit to gamify their classes, even if they never had any experiences with gamification. Our resources not only serve as valuable aids but also function as guides for teachers, empowering them to gamify their classes in a manner that is both student-centric and adaptable to different contexts, an essential characteristic with the possible variations of the students and places. This booklet is the result of an intensive training course provided to 15 Brazilian teachers, even in a short period of time, training them with essential knowledge and skills. These educators gained proficiency in several key areas, including i) understanding the fundamental concept of gamification and your more common definition, profiling their students and recognizing the pivotal role this plays in designing effective gamified learning experiences for the evolution of them, ii) familiarization with the various gamification elements and their organization into the five distinct designs, and iii) crafting context-free lessons that align with each of these innovative gamification designs. In an evolving educational landscape, our work stands as a beacon, enabling educators to harness the power of gamification and create dynamic, interactive learning environments for their students. This initiative has the potential to improve the quality of education and awaken in students a curiosity that transcends traditional borders. Such a transformation in the educational landscape could have far-reaching effects, ultimately contributing to the cultivation of an innovative, engaged, and motivated future generation, which will drive progress and innovation in various contexts.