Could Gaming Be Used For Educational Testing In The Future?
It would automatically seem the words education, tests, and video games do not belong in the same sentence. Traditionally education practitioners such as teachers have had to discourage the use of video games among students vehemently, as it easily distracts them from dedicating their time to finish their homework and learning. But in a new twist of events, now experts and educators want to introduce gaming into the classroom.
Studies seem to suggest that video games are actually beneficial to students. As it is said to promote many behaviors and skills that they would like to see in students. That is determination, persistence, curiosity and concentration among others. Educators want to see if they can be able to transfer these same set of skills kids develop while playing video games, to have them apply the same skill while in the classroom.
This practice is being referred to as education gaming. Where students get to see – almost in real-time – their results and learning progress in the same fashion, they see the progression bars fill up while playing video games. It could even be in the form of the avatar they have chosen to play, which is leveling up and gaining more privileges to acquiring a new set of costumes and accessories. This way, the students will not have to see their report cards at the end of the teaching months. All along they will be having a visual confirmation on just how well they are progressing in their classes.
Gaming has proven to be useful not just in teaching but also in testing. Whenever tests and exams are approaching, students tend to get very anxious and sometimes stressed up. These extreme emotional and psychological imbalances may hinder students from performing their best in the exams. ClassCompete wants to put a stop to that by changing how exams are conducted.
It has been found that when the students are examined in a gaming environment, they are more likely to bring out their best. As opposed to answering 50 questions within an hour, they could be given a three-level game to complete. The game will test their ability to gather the resources they need, complete the challenges, level up and overcome the obstacles within the allowed time using the skills they have been learning.
ClassCompete bases their argument on the belief that when students are placed in a real-time gaming environment, the stress and anxiety associated with sitting for an exam will disappear. Their scores will also improve and teachers will have a better picture of what exactly the students learned and what is their skill level within a particular subject.
You can read more about ClassCompete by following this link >>.