=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3057/paper20.pdf
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|title=Application of Game Technologies in Distance Learning Students: Advantages and Experience
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3057/paper20.pdf
|volume=Vol-3057
|authors=Marina V. Noskova
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==Application of Game Technologies in Distance Learning Students: Advantages and Experience==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3057/paper20.pdf
Application of Game Technologies in Distance Learning
Students: Advantages and Experience
Marina Noskova1
1
Ural State Medical University, Repina, 3, Ekaterinburg, 620028, Russia
Abstract
The article raises the problem of modern education, which is based on the requirements and
requests of employers. Therefore, one of the tasks in the field of education is to improve the
professional level of graduates, and an important strategy of the educational organization is the
training of qualified, competitive specialists, not only possessing general cultural, general
professional, and professional competencies but also immersed in information culture on a
personal level: not only fundamental training but also information and communication literacy.
The theoretical and methodological analysis of research revealing different approaches to
gaming technologies is presented. The paper discusses the functions and advantages of gaming
technologies in distance learning. The principles and structure of the game are shown. The
examples of games in the implementation of the discipline "Psychology and Pedagogy" for
future specialists in practical health care are presented. Game technologies in distance learning
allow students to be interested, facilitate the assimilation of information, processing, and
analysis of the material that contains problem situations; form reflection, self-control; develop
communication and digital competencies.
Keywords 1
Modern education, learning technology, game, gaming technology, distance learning.
1. Introduction
Modern university education is built into the process of global cultural, economic, and political
integration and unification; there is a gradual process of the national educational systems going beyond
the state borders. An example of the global integration of higher education is the single European
educational space, which was created as a result of the implementation of the Bologna Process. The
expanding globalization of higher education is facilitated by rapidly developing information
technologies, which fundamentally level national educational boundaries and make it possible to talk
about the existence of a single world digital educational space.
One of the main trends in the development of higher education is the increased attention to the issue
of the ratio of the volume of fundamental theoretical knowledge and practice-oriented competencies
among graduates, which leads to a significant approximation of the educational process to practical
problem-oriented professional activity.
Modern education implements many different professionally significant functions and
competencies, which, in turn, are constantly being transformed under the influence of public demands.
They are of the nature of integration, practice-orientedness, mobility, personality-orientedness. While
modernizing modern higher education, it is necessary, on the one hand, to strive to preserve the effective
traditions of the classical teaching model, and on the other hand, to actively develop new methods and
technologies with students, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the Russian education system [3].
For a competitive and highly qualified specialist in the period of professional development, it is
Proceedings of VI International Scientific and Practical Conference Distance Learning Technologies (DLT–2021), September 20-22,
2021, Yalta, Crimea
EMAIL: mn66@mail.ru
ORCID: 0000-0003-3648-7730
©️ 2021 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
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necessary to use such training technologies that contribute to self-actualization of the individual, the
disclosure of scientific and creative potential, effective interaction in a team, the development of
communicative and digital culture, etc. “The cultural dimension ... implies that how health stakeholders
accept or reject new technologies is more dependent on outcomes than on how technologies develop”
[10].
2. Digital Transformation in Modern Education
The challenges of digital transformation in education are, on the one hand, - ensuring the ability of
the educational system to respond to changes in society, the development of new technologies, meeting
the demand for new professional skills and the formation of competencies, and on the other hand,
ensuring the technical knowledge of teachers of educational institutions and their access to technologies
to meet the needs of the industry [7].
The problems associated with the digitalization of education have been actively discussed
throughout the world for some years [8], but they have become so acute for the first time.
It is known that an important paradigm of modern education is the subject-subject relationship of
teachers and students.
Figure 1 presents a vision for the approach of the educational process in the context of digital
learning in distance learning (Figure 1).
Innovative educational process
Organizes student
Educational activities of activities in an innovative
the teacher digital educational
environment
Carries out search,
Educational activity of the selection, analysis,
student systematization,
comprehension of material
in the information
environment
Figure 1: Innovative educational process in the context of digital learning in distance format
Attention is drawn to the peculiarities of the educational process, which is a purposefully organized
two-way process "teacher-student".
2.1. The Essence of Distance Learning in Education
Modern society is rapidly changing and mastering remote forms of interaction, which leads to a
change in the paradigm of the educational process as a whole. Students need to perceive a large volume
of educational material, the mental, psychophysiological load increases. In this regard, the teacher is
faced with the question “How to effectively organize the educational process in a distance format? What
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learning technologies to use to arouse interest and motivational readiness to study and assimilate new
educational material, thereby developing a desire for further independent study.
Note that distance learning technologies are information technologies that are aimed at interactive
interaction between students and a teacher, transfer of experience, educational material, as well as
providing an opportunity for independent work in mastering the material being studied.
The main problem in the development of distance learning is the creation of new teaching methods
and technologies that meet the telecommunications environment of communication. In this
environment, the fact that students in the learning process create their understanding of the subject
content of education and reveal their potential is manifested.
In the process of digitalization of education, it is necessary to take into account such factors as:
1. Stability (stability of the system, it's functioning, the number of users, and their activity).
2. Modularity (the use of didactic units of the electronic course in other courses of the discipline,
thereby ensuring interdisciplinarity).
3. Multimedia (use of audio and video resources).
4. Technical support (means to support the system's performance, stability of its functioning).
The constant expansion of the range of tools and mechanisms for distance learning, as well as their
obvious advantages, such as the ability to provide the widest possible coverage of the number of
listeners, the reported interaction of students from different locations, live exchange of experience
improve the quality of educational services: there are many different forms of presentation, for example,
training seminars, gaming technologies, training, tests, simulators, constructors, intensive courses.
In our opinion, gaming technologies play an important role in the implementation of a particular
discipline.
2.2 Game technologies in the educational process: role, functions, principles
and their application in practical classes
The role, functions, and application of gaming technologies in the educational process were
considered by both domestic and foreign scientists (A.A. Verbitsky, N.S. Erukova, G.A.
Kitaigorodskaya, V.N. Y. Platov, A. S. Prutchenkov, D. Horner, J. Stratton, and others).
The methodological basis of the game, its theory, and its social nature were investigated by N.A.
Anikeeva, L.S. Vygotsky, L.V. Zankov, A.N. Leontiev, S.A. Smirnov, and others).
Game technologies represent a set of technologies, techniques, methods of organizing the
educational process. V.S. Kukushkin believes that play is a type of activity in situations, aimed at
assimilating social experience, which improves self-management of behavior [2].
Gaming technologies can perform different functions:
1. Educational (development of competencies, study of new educational material, perception of
information, testing of knowledge, abilities, skills, the ability to manage conflict situations);
2. Developmental (the development of cognitive processes, interest in the discipline, the
development of the ability to set goals, the choice of ways to solve a problem, the development of
flexible skills);
3. Communicative (establishing contacts, managing a team, developing oral speech);
4. Educational (education of digital culture, literacy, creating a favorable mood);
5. Psychotechnical (formation of skills for preparing the psychophysiological state of the game areas
for effective activity).
Games allow you to reveal the potential of students, design clear goals, give feedback, encourage
and stimulate learning activities.
The game belongs to practice-oriented technologies, the main principles of which are:
1. Integrity (the unity of training, education, and development);
2. Fundamentality (based on modular learning);
3. Cultural conformity (training by the modern level of development of general, communicative,
professional culture);
4. Humanitarization and humanization of education (humanization is associated with the
introduction into the curriculum of humanitarian disciplines: history, psychology, pedagogy, cultural
studies, sociology, etc.; humanization is all for man, for the sake of man);
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5. The activity approach (based on the didactic principle of the connection between theory and
practice) [1].
These principles help the teacher to master pedagogical skills, and students - their professional
activities.
The introduction of gaming technologies is based on knowledge of the characteristics of the course
of mental processes and taking into account the laws of mental development [5].
The digital educational process in a distance format using gaming technologies is based on the
following principles:
1. rethinking the educational process and designing the learning environment;
2. personalization of the educational process;
3. the motivation of educational activity and independence of students;
4. development of soft skills (flexible skills) of students;
5. the principle of practice-orientedness;
6. the principle of accessibility;
7. flexibility and activity in subject-subject relations;
8. active self-organized learning;
9. interactive and collaborative learning;
10. the principle of success in learning;
11. intercultural communication;
12. digital culture.
The structure of the gaming technology includes such positions as:
1. Playing roles, which were taken over by the teaching;
2. The game actions themselves;
3. The relationship between the players and the plot of the game.
There are many games that we use in our practice in the implementation of the discipline
"Psychology and Pedagogy" for future professionals in practical health care. Here are some of them.
Role-playing game "Highly qualified specialist".
Purpose of the game: development of communication, management skills, creative thinking,
emotional stability in students, the ability to convince people.
The course of the game. One student is selected from the group. He plays the role of a highly
qualified specialist. The rest of the group is united in small groups (3-4 people). These groups represent
medical institutions, and the students themselves are specialists in these organizations. Further, the
teacher informs the group that: “You have read the resume (by the name of the selected highly qualified
specialist, his age, status, regalia, scientific interests, etc.), wanted to interview him and invite him to
work in your organization. It is necessary to interest, convince this person so that as a result he chooses
your institution. "
Mini-groups are offered the following tasks:
1. Come up with a name for a medical organization.
2. Territorial location.
3. What does the organization do?
4. What functions will a specialist perform in a medical facility?
5. Think over a social package and salary for a specialist.
6. Distribute the roles among the participants, ie. what positions they hold in this medical institution.
7. Think over the scenario of communicative interaction.
After completing this task, each group starts playing the situation, an interview.
During the interview, the specialist makes written notes of positive and negative points, paying
attention to verbal communication, means of non-verbal communication, asks questions to orient the
mini-group in this situation, interrupt each other or not, etc.
The emphasis is on basic communication skills, communication culture: greeting, presentation by
name, position, listening, persuading, arguing, negotiating, self-presentation, teamwork, focusing on
results, promoting the development of relationships with people, helping to maintain a conversation,
effectively behaving in critical situations when communicating with others.
When all groups have performed, a highly qualified specialist gives feedback to each institution on
the implementation of basic communication skills, recommendations. In the end, he informs (with
arguments) the medical organization where he would like to work [4, p. 468-477].
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Intellectual game - quiz "Own game".
The goal of the game is the theoretical repetition of educational material for a specific module of the
discipline, for example, "Developmental Psychology".
This game is aimed at developing cognitive interest, motivation, activity, logical thinking.
Game progress: two teams are involved. They are offered questions in five sections: "General
concepts", "Scientists", "Age periods", "Age crises", "Situational tasks". Each section contains 5
questions from easy to hard. Each question has its score. The questions are arranged in the form of a
table with the indication of points. Questions are voiced to each team in turn. 1 minute is allotted for
discussion. The level of questions with an appropriate score is chosen by the students themselves. The
team that gets the most points wins.
We also use various open-answer or multiple-answer quizzes in practical classes; assignments for
matching a portrait and an event; various crosswords through the Web 2.0 LearningAhhs.org
application.
Innovations in medical education have become practically synonymous with technology, and their
use in this area is growing exponentially [9].
There are many positives about digital technology. It should be noted that information and
communication technologies by themselves are not a means that can completely solve the problem of
education. Unfortunately, they do not form a holistic picture of the world in students. Another
disadvantage of the “digitalization of medical education is the danger that even the practical side of the
study of medicine will move outside the hospital wards” [6].
Significant capabilities of gaming technologies are:
1. Personality - the availability of unlimited opportunities for personal adjustment to the needs and
characteristics of each student, including the choice of the method of presenting the material, the level
of complexity, the pace of work, the number of reinforcing repetitions, etc;
2. Freedom to search for information in the global information network;
3. Interactivity - the ability to provide multi-personality in the process of communication and
interaction;
4. Multimedia (polymodality) - the ability to comprehensively use various channels of perception
(auditory, visual, motor) in the educational process.
The use of gaming technologies in the learning process can be used in different forms:
1. virtual classroom - distance learning technology, in which participants and the teacher have the
opportunity to interact with each other, transmitting and analyzing information using the Internet;
2. business game - a type of simulation that includes game elements: plot, interactivity, feedback, as
well as rules and game processes;
3. microlearning - learning in which educational content is presented in small parts, each of which
has one specific goal, and its implementation takes a little time;
4. simulation training - an interactive method of developing skills and abilities, in which real
situations, processes, events are simulated;
5. inverted learning - a key model of blended learning, in which the student independently studies
theoretical material, and in practical classes consolidates the studied information together with the
teacher. When implementing this technology, the teacher needs to design educational goals, tasks that
correspond to the educational standard and the work program of the discipline, reflecting the content of
the classroom. Turning to open educational resources, the teacher invites students to select videos on
the topics of classes, write a synopsis, compile a glossary, an interactive game, a mind map to quickly
and conveniently master the educational material by students, while making good use of the Internet.
3. Conclusions
Education is one of the backbone social institutions that perform a large number of socially
significant functions and are actively transforming under the influence of scientific and technological
progress. A feature of modern higher education is the fact that at the same time it is not only the most
conservative institution that preserves and reproduces traditional forms and relationships, but also the
concentration of the most advanced innovations and modern practices that determine promising
directions for the development of society.
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The system of higher education in the Russian Federation faces many tasks, the solution of which
will increase the economic and intellectual competitiveness of the state. Higher education is
increasingly viewed from the point of view of the development of the creative and creative potential of
future specialists, freedom of self-expression.
Practice shows that students are happy to participate in such games within the framework of distance
learning. Participants take an active position, which leads to increased motivation, effective
memorization of educational information, and consolidation of knowledge.
Summarizing the above material, it can be argued that gaming technologies in distance learning
allow students to become interested, contribute to the assimilation of information, processing, and
analysis of the material that contains problem situations; form reflection, self-control; develop
communication and digital competencies.
In the context of rapidly developing technologies of distance education, the creation of an informal
educational environment, teachers need mobile professional support.
4. References
[1] V.A. Belogurova, Scientific organization of the educational process, Moskva, GEOTAR-Media,
2014.
[2] V.S. Kukushkin, Pedagogical technologies: a textbook for students of pedagogical universities,
Rostov n / a, Ed. Center "March", 2002.
[3] A.Yu. Nagornova, Modern higher education: theory and practice: col. Monograph, Ulyanovsk,
Zebra, 2020.
[4] M.V. Noskova, Educational trajectories for the development of flexible skills (soft skills) among
future specialists in practical health care (on the example of the discipline of psychology and
pedagogy). Modern higher education: theory and practice: Monograph / by Ed. A.Yu. Nagornova,
Ulyanovsk, Zebra, 2020. pp.283-291.
[5] S.Yu. Simorot, Game technologies in the educational process or reflections on the "student
playing". Problems of higher education, 2004, № 1, pp.83-84.
[6] O.Al-jibury, M.Ahmed, M.Najim, R.Rabee, M.Ashraf, Y.Sherwani, O. Anjum, The trend toward
digital in medical education – playing devil’s advocate, Adv Med Educ Pract, 2015. p.p.581–582.
URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610708. DOI: 10.2147/AMEP.S95309
[7] Cedefop, The changing nature, and role of vocational education and training in Europe, V 3: The
responsiveness of European VET systems to external change (1995–2015), Cedefop research
paper, № 67, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2018. URL:
http://data.europa.eu.doi/10.2801/621137.
[8] W. F. Crittenden, I. K Biel, W. A. Lovely, Embracing Digitalization: Student Learning and New
Technologies. III. Journal of marketing education, 2019. volume 41, № 1. p.p. 5-14.
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innovative approach to publishing in medical and health professions education (2017). URL:
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