EDITORIAL | 5
EDITORIAL
Dr Louise Robinson | University of Derby
Programme Leader & Lecturer
L
oui s e be ga n he r a ca de m i c c a re e r at t h e U n i ve r si t y o f
D e r by i n 2012 a nd te a c h e s su b j e c t s p r i ma r i l y re l ate d
to M ol e cul a r Bi ol ogy i n c l u d i n g Wi l d l i fe Fo re n si c s a n d
P hyl oge ne t i cs . He r te a chi ng re sp o n si b i l i t i e s l i e t h ro u g h o u t
t he unde rgra duate progra mme s i n Fo re n si c S c i e n ce,
Bi ol ogy, a nd zool ogy a s we l l a s su p e r v i si n g p ro j e c t s o n t h e
re l ate d M Re s progra m m e s .
Lou ise be cam e a Fe llow of t h e H i g h e r Ed u c ati o n Ac a d e my
in 2 013 an d was inv ite d by t h e H E A to h o st a wo r ks h o p o n
G a mificat ion afte r pre se n t in g at th e H E A I n s p i re to s u cce e d :
Tran sformin g te ach in g an d l e a r n i n g i n STE M co n fe re n ce i n
2015 . Sh e is an advocate of g a m i f i c ati o n w i th i n H E te a c h i n g
and h as wit n e sse d t h e b e n e f i ts o f i n tro d u c i n g th e s e
me ch an ics in bot h classroom a n d l a b o rato r y s e tti n g s .
THE APPLICATION OF GAMES IN HIGHER
EDUCATION
“There is an
interesting
similarity
between games
and education
in the way a
‘player’ passes
through levels,
develops skills
and gains
achievements”.
Gamification, defined as the application of game design elements in nongame contexts (Deterding et al., 2011), is a relatively new venture within
higher education but its utility in multiple teaching environments makes
it an exciting new avenue for undergraduate teaching. The term ‘serious
games’ is applied when gaming is used for an educational purpose in
which the acquisition of knowledge is the prime reason for undertaking
the game (Michael & Chen, 2005).
There is an interesting similarity between games and education in the way
a ‘player’ passes through levels, develops skills, and gains achievements
as they progress. By simply altering the language used in the educational
process, it can be seen that some of the key concepts of games already
exist in different forms. For example, it has been said that all games
contain goals, rules, and feedback (McGonigal, 2011) and when reading
any module specification you will find it to contain learning objectives,
assessment, and feedback. Our learning objective outlines what needs
to be achieved (our goal) and the assessment sets out the boundaries
in which it can be accomplished (the rules). On the path to realising
this goal there will be formative feedback for the player/learner to
observe their progress (in-game feedback) and summative assessment