Date of this Version
Pilkington, A. 2021. Effective Gamification Within Educational Virtual Reality Environment. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
With the advent and now widespread use of mobile phones and computers in educational settings, exploring effective and new ways of using technology in the classroom is important for educating the next generation of students. Innovative technology, like Virtual Reality, has started being discussed and researched for its potential benefits in educational settings. This paper presents a brief history of VR, game theory, and examines two VR educational games from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Nursing’s (UNMC) Senior Design teams. The two games will be used to replace lecture-style classes and to go out and educate the community. We explore how the two teams gamified educational material through different techniques to provide a more enriching learning experience for nurses in training. The VR games have provided UNMC with a more hands-on approach than conventional learning material, but successful educational games can only be achieved through understanding gamification.