Umeå universitets logga

Purpose/goals: This presentation reports on a study exploring teachers’ readiness to design gamified teaching activities with the use of contemporary and emerging technologies in K-12 education in Sweden. More specifically, the aim was to explore and understand what opportunities and challenges teachers perceive and express by gamified teaching designs.

Method: The study was conducted between 2014 and 2018 and included four sub-studies where four groups of university students were given the task to design a gamified teaching activity for school students in combination with the use of digital technologies such as laptops, media tablets and smart glasses. The empirical material is based on observations during the school tests and interviews afterwards with the participating school teachers.

Theoretical framing: The theoretical framework is based on activity theory, where motives, goals, actions and operations are key starting points (Leontiev, 1986). Within activity theory, it is of importance to study the role that an artefact or a tool plays in everyday life (Nardi, 1996). Using Activity Theory as a theoretical framework helps to make sense of a context, and more specifically, the interplay between social relations, materials, tools, and expressed motives within the activity system (Nardi, 1996).

Conclusions: The findings illustrate two emerging themes concerning 1) fostering motivation and collaboration and 2) a pedagogical balance is needed to achieve deeper learning. The school students enjoyed the gamified activities a lot and this fostered their motivation for schoolwork and collaboration. The teachers described it as a catalyst for motivating and engaging school students in schoolwork while at the same time acquiring knowledge. However the challenges they perceive primarily concern time and knowledge about how to design for a pedagogical balance between fun elements in relation to elements that triggers the school students’ knowledge acquisition and learning processes.