Educator in the game space: game-technical competence of the educator

Introduction. Pedagogy’s interest in game is conditioned by its abilities to achieve the value orientations of modern education and solving actual problems in educational practice. The purpose of this article is to present the results of the theoretical study of concepts in pedagogical discourse regarding the game in the educational process and experimental data on the state of game-technical competence of an educator. Materials and methods. The methods of questionnaire survey (self-assessment of the respondents of the diagnosed positions) and observation of lessons on the application of game technologies were used to identify the state of the educator’s game-technical competence and the influence of the training program on its development. The homogeneity criterion χ2 was used to determine the reliability of the research results. Results of the study. Educators are unanimous in their opinion about the possibilities of games in increasing students’ motivation, improving emotional background, developing communication skills and involving students in the learning process. The group of educators who do not see an opportunity to improve subject educational results in gamification has been identified. The statistically insignificant influence of short-term and time-distributed training on the interest (χ2 exp = 1.627, α=0.05) and focus (χ2 exp =1.962, which is less than χ2 crit = 5.991, at the significance level α=0.05) of educators on the application of gamification was revealed. However, the expansion of the range of game techniques used in lessons was noted (χ2 exp = 7.467 при χ2 crit = 7.815). Educators’ self-assessment of gamification competence revealed that skill level scores exceeded knowledge level scores. Conclusion. The results of the experimental research have revealed both positive attitudes of educators related to the application of the game in the educational process and unevenness of development of structural components of game-technical competence of educators, which can be eliminated by targeted training.