RCC Postdoc Seminar: Gamification in the digital classroom: insights from adult learners’ survey-based responses

COVID-19 has undoubtedly impacted most aspects at the kernel of both teaching and learning contexts. Professionals in the field of education have rapidly adjusted to the need to transfer their teaching practices to online environments, the outcome of which is certainly uncharted and yet to be explored. By applying game-design elements and principles to the teaching contexts, many teaching professionals are incorporating gamification in their teaching dynamics to foster student-centred environments and promote strategies rooted in flipped-learning approaches. Broadly speaking, gamification has been traditionally associated with primary and secondary levels of education. However, its efficiency among adult learners in post-secondary stages has received less attention to date.  

In this interactive seminar on innovative teaching, I will be sharing survey-based responses examining how adult learners of English understand gamification in a digital classroom. To this end, I delve into both quantitative and qualitative explorations of the data in order to grasp a better understanding of adult learners’ attitudes towards gamification in the digital classroom. For instance, do adult learners think that gamifying elements adds to their learning process? Which aspects do they like the most and which do they like the least, and which are the reasons for this?

This talk is part of the Postdoc Seminar in Innovative Teaching, which seeks to explore strategies, techniques and approaches to innovate in higher education contexts. Namely organised by addressed to predoc and postdoc RCC fellows at Harvard, this seminar intents to boost the exchange of ideas among young scholars with an interest in innovative teaching and learning.

Register for this event. Zoom link will be provided before the time of the event to all registered participants.

Speaker: Alfonso Sánchez-Moya, RCC Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Government (FAS)

Sponsor: RCC