SUSTAINING EDUCATION FOR THE YOUTH IN A GAMIFICATION-MEDIATED ONLINE ACTIVITIES ON THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT NETWORK SYSTEM
Sustaining students' interest and engagement in the new normal semester-long courses in distance learning settings is a substantial undertaking in Higher Education. Social media platforms feature richer, spatial affordances, web-based synchronous and asynchronous systems utilizing either desktop or laptop computers or mobile devices. An increasing number of platforms are also accessible using a headset or a head-mounted display which combines a set of affordances that open new opportunities of learning enhancement in virtual synchronous and asynchronous learning platforms. Gamification or gameful design is the application of game- based dynamics to an educational effort that accompaniments a new informational and functioning layer on top of an accessible activity or system that helps educators turn the said activity or system into a game. Gamified systems are devised to encourage repeatable activities and reward desirable behaviors. Playful design is the easiest way to incorporate the entertaining component of fun in a ’serious’, non-gaming context. In the context of formal education in classroom and distance learning settings, playful design can be employed with the intention to stimulate students’ positive reactions such as attention, curiosity, and inquisitiveness. This research undertaking generally aimed to evaluate the H5P application integrated into the existing learning environment network system (LENS) of the Cagayan State University which was recently introduced by the institution as one of the interactive ways on the online modular instruction activity. The consideration of this study is focused on the H5P gamification activities conducted in the learning environment network system, to explore what insights or perceptions do students have when H5P gamification is introduced in class activity, especially on student’s motivation, engagement, and performances in their GEC 109 course. This research undertaking utilized the convergent parallel mixed research design. The participants of the study were the 182 students taking the GEC 109 course in Understanding the Self. As the pandemic confronted the conduct of traditional classes, the different educational institutions have resorted on online modular instruction, students are expected to have low levels of awareness of an experience in online learning. The data gathering instrument that was used consisted of questions both requiring the student-respondents to provide the quantitative data and their note learning perceptions on the integration of H5P gamification application in their GEC 109 course. The results were treated and analyzed using frequency and percentages and thematic analysis using the procedures of Braun and Clarke (2006) to examine the data. In this study, the results indicate that gamification of class activities enhances student interest in the lesson and encourages them to become more attentive and participative in the completion of the different academic activities. Concurrently, integration of gamification approaches has a positive influence on student motivation to learn, accomplish the tasks required and looking forward to new and more interactive class activities. Gamified components drew students’ curiosity, enthusiasm, and self-direction towards academic engagement. While constructive consequences were exhibited in gamifying class activities, major drawbacks of the application were experienced by the respondents primarily on accessing the activity due to the kind of smart phones they own, their connectivity and speed of the internet and on the time element to accomplish their tasks. In view of the findings on the conduct of this study, the following are offered for possible future undertaking. That teachers should integrate more and varied gamification strategies in the conduct of their online modular class activities to attract further interactive students’ engagement; the Learning Management System, prepared for H5P gamification using Moodle’s plugins allows several gamification elements, though was limited only to Moodle’s plugins, thus other gamification elements should be explored; the study was carried out with gamification elements giving instructions, restrictions of activities based on certain criteria such as level, time and activity completion and presenting notifications to participants regarding the activities, the students’ academic achievement was not measured, thus future studies could also measure this type of undertaking.
Gamification, Online Activities, Learning Environment Network System, Students’ Engagement, H5P Elements, Affordances, Interactive Strategies, Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Design, Game-Based Strategy