University Students’ Views on the Application of Gamification in Distance Education

Abstract

The COVID-19 affecting the whole world has also affected education. Education has changed from face-to-face education to distance education. In distance education, it is the most basic duty of teachers to increase students’ participation in the lesson, motivate their learning and increase their motivation. Gamification, which is one of the new learning approaches that has come to the fore in the education process, can be used for active learning activities in this model. This study was aimed to determine university students’ views on gamified education. In this context, gamification activities were used in the teaching process. In this study, the qualitative research method was used. The study group of the research consists of 30 second-grade students studying at North Cyprus and some Russian Universities, in the Faculty of Education, Department of Preschool Education. The application was carried out within the scope of the computer I course in the 2020–2021 fall semester. The interview form developed by the researchers was used as a data collection tool within the scope of the research. In preparing the interview questions, the final form of the questions was given by taking the opinions of four experts. Content analysis was used in the study of the data. The findings obtained as a result of the research are given in detail in the findings and results section.