7(1) 2021: Laborious Play and Playful Work II

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The Business of Gamifying School Work: Perceptions of the Gamification Phenomenon and the Services and Companies Behind It
Oceja, Jorge; Torres-Toukoumidis, Angel (2021) , S. 131-146
If we think about the earliest exposure that we, as individuals, have to schedules, routines, effort, and hard work, most probably it is school- ing—and elementary education in particular—that first comes to mind. Historically, teachers have tried (based on learning theory or their own intuition) to motivate students by making learning fun; however, more recently, many schools have become fascinated by the digital gamification phenomenon. This work explores the diverse per- ceptions of the role of this digital gamification among teachers and principals in urban schools in a city in the north of Spain trying to answer why, besides the lack of theoretical foundations, gamification software, hand in hand with the companies behind it, is colonizing classrooms. Three in-depth, semi-structured interviews with prin- cipals (who also work as regular teachers) were carried out and the information obtained was coded and represented through hierarchi- cal trees. Then, the data provided by each respondent was compared. Principal’s perceptions range from the enthusiasm of having easy access to these “free” tools, to more critical opinions on their use— from both a political and pedagogical perspective.