Student experience of gamified learning: a qualitative approach

Student engagement and student outcomes in Higher Education continue to be the subject of academic concern, and thus receive research attention. To address these concerns, we aim to explore the use of gamification to enhance student engagement, and thereby improving student learning and performance. Gamification represents the use of game elements to enhance engagement in activities such as learning.  This paper highlights the use of game elements such as: leader boards, scores for activities, and multiplayer (group) activities.  The paper does this by exploring students’ learning journeys, as well as their experience of modules in which gamification had been introduced. Group-based competitive activities were introduced to modules undertaken by business students, student nurses, and paramedic students.  Students undertaking these modules were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews.  Twelve students drawn from the three disciplines took part in these semi-structured interviews, which were digitally recorded to enable production of accurate transcripts. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes from the interviews. To explain student responses and their learning experience, four themes were developed; challenge, difference, group processes, and competition. Students often presented themselves as enjoying challenge, although this was sometimes contrasted with enjoyment of ‘easy’ activities.  Challenge was presented not only as a motivational factor, but also sometimes as a barrier to success.  This sense of challenge was often conceptually linked to students’ perception of difference within their gamified learning, which was pedagogically distinct from their typical learning experience.  Most, but not all, expressed positive views of this difference.  As with the theme of challenge, discussion of difference could be both positive and negative.  Participants highlighted competition as a positive factor.  The competition between groups influenced some group processes.  Some students noted previous challenges involved in group-work, such as unequal work distribution.  Participants observed the potential for intra-group friction, while identifying the positive learning outcomes of group work.  Taken together, the analysis suggests that competitive group work is a beneficial strategy for enhancing student engagement and performance

Using Gameplay Patterns to Gamify Learning Experiences

Gamification refers to the use of gaming elements to enhance user experience and engagement in non-gaming systems. In this paper we report the design and implementation of two higher education courses in which ludic elements were used to enhance the quality of the learning experience. A game can be regarded as a system of organised gameplay activities, and a course can be regarded as a system of organised learning activities. Leveraging this analogy, analysing games can provide valuable insights to organise learning activities within a learning experience. We examined a sample of successful commercial games to identify patterns of organisation of gameplay activities that could be applied to a course design. Five patterns were identified: quest structure, strategic open-endedness, non-linear progression, orientation, and challenge-based reward. These patterns were then used to define the instructional design of the courses. As a result, courses were organised as systems of quests that could be tackled through different strategies and in a non-linear way. Students received frequent feedback and were rewarded according to the challenges chosen, based on mechanics common in quest-based games. The courses involved two lecturers and 70 students. Learning journals were used throughout the term to collect data regarding student perceptions on the clarity and usefulness of the gamified approach, level of motivation and engagement in the courses, and relevance of the activities proposed. Results show that students felt challenged by the activities proposed and motivated to complete them, despite considering most activities as difficult. Students adopted different cognitive and behavioural strategies to cope with the courses’ demands. They had to define their own team project, defining the objectives, managing their times and coordinating task completion. The regular and frequent provision of feedback was highly appreciated. A sense of mastery was promoted and final achievement was positively impacted by the gamified strategy

Cross-Level Moderation of Team Cohesion in Individuals’ Utilitarian and Hedonic Information Processing: Evidence in the Context of Team-Based Gamified Training

Firms currently use teams extensively to accomplish organizational objectives. Furthermore, gamification has recently attracted much attention as a means of persuading employees and customers to engage in desired behaviors. Despite the importance of teams and the growing interest in gamification as a persuasion tool, past researchers have paid little attention to team-based gamification from a multilevel perspective. Based on motivational consistency theories, we hypothesize that at the team level, team performance has a positive effect on team cohesion. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), we further hypothesize two cross-level effects in the context of team-based gamified training: first, that team cohesion positively moderates the relationship between utilitarian perceptions (i.e., perceived quality of learning) and attitude; and second, that team cohesion negatively moderates the relationship between hedonic perceptions (i.e., perceived enjoyment of learning) and attitude. We tested our research model using an enterprise resource planning (ERP) simulation game involving 232 participants in 78 teams. The results of ordinary least squares and hierarchical linear modeling analysis support our hypotheses. This study makes three substantive contributions to the team literature and to the ELM in the context of team-based gamified training. First, it theorizes and empirically tests the effect of team performance on team cohesion at the team level. Second, it extends the ELM by examining the cross-level moderation of team cohesion on human information processing. Third, it demonstrates that the utilitarian and hedonic aspects of information technology do not influence user attitudes equally

Motivation and Information Affordances Towards User Engagement in a Gamified System

Gamification is a growing phenomenon, and educational institutions have begun incorporating it into their existing information systems (IS) curriculum. This study seeks to examine how motivational affordances and information quality contribute to student engagement within gamified IS education. Drawing on the frameworks of affordances, information quality, and engagement, this study develops a conceptual model to explain motivational affordances and information quality and its satisfaction effects on students’ engagement in IS education. Our preliminary results show a contrary view that despite the challenges or competition evoked by gamification, it is more satisfying for students to continue using the gamified system. This research-in-progress paper is theoretically important because there are currently no widely accepted theoretical models linking motivational affordances, information quality, and engagement to gamified outcomes, and test the effect on students’ learning behaviours

Enhancing student learning experience with technology-mediated gamification: An empirical study

We evaluated the use of gamification to facilitate a student- centered learning environment within an undergraduate Year 2 Personal and Professional Development (PPD) course. In addition to face-to-face classroom practices, an information technology-based gamified system with a range of online learning activities was presented to students as support material. The implementation of the gamified course lasted two academic terms. The subsequent evaluation from a cohort of 136 students indicated that student performance was significantly higher among those who participated in the gamified system than in those who engaged with the nongamified, traditional delivery, while behavioral engagement in online learning activities was positively related to course performance, after controlling for gender, attendance, and Year 1 PPD performance. Two interesting phenomena appeared when we examined the influence of student background: female students participated significantly more in online learning activities than male students, and students with jobs engaged significantly more in online learning activities than students without jobs. The gamified course design advocated in this work may have significant implications for educators who wish to develop engaging technology-mediated learning environments that enhance students' learning, or for a broader base of professionals who wish to engage a population of potential users, such as managers engaging employees or marketers engaging customers

Enhancing student learning experience with technology-mediated gamification: An empirical study

We evaluated the use of gamification to facilitate a student- centered learning environment within an undergraduate Year 2 Personal and Professional Development (PPD) course. In addition to face-to-face classroom practices, an information technology-based gamified system with a range of online learning activities was presented to students as support material. The implementation of the gamified course lasted two academic terms. The subsequent evaluation from a cohort of 136 students indicated that student performance was significantly higher among those who participated in the gamified system than in those who engaged with the nongamified, traditional delivery, while behavioral engagement in online learning activities was positively related to course performance, after controlling for gender, attendance, and Year 1 PPD performance. Two interesting phenomena appeared when we examined the influence of student background: female students participated significantly more in online learning activities than male students, and students with jobs engaged significantly more in online learning activities than students without jobs. The gamified course design advocated in this work may have significant implications for educators who wish to develop engaging technology-mediated learning environments that enhance students' learning, or for a broader base of professionals who wish to engage a population of potential users, such as managers engaging employees or marketers engaging customers

Unravelling the Influence of Online Social Context on Consumer Health Information Technology (CHIT) Implementations

While health information technology research has examined a variety of topics (e.g., adoption and assimilation of technology within healthcare organizations, critical success factors), it has remained unclear how the uniqueness of the online context (e.g., users connecting with strangers for social and emotional support) influences consumer health information technology (CHIT) implementations. Towards this goal, this dissertation examines the influence of online social context on CHIT implementations and outcomes. Using theories from social psychology, this dissertation encompasses two empirical research essays. The first essay draws on the environmental enrichment concept to examine the influential role of the online social context of a gamified CHIT on its success. By surveying existing fitness technology users, we demonstrate the influence of the social context enabled by CHITs on behavioral adherence to exercise. The second essay draws on construal level theory to examine the influence of textual information (such as race, geographic location) in online patient communities on a user’s trust of the community and the system as well as their intentions to participate in them. Using randomized experiments, we identify some of the propinquity-related factors that influence a user’s trust in online patient communities. The key contribution of this dissertation is the advancement of our understanding of the important role played by the social context enabled by the CHITs

Artificial Intelligence Empowers Gamification: Optimizing Student Engagement and Learning Outcomes in E-learning and MOOCs

In this era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) growth, characterized by advances in the Large Language Models (LLMs) used by ChatGPT and Bard, this study examines the effects of gamification and Automatic Question Generation (AQG) on student engagement and learning outcomes in the context of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). AQG, implemented via a Moodle plugin, transforms conventional assessments into an interactive, gamified experience, leveraging the “test effect” to improve learning outcomes. Research with 100 fifth-graders in a primary and secondary school shows that gamified assessments significantly boost student motivation and learning outcomes compared with traditional methods. The custom Moodle plugin facilitates the AQG process, generating contextually relevant and grammatically correct Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) from course content. The result is a dynamic, personalized assessment experience aimed at optimizing student retention. This paper concludes by discussing the implications of the study for educators and highlighting potential directions for future research

Understanding hotel visitors’ motives to use hotel gamified applications

While hospitality has been one of the industries that have been keen to adopt and use various technologies, the proliferation of gamification application is still to materialise. It is therefore very interesting to investigate the potential benefits of gamified applications in the area of the hospitality industry by identifying the motives of individuals’ when they use a hotel-gamified application. Hospitality industry is becoming more and more competitive and surviving and marketing a destination has become a challenge, so in order to gain a competitive advantage, the use of modern technology is crucial for many destination-marketing organizations. Gamification can be applied in technology-mediated and non-technology-mediated contexts. Within technology-mediated contexts, gamification is more applicable due to the favourable environment that such context offers. Recent evolutions indicate that mobile devices are becoming travel buddies and their use is profoundly influencing the different phases of a travellers’ journey. Hence, it could be assumed, that a mobile hotel gamified application is now easier than ever to develop and succeed. Since fun has become the requirement to ensure continuous demands for many products or services, companies and organizations feel the need to involve fun in their offerings to secure continuity in consumption and use. Therefore, this study aims to understand the meaning of fun for individuals when they will use a hotel-gamified application, using visual material so the interviewees would have an idea of how a hotel-gamified application would look if it was in existence today based on the current definitions of gamification

Continuous learning at work: the power of gamification

PurposeThis literature review explores the potential of gamification in workplace learning beyond formal training. The study also highlights research gaps and opportunities for scholars to develop new theories and methodologies to enhance the understanding and application of gamification in workplace learning. It provides guidance for managers to use gamification to enhance learning and engagement. Ultimately, this review presents gamification as a promising field of study to increase individual and organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachLiterature review of 6625 papers in the timeframe 1990-2020, with an update to include papers published in 2023.FindingsThis article examines the impact of gamification beyond formal learning and its potential to enhance employee productivity and well-being in the workplace. While there has been extensive research on gamification in formal learning contexts, little is known about its impact on informal learning. The study argues that the context of gamification is crucial to extending its effects and discusses the role, antecedents and consequences of game design elements in the workplace. The article also explores how the learning context relates to employee learning during work. Further research is necessary to investigate the impact of individual characteristics on work experience and performance.Research limitations/implicationsIntended contribution of the present study is the development of a theoretical framework exploring the benefits of gamification in a work context.Practical implicationsFor practicing managers, this paper shows how to use gamification to increase workplace learning and employee engagement, not just in the context of formal learning-as some companies already do today-but also systematically, in the context of informal learning.Originality/valueThis study explores the impact of gamification on informal workplace learning and emphasizes the significance of the context of gamification in extending its effects to improve individual and organizational performance