Exploring the use of social gamification during and after emergency remote teaching caused by covid-19

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the world population in several ways. Schools had to modify their teaching methods, reinventing pedagogical practices and actions to students to continue learning in a new teaching and learning routine. In particular, gameful approaches (e.g., games, gamification, and simulators) were alternatives used to improve the quality of emergency remote teaching. However, the need to use these approaches on an emergency basis meant that institutions could not plan the application or analyze the impacts of these technologies. To fill this gap, we performed a qualitative study, in which four students and a teacher participated. Using thematic analysis, we explored their perception regarding the use of social gamification in emergency remote teaching compared to regular face-to-face teaching. The results indicate that some different gamification elements drew the attention of students during remote and face-to-face teaching. However, no differences were identified between the different teaching modalities. Our study contributes to the fields of educational technologies and gamification through insights into the application of social gamification in education. Index Terms—gamified education, social gamification, emergency remote teaching, covid-19, thematic analysis