Game Changer

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused such an unprecedented disturbance to the world, particularly on the economy, and caused significant disruption to the education ecosystem. It has affected school organizations and forced school leaders to adopt alternative ways of learning. The transition to online education posed many challenges in engaging students to participate actively, and one of the solutions is for teachers to create better digital lessons using gamification elements. But despite the prevalence of technology, educators lack the knowledge and skills to captivate students' interest to participate actively in online learning. At present, there is a dearth of studies on the application of gamification to teachers' online lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators must capitalize on new engaging technological trends as a form of techno-structural OD intervention to complement their pedagogies, teaching processes and encourage students' online participation. This concept paper highlights the benefits of applying gamification to education, particularly on how teachers can utilize game elements in creating, managing, and updating digitalized lessons to motivate students amidst the pandemic. The paper also explores fostering a healthy culture for students' heightened level of motivation, increased acquisition of knowledge, and learning new skills. It encourages schools to adopt the appropriate type of gamification and suggests future researchers on the various types and elements of gamification that can be adapted by selected schools.