| Abstract: | We live in a time of continuous and exponentially rapid technological development. With that, we are constantly looking for new ways to use this technology as efficiently as possible. More and more data and processes are being converted into digital form and transported into a virtual environment. The process of digitalization has become popular and relevant in many different fields, which also includes the field of education, in the form of online education. In addition to the growing emphasis on the digitalization of processes, the trend of gamification has also started gaining popularity in recent years, which is only becoming more and more relevant with time. Among other fields, gamification started to become more prevalent in online education as well, the importance of which we researched in our thesis.
We started our thesis by researching the concept of gamification. We reviewed various definitions from different authors, as well as researched the origin of the gamification concept. Having the basic understanding, we delved deeper into individual elements, mechanisms and dynamics of gamification. We defined the main purposes and advantages of gamification, as well as pointed out related criticisms and problems with it. After that we started researching the field of online education. Defining the term and looking at its development through time, was followed by learning about different forms of online education and the multi-stage development process of online educational programs. We also took a closer look at learning management systems. The next step was combining both previously explored areas, by analyzing gamification in an online educational environment. We found out the implementation process, as well as the importance of understanding different types of students, and their connection to certain gamification elements. After highlighting some advantages and disadvantages, we backed up the theoretical part of the thesis by analyzing an actual example, in the form of the Duolingo application.
In the practical part of the thesis, we used the acquired theoretical knowledge in a more practical example. We developed a plan to gamify the process of homework in an online educational environment. First, we determined the learning content and formed learning activities, as well as made some other necessary preparations. After that, we planned out the implementation of every individual gamification element, that would be included, and meaningfully connected them between each other. We made sure that the application would be personalized to each user and explained the teacher’s role in the process. At the end, we also prepared visualization material of the application. |
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