When I first started using ZEP Quiz, I was honestly attracted to the fun part of it after attending a webinar organised by SKOLAR Malaysia.
The maps were interesting, the game environment was different from the usual classroom activities, and I could already imagine my students moving around a virtual world while answering questions. As a teacher, I am always interested in finding ways to make learning a little less predictable, so naturally, I wanted to explore it.
Fast forward to now, and I have been using ZEP Quiz in different teaching situations. I have used it with my physical classes, my online classes, and even outside my usual university teaching context. I have also experimented with different features and incorporated it into my teaching innovation work.
Looking back, I realise that my understanding of gamification has changed.
It is no longer just about making learning fun.
It is not just about the game
When we hear the word “gamification”, I think many of us immediately associate it with games, competition, points, rewards, and students having fun.
There is nothing wrong with that.
In fact, those elements can be useful because they can create a different kind of energy in a lesson. I have seen how a simple change from a conventional activity to a game-like environment can make students more willing to participate.
But over time, I started asking myself a different question.
What is the purpose of the game?
That question has become increasingly important to me.
I do not want to use a gamified activity simply because it looks interesting or because students might enjoy it. There should still be a reason behind it.
Am I using it to revise something we have learned?
Am I using it to give students more opportunities to practise?
Am I trying to encourage participation?
Am I creating a less intimidating environment for students to try something?
Or am I using it as a starting point for another learning activity?
For me, that is where gamification becomes meaningful.
The game itself is not the learning objective. It is a tool that can help me get my students there.
Sometimes, the real learning happens after the game
One of my favourite experiences with ZEP Quiz was when I combined the quiz activity with the Whiteboard feature.
Instead of simply letting students complete the quiz, see their scores and move on, I asked them to reflect on the experience.
The question I asked was:
“Compared to doing normal paper worksheets, did playing in this ZEP world make you feel more confident and excited to try these writing exercises? Why or why not?”
I really liked asking this question because I was not only interested in whether they got the questions right.
I wanted to know how they experienced the activity.
Did the game make them feel more confident?
Did it make them more excited to attempt the writing exercises?
Did they prefer it to a conventional worksheet?
And most importantly, why?
Their answers gave me another perspective that a score alone could not provide.
This reminded me that assessment and feedback do not always have to happen in the traditional sense. Sometimes, simply asking students to think about their own learning experience can give us valuable information as teachers.
The quiz tells me about their answers.
The reflection tells me about their experience.
Both matter.
I also learned that online and physical classes are different
Another interesting part of my ZEP Quiz journey has been using it in both physical and online classes.
The experience is not exactly the same.
In a physical classroom, you can feel the energy immediately. Students react to each other, they comment on what is happening, and sometimes the room suddenly becomes much noisier than it was five minutes earlier.
Online, the atmosphere is different.
You might have a screen full of muted microphones and cameras that are switched off. Yet when students enter a game, suddenly you can see movement, competition and participation happening on the screen.
That experience reminded me that engagement does not always have to look the same.
A quiet student in a physical classroom may not suddenly become the most talkative person online. But they may still participate actively through the game.
For me, that is worth noticing.
As teachers, we sometimes equate participation with speaking. But there are many other ways students can participate, especially when technology gives them different channels to do so.
I also discovered that gamification can extend beyond my usual classroom
One of the more unexpected things I did was create ZEP Quiz activities for my niece during the Malaysian school holidays.
I created a Maths activity and a Bahasa Melayu activity for her.
It was a small experiment, but I enjoyed seeing how a tool I usually associate with my university classes could be adapted for a younger learner.
It also reminded me that gamification does not necessarily have to be complicated.
Sometimes, it can be as simple as taking an activity that might normally feel like revision and giving it a different environment.
Of course, putting something into a game does not automatically make it a good learning activity.
The questions still need to be appropriate.
The activity still needs a purpose.
And the teacher still needs to think about what students are actually learning.
The technology does not do that thinking for us.
We still do.
So, what have I really learned?
After using ZEP Quiz in different contexts, I think my biggest takeaway is this:
Gamification is not about turning every lesson into a game.
And I think that is an important distinction.
There are lessons where a game makes sense.
There are activities where a worksheet, discussion, presentation, or good old-fashioned pen and paper is still the better choice.
For me, the goal is not to replace those things.
It is to have another option in my teaching toolbox.
Sometimes I want students to compete.
Sometimes I want them to practise.
Sometimes I want them to explore.
Sometimes I want them to reflect.
And sometimes, honestly, I just want to change the energy in the room.
The important thing is knowing why I am using the tool.
That has probably been the biggest shift in my thinking.
When I first started using ZEP Quiz, I was excited about the game.
Now, I am more interested in what the game allows me to do as a teacher.
Beyond the game
Being a ZEP Quiz Ambassador has given me the opportunity to experiment, but more importantly, it has given me a reason to reflect on my own teaching practices.
Every time I try something new, I find myself asking questions.
Did this actually help?
Did my students participate differently?
What did they think about it?
Could I have designed the activity better?
Would this work better online or face-to-face?
And sometimes, the answer is simply, “I need to try it again.”
I think that is part of being an educator.
We experiment. We observe. We reflect. We adjust.
Technology changes quickly, but the questions we ask about learning remain important.
For me, ZEP Quiz is one of the tools that has allowed me to explore those questions in a different way.
So, after all this time, I would say that I am no longer interested in gamification simply because it is fun.
I am interested in it because, when used intentionally, it can create opportunities for students to participate, practise, reflect, and experience learning differently.
And perhaps that is what I have learned most from going beyond the game.
The game may get students started, but what happens before, during and after the game is where the real teaching happens.
