Gamification in higher education and stem : a systematic review of literature

In recent years, gamification, the use of game elements in non-game contexts, has drawn the attention of educators due to the possibility of making learning more motivating and engaging; this led to an increase of research in the field. Despite the availability of literature reviews about gamification and its effects, no work to this date has focused exclusively on Higher Education (HE). Next, worldwide there is an increasing demand for skilled Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) professionals that meet the challenges related to scientific and technological innovations of the 21st Century. This lead to the need of strengthening STEM Higher Education. This brings us to the purpose of this work: presenting a systematic literature review of empirical studies about gamification STEM related Higher Education. This review study started from a systematic mapping design of 'Web of Science' articles, with following inclusion criteria: empirical gamification studies set up in HE, published between 2000 and 2016; focusing on undergraduate or graduate students; in the STEM knowledge field, and set up in authentic settings. An initial search resulted in 562 potentially relevant articles. After applying all selection criteria, only 18 studies could be retained. 12 additional articles were included by analyzing references from earlier literature reviews, resulting in 30 studies to be included. Analysis results show how a combination of game elements (e.g. leaderboards, badges, points and other combinations) positively affects students' performance, attendance, goal orientation and attitude towards mostly computer science related subjects. The analysis results also point at a lack of studies in certain STEM areas, a lack of studies that identify the particular game element associated with the positive differential impact on student performance; a lack of validated psychometric measurements, and lack of focus on student variables that could/should be taken into account as mediating/moderating variables clarifying the impact of gamification in the HE focus on STEM learning and teaching

Um Mapeamento Sistemático sobre o uso da Gamificação em Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem

Introdução: a gamificação surgiu como uma proposta de motivação aos alunos nos últimos anos. Hoje são encontrados estudos que atrelam a gamificação dentro de ambientes de ensino online. Objetivo: classificar os estudos já realizados em torno dessa área e analisar os resultados para identificar padrões. Método: foi realizado um mapeamento sistemático, para integrar os resultados oriundos de diversos estudos publicados anteriormente. Resultados: dos 149 estudos primários encontrados, 45 foram incluídos nesse estudo, após isso uma filtragem selecionando 17 estudos para seleção final. Conclusão: foi possível concluir através da maior incidência nos estudos, informações sobre a gamificação, os usuários e detalhamento da aplicação

The potential role of ePortfolios in the Teaching Excellence Framework

Current debates on HE policy in the UK are dominated by the evolving Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) which will soon involve the government establishing key metrics.  In this context, and seizing this valuable moment in policy formation, we here provide a brief foray into the multiple aspects of ‘teaching excellence’ (TE) as a basis to highlight both the complexity of identifying ways to measure it and the shortcomings of existing official developments.  In the absence of a clear conceptual understanding of the learning processes and the role of teaching which apparently underpins the TEF, we present a model of the learning process to which the indicators currently proposed by the authorities can be related.  We propose that ePortfolios can play a special role in the TEF in capturing the qualitative outcomes of learning processes which, importantly, reflect the student perspective in terms of goals, learning experiences and achievement.  These are both crucial yet missing elements of the proposals to date. Finally, we provide some examples of how information from ePortfolios could be used by HE institutions to enhance their institutional submissions to the TEF.

Scaffolds: Experimenting with student­-driven digital badging in an iSchool context

Digital badge systems can be contentious to start and challenging to implement. In this project, we examine the development of an open, student-­led, peer-­to-­peer badging framework within an iSchool context. Scaffolds is a dynamic set of digital badges created to give students more concrete guidance in their exploration of the field of information science. The badges provide a way for students to customize their exploration of co­-curricular materials and activities to augment their educational experience. Using motivation and perception surveys, as well as in­-depth interviews with participants, the goal of this research is to understand what motivates students to participate in digital badges programs and how an open badging platform can be used to encourage student engagement in co-­curricular educational activities.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110790/2/walker_lee_lonn_scaffolds_iConference2015Submission.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110790/3/walker_lee_lonn_scaffolds_iConference2015Poster.pdfDescription of walker_lee_lonn_scaffolds_iConference2015Submission.pdf : Conference Paper SubmissionDescription of walker_lee_lonn_scaffolds_iConference2015Poster.pdf : Conference Poste

Using Gamification to Motivate Students with Dyslexia

The concept of gamification is receiving increasing attention, particularly for its potential to motivate students. However, to date the majority of studies in the context of education have predominantly focused on University students. This paper explores how gamification could potentially benefit a specific student population, children with dyslexia who are transitioning from primary to secondary school. Two teachers from specialist dyslexia teaching centres used classDojo, a gamification platform, during their teaching sessions for one term. We detail how the teachers appropriated the platform in different ways and how the students discussed classDojo in terms of motivation. These findings have subsequently informed a set of provisional implications for gamification distilling opportunities for future pedagogical uses, gamification design for special education and methodological approaches to how gamification is studied

The Role of Gamification in Motivating User Participation in Requirements Determinations

The success of a project heavily relies on the quality of requirements determinations, which the systems are built upon. However, about 60% of project failures are due to weak requirements determinations. This weakness is due to poor communication and lack of stakeholder engagement. Understanding the factors that motivate user participation behaviors during requirements determinations will help to recognize how users will demonstrate positive behaviors and will be more engaged. However, empirical research on the factors that motivate participants during requirements determinations to engage and share their knowledge is still lacking. The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivational impact of gamification elements on user participation behaviors during requirements determinations. This paper presents an extended model of the theory of reasoned action. The extended model posits that gamification elements will influence user participation intentions indirectly through their effects on attitude and subjective norms

Engaging Healthcare Users through Gamification in Knowledge Sharing of Continuous Improvement in Healthcare

Knowledge management systems are key for capturing, retaining, and communicating results from projects and presenting information to staff. The purpose of a knowledge management system is to tap into the vast wisdom from projects and experts across an organization. This research focuses on the knowledge management system within the Veterans Health Administration that was developed as a repository of information on continuous improvement tools such as flowcharts, value stream mapping, 5S, and the application of these in healthcare projects. The use of social network analysis and gamification improves website organization, user participation, and dissemination of shared knowledge related to continuous improvement of operations. The purpose of gamification is to engage, teach, entertain, measure, and improve the ease of use of information systems. The goal of this research is to utilize gamification theory within the knowledge management system to drive behaviors in a targeted audience and engage users in aspects such as writing, contributing, getting the feedback, which will create a more robust, cohesive system. A thorough review of the current knowledge management system was conducted, and a gap analysis was performed comparing the goals and objectives for the system to the current results. Next, gamification techniques with the potential to improve performance were identified and strategies to implement these were developed

Scaffolds: Experimenting with student-driven open badging in an iSchool context

Digital badge systems can be contentious to start and challenging to implement. In this project, we examine the development of an open, student-led, peer-to-peer badging framework within an iSchool context. Scaffolds is a dynamic set of digital badges created to give students more concrete guidance in their exploration of the field of information science. The badges provide a way for students to customize their exploration of co-curricular materials and activities to augment their educational experience. Using motivation and perception surveys, as well as in-depth interviews with participants, the goal of this research is to understand what motivates students to participate in digital badges programs and how an open badging platform can be used to encourage student engagement in co-curricular educational activities.ye

Incorporating Meaningful Gamification in a Blended Learning Research Methods Class: Examining Student Learning, Engagement, and Affective Outcomes

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Establishing the Impact that Gamified Homework Portals Can Have on Students\u27 Academic Motivation

This research paper describes the investigation of the impact a gamified learning environment has on students’ motivation to complete course homework within a second semester freshman year design course. There are many benefits to including a gamified learning environment within a classroom including that it allows for students to learn through failure, and provides many different paths for student success.(1) Previous studies on gamified learning environments have shown improvement in student’s engagement in classrooms, as well as learning gains (2,3) although there has been little work done on the effect gamified learning environments can have on student motivation. In this study, two classes of freshman engineering students completed their homework through the use of a gamified homework platform. The gamified homework portal was designed around quests (or individual activities) allowing for students to select the quests that interested them the most in the pursuit of achieving a final point score. Quests were scaffolded to ensure that students were meeting the minimum learning objectives for the course and progressively being exposed to content of higher difficulty. Students were also not penalized for failure and given unlimited opportunities to resubmit quests to achieve the benchmarks set for the course. As additional incentive, students could earn badges, awards and achievements based off of the quality of their work, and the quests they selected to complete. To determine the impact that the gamified homework platform had on students’ motivation, students were asked to complete the Jones MUSIC Inventory (4,5) and participate in an end of semester focus group. The Jones MUSIC Inventory measures academic motivation and provides a perspective on students’ motivation towards completing course objectives. 4,5 Focus group results were analyzed using a grounded emergent qualitative analysis approach by two analysts. The categories were then cross-referenced with the Jones MUSIC model (4,5) to determine alignment of the categories observed with students’ academic motivation. Overall, the results have shown that the gamified learning environment had relatively neutral impact on students’ academic motivation towards homework