Game-Based Learning in Elementary Mathematics

This paper analyzed 15 primary, peer-reviewed research articles about how to integrate game-based learning in elementary mathematics to increase conceptual understanding. The purpose of this paper was to inform teachers about how to integrate digital and traditional games, including factors to enhance effective implementation, in a way that increased conceptual understanding. Key factors were gleaned from the articles that had a significant impact on the effectiveness of game-based learning. In Chapter Two, traditional and digital games were divided into two sections to analyze the benefits and drawbacks of each method. These benefits and drawbacks were compared in the Appendices to create universal factors of both traditional and digital game-based learning. These factors included educational context, key characteristics, and the teacher’s role. Research had multiple gaps within the literature that could be filled to enhance the credibility and further validate game-based learning as a viable supplemental tool to instruction in elementary mathematics

Customer loyalty through gamification: MB Way case study

Gamification has been applied in various contexts, following evolving technology and innovation trends. This study aims to investigate gamification's impact on customer loyalty through an analysis of the MB WAY Challenge. Due to the current pandemic, the population has been adapting its behaviour towards payment methods, increasing financial transactions through their smartphones. As such, this case study of the MB WAY Challenge has been following this trend, providing game components to its side to reach new users. The literature review provides an overview of the main concepts to be addressed: gamification, enjoyment, engagement, behaviour intention, and customer loyalty. The framework was developed based on the literature review and other models developed by other authors. The empirical part of the present study was conducted through an online survey distributed through several channels to obtain as many respondents as possible. Partial Least Squares (PLS) were used to evaluate the research. The results revealed that gamification significantly impacts customer loyalty through user behaviour intention, while engagement intention does not influence consumer loyalty. Other conclusions were drawn, having specific implications that may contribute to future studies making conscious decisions when determining the antecedents for a more complex analysis of gamification's impact on customer loyalty.A gamificação tem vindo a ser aplicada em diversos contextos, acompanhando a tendência de evolução da tecnologia e inovação. O propósito deste estudo é investigar o impacto que a gamificação tem na fidelização dos clientes, através de uma análise ao MB WAY Challenge. Devido à atual pandemia com que nos deparamos, a população tem vindo a adaptar o seu comportamento face aos métodos de pagamento, aumentando as transações financeiras através dos seus smartphones. Como tal, o presente caso de estudo do MB WAY Challenge tem vindo a acompanhar esta tendência, proporcionando componentes de jogo à sua vertente, para alcançar novos utilizadores. A revisão de literatura serve para dar um overview dos principais conceitos a serem abordados, nomeadamente, gamificação, prazer, engajamento, intenção de comportamento, e fidelização de clientes. O enquadramento foi desenvolvido com base na revisão de literatura e noutros modelos desenvolvidos por outros autores. A parte empírica do presente estudo foi realizada através de um questionário online, que foi distribuído por diversos canais para obter o maior número de respondentes possíveis. O Partial Least Squares (PLS) foi utilizado para avaliar a investigação. Os resultados revelaram que a gamificação tem um impacto positivo significativo na fidelização de clientes, através da intenção de comportamento do utilizador, enquanto a intenção de engajamento não influencia a fidelização dos consumidores. Outras conclusões foram retiradas, tendo certas implicações que podem contribuir para que estudos futuros possam realizar decisões conscientes quando determinarem os antecedentes para uma análise mais complexa do impacto da gamificação na fidelização de clientes

Strengthening gamification studies: Current trends and future opportunities of gamification research

Gamification is now a well-established technique in Human-Computer Interaction. However, research on gamification still faces a variety of empirical and theoretical challenges. Firstly, studies of gamified systems typically focus narrowly on understanding individuals. short-term interactions with the system, ignoring more difficult to measure outcomes. Secondly, academic research on gamification has been slow to improve the techniques through which gamified applications are designed. Third, current gamification research lacks a critical lens capable of exploring unintended consequences of designs. The 14 articles published in this special issue face these challenges with great methodological rigor. We summarize them by identifying three main themes: the determination to improve the quality and usefulness of theory in the field of gamification, the improvements in design practice, and the adoption of a critical gaze to uncover side-effects of gamification designs. We conclude by providing an overview of the questions that we feel must be addressed by future work in gamification. Gamification studies would benefit from a wider use of theories to account for the complexity of human behavior, a more thorough exploration of the many opportunities coming from the world of games, and an ethical reflection on the use of game design elements in serious domains

DiaLudus: Developing a Gamified Mobile App for Pediatric Diabetes Education

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease that causes significant challenges for the patient and their parents, affecting them physically and mentally. Approximately 450 children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Norway yearly, necessitating lifelong self-management of their blood glucose levels. Early knowledge acquisition is crucial to improving the patient's prognosis and self-management skills. This project aims to explore the potential of an educational gamified mobile application as a valuable tool for increasing knowledge in patients early on in their diagnosis. To gather the information necessary to design this application, we performed a systematic literature review, an interview with a medical doctor, and a discussion with a designer who is also the parent of a child with type 1 diabetes. This information was then used to create model mock-ups, which were used to create the proof-of-concept prototype: a cross-platform mobile application consisting of multiple mini-games aimed to educate children on type 1 diabetes while increasing motivation through rewards. The app was developed using the Unity game engine, along with iterative development and internal testing throughout the development stage by fellow students and members of the author's research group. Assessment of medical accuracy in the app was performed by two medical doctors, knowledge transfer assessment was performed by students with self-reported low understanding of diabetes, and quantitative usability testing was performed by children aged 9-12 with type 1 diabetes. While the evaluation showed potential areas of improvement, it also showed that the application prototype is medically accurate, entertaining, and effective at teaching the knowledge it contains. We have created an educational gamified mobile application designed to educate newly diagnosed children with type 1 diabetes in an exciting and entertaining manner. Evaluation of the prototype shows great promise for using gamified educational applications as a knowledge-increasing tool in treating pediatric diabetes patients

A gamification-based approach on indoor wayfinding research

Indoor environments can be very complex. Due to the challenges in these environments in combination with the absence of mobile wayfinding aids, a great need exists for innovative research on indoor wayfinding. In this explorative study, a game was developed in Unity to investigate whether the concept of gamification could be used in studies on indoor wayfinding so as to provide useful information regarding the link between wayfinding performance, personal characteristics, and building layout. Results show a significant difference between gamers and non-gamers as the complexity of the player movement has an important impact on the navigation velocity in the game. However, further analysis reveals that the architectural layout also has an impact on the navigation velocity and that wrong turns in the game are influenced by the landmarks at the decision points: navigating at deeper decision points in convex spaces is slower and landmarks of the categories pictograms and infrastructural were more effective in this particular building. Therefore, this explorative study, which provides an approach for the use of gamification in indoor wayfinding research, has shown that serious games could be successfully used as a medium for data acquisition related to indoor wayfinding in a virtual environment

ICT and gamified learning in tourism education: a case of South African secondary schools

Tourism is often introduced as a subject in formal education curricula because of the increasing and significant economic contribution of the tourism industry to the private and public sector. This is especially the case in emerging economies in Asia and Africa (Hsu, 2015; Mayaka & Akama, 2015; Cuffy et al., 2012). Tourism in South Africa – which is the geographical setting of this research – is recognised as a key economic sector. At secondary level, tourism has been widely introduced at schools throughout South Africa since 2000 and has experienced significant growth (Umalusi, 2014). Furthermore, information and communication technology (ICT) has rapidly penetrated public and private sectors of the country. ICT affords novel opportunities for social and economic development, and this has especially been observed in the fields of both tourism and education (Anwar et al., 2014; Vandeyar, 2015). Yet, the many uses and implications of ICT for tourism education in South Africa are unclear and under-theorised as a research area (Adukaite, Van Zyl, & Cantoni, 2016). Moreover, engagement has been identified as a significant indicator of student success in South Africa (Council for Higher Education, 2010). Lack of engagement contributes to poor graduation rates at secondary and tertiary institutions in South Africa (Strydom et al., 2010; Titus & Ng’ambi, 2014). A common strategy to address lack of student engagement is introducing game elements into the learning process: the so-called gamification of learning (Kapp, 2012). The majority of research in this field has been conducted in more economically advanced and developed regions, and there is a paucity of research in emerging country contexts. It is argued that gamification can be effectively utilised also in these contexts to address learner engagement and motivation. This study aims to contribute in this respect: firstly, by investigating the extent to which ICT supports tourism education in South African high schools through the lenses of Technology Domestication Theory (Habib, 2005; Haddon, 2006) and Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1977). Secondly, the study aims to examine gamified learning acceptance within tourism education in a developing country context. The research assimilates three separate studies. Study 1. The Role of Digital Technology in Tourism Education: A Case Study of South African Secondary Schools The study was designed as an exploratory analysis, based on 24 in-depth interviews (n=24) with high school tourism teachers and government officials. An analysis reveals that teachers recognize ICT as essential in exposing students to the tourism industry. This is especially the case in under-resourced schools, where learners do not have the financial means to participate in tourism activities. However, ICT is still limited in its integration as a pedagogical support tool. The major obstacles toward integration include: technology anxiety, lack of training, availability of resources, and learner resistance to use their personal mobile devices. Study 2. Raising Awareness and Promoting Informal Learning on World Heritage in Southern Africa. The Case of WHACY, a Gamified ICT-enhanced Tool The goal of the study was to present the World Heritage Awareness Campaign for Youth (WHACY) in Southern Africa. A campaign was dedicated to raise awareness and foster informal learning among Southern African youth about the heritage and sustainable tourism. The campaign employed an online and offline gamified learning platform, which was supported by a dedicated website, Facebook page, wiki and offline materials. In one year of operation the campaign reached more than 100K audience. For the evaluation of the campaign, a mixed methods approach was used: focus groups with students (n=9), interviews (n=19) and a survey with teachers (n=209). The study attempted to assess user experience in terms of engagement and conduciveness to learning and explored the possibility of a gamified application to be integrated into the existing high school tourism curriculum. The perspectives of South African tourism students and teachers were here considered. Study 3. Teacher perceptions on the use of digital gamified learning in tourism education: The case of South African secondary schools. The study is quantitative in nature and investigated the behavioural intention of South African tourism teachers to integrate a gamified application within secondary tourism education. Data collected from 209 teachers were tested against the research model using a structural equation modelling approach. The study investigated the extent to which six determined predictors (perceptions about playfulness, curriculum relatedness, learning opportunities, challenge, self-efficacy and computer anxiety) influence the acceptance of a gamified application by South African tourism teachers. The study may prove useful to educators and practitioners in understanding which determinants may influence gamification introduction into formal secondary education

Gamification in knowledge management: How to score intrinsically in the game of motivation

Gamification is an increasingly common motivational tool, and knowledge management is rising to become an important part of strategies in knowledge intensive organizations. The academic infancy of gamification and the relatively young field of knowledge management provide ample opportunities for novel research. This thesis attempts to understand what needs to be considered when designing a practical application of gamification to increase motivation for knowledge management in a knowledge-intense organization. Abductive action research was carried out at Ericsson AB to answer the question, where the researchers where embedded in a knowledge management transformation team. Empirics primarily gathered from interviews, together with a theoretical framework was used to synthesize a set of guidelines. These guidelines served to help with the development of a gamified application for knowledge management. Finally, a plausible concept of an application based on the guidelines and theory is presented, together with recommendations of how to proceed with the development of the concept