Abstract:
‘Engagement’ is a term that is often found in educators’ discourse. It is also regularly cited as the reason to adopt game design elements in the classroom (gamification). Gamification is becoming increasingly common in a wide variety of domains, from health applications to social media platforms. This raises the question: what is the influence of gamification on discourses of learning and the idea of the ‘engaged student’? This paper works with data from a case study of two Melbourne private girls’ schools’ use of gamification. A total of 8 teacher interviews were conducted. Transcripts were analysed using a Foucauldian-inspired perspective on discourse analysis (genealogy) combined with two theoretical concepts from Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis: colonisation and appropriation. Three different, but sometimes overlapping, discourses were identified in the interview data: (i) engagement as input, (ii) engagement as fun, and (iii) engagement as motivation. The first discourse, engagement as input, can be seen as a discourse of techno-surveillance relating to the ever increasing thirst for data and visibility in education. Engagement as fun is inspired by Bakhtin’s concept of the carnivalesque: a temporary space-time in which hierarchies are turned upside down; seriousness is (temporarily) replaced by fun to ‘rejuvenate’ learning and the learner. Engagement as motivation finds its roots in the psychologicalisation of education in which students are seen as therapeutic subjects that need to be carefully managed. The findings of this study will problematise the concept of engagement as well as the use of gamification in the classroom. Gamification is not a neutral solution for a set of educational problems, but it is shaped and legitimised based on (sometimes conflicting) perceptions of engagement. Further educational research should focus more on the discursive underpinnings of engaging ‘technologies’ rather than turning engagement into a measurable construct. ‘Opening up’ the concept of engagement is a necessary first step in imagining different ways of engaging students.