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

Gamification of a To-Do List with Emotional Reinforcement

Gamification can change how and why people interact with software. A common approach is to use quantitative feedback to give users a feeling of progress or achievement. There are, however, other ways to provide users with motivation or meaning during normal computer interactions, such as using emotional reinforcement. This could provide a powerful new tool to allow the positive effects of gamification to reach wider contexts. This paper investigates the design and evaluation of a mobile to-do list application, 'Tamu To-Do', which utilises gamified emotional reinforcement, as seen in Figure 1. A week-long field study (N=9) recorded user activity and impressions with the application. The results supported emotional reinforcement's potential as a gamification strategy to improve user motivation and engagement

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

Dynamizing theory-based classes in the undergraduate degree programme in Translation and Interpreting studies: the use of Kahoot!

Kahoot! has emerged in the last years as a great tool to increase students’ participation and motivation as well as enhancing the teaching-learning process and foster cross-curricular competences such as problem-solving and analytical and synthesis skills.This study describes an experience based on Kahoot! implemented in two groups of students from the Translation and Interpreting degree of the University of Granada. The students were enrolled in a general translation course and, for most of them, this course was their first contactwith translation.Kahoot! quizzeswere used during the first part of the course, which comprises five theoretical topics focused on several aspects of Translation Theory and Linguistics. Five different Kahoot! quizzesformed by ten questions were preparedto cover all the theoretical topics of the course. Therefore, after the presentation of each topic students had to play a Kahoot!to check if they had acquired the different contents exposed during the class. The results of the quizzes were used toevaluate students’ academic performance as they accounted for 10% of their final mar

The potential use of augmented reality in gamification

The use of augmented reality (AR) and gamification in various fields is currently gaining popularity for its capability in engaging users.Gamification is a term that defines the use of game-based elements, such as game mechanics, aesthetics, dynamics, and game thinking in the non-game context environment.Meanwhile, AR is a technology that has an ability to overlap computer graphics onto the real environment.However, as a newly emerging concept, gamification seems to have some arguments related to its elements, concepts, and effectiveness in a similar intervention. Therefore, this paper discusses gamification. Although dozens of studies have implemented AR games, there is still an obvious lack in discussing and relating it to a gamified platform. Nevertheless, previous adaptation of games in AR seems that there are also potentials to utilise gamification and AR concepts and elements, as well as AR and AR games in brief.This paper also justifies several previous empirical studies in AR and gamification to look into its elements, research design, and the potentials of AR and gamification combinatio

Gamification in factory management education : A case study with Lego Mindstorms

Research oriented teaching in universities provides opportunities to support the student's desire to explore. A student's learning success can benefit from gamified project work, especially when students face self-guided learning processes in demanding educational activities. Gamification is defined as the use of game elements in a non-game context. Games offer the chance to improve the motivation of students, support group work, train communication skills and introduce the capacity for experimenting in safe environments. Therefore the learning effect of prospective engineers can be increased through the integration of Gamification into educational activities. This leads to higher student participation in university courses and encourages the development of the student's social, personal and technical competences. In this paper a game concept for teaching in universities is introduced focusing on the impartment of the state of the art on manufacturing for value creation, e.g. production planning and control. The concept covers a level based storyline with rules and goals using physical artefacts of Lego Mindstorms. Due to the modular characteristic of Lego, which supports creativity by having a high number of possible combinations, a “free playing space” for students is established. In groups, the students work in a highly problem oriented way, e.g. finding cost savings for their factory due to a changing market condition. Feedback in the sense of the success of student's strategies is given directly through the designed Lego model and its functionality

APPLICATION OF GAMIFICATION IN INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING: A CASE STUDY

Institution of higher educations has struggled to provide engaging method to learn programming although effort has been made by educators but often with limited success. The question is how best to teach introductory to programming for novices students is often not addressed properly. This is because learning programming for college students especially for new learners in programming present many challenges such as subject difficulty, lack of motivation in doing exercises, passiveness in class and diversity of student abilities. Since students often faced a lot of difficulties when learning introductory of programming, gamification has the potential to provide a way to promote students’ motivation and engagement while also providing feedback on the students’ level of competency of the learned material. Gamification is the process of incorporating game elements into education in an effort to increase student engagement.Thus, there appears to be a good fit between introductory of programming and gamification. Taking these elements into consideration, this paper seeks to apply the concept of gamification to semester 1 students taking Java Programming as the first level of programming subject.  Some best practices in gamification such as competitions, incorporating engaging games elements, scoring using rewards and levels, badges, providing feedback, and providing homework to encourage informal learning are going to be applied. Finally, several popular online applications such as Kahoot, Online Crossword Puzzle and Online Quiz were also designed to see the impact on these gamification tools towards learning of students. The game would be designed to have 3 levels that increase in difficulties with competition as a core element to increase student’s engagement. This paper would also seeks to design the  user evaluation form that can be  used to  determine the effects of applying gamification on the student’s engagement, motivation level, and understanding of the topic in introductory programming subject. Through the research findings it could provide a platform in formulating alternative ways besides the traditional teaching method for educators in creating educational programming games and applying it to teach novices in introductory programming subjects.&nbsp

Engaging Public Servants for Digital Disruption: a case report of a gamification tool for capacity building on digital strategies experienced in the context of Higher Education

The innovation skills gap has been singled out as one of the barriers to the development of digital government. Training of public servants, especially leaders, is therefore an essential vector for the development of initiatives in this field. On the other hand, the use of gamification methodologies in education has the potential to reinforce student motivation. This paper describes and evaluates the development and use of a gamification tool for the development of competences of ideation of policies and strategies of digital government, with special focus on the use of emerging technologies. The results show a range of benefits and point out the interest of extending this type of methodologies to public servants in general

Usando ClassDojo para motivar a participação de crianças nas aulas online de inglês durante a pandemia do Covid-19: um estudo de caso

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way the classes were conducted worldwide. Ecuadorian teachers were required to implement synchronously and asynchronously classes. Consequently, all the content was adapted to this new type of class. On the other hand, students have presented tiredness during classes, demotivation to learn, and unhappiness with this new modality. Studies have demonstrated the advantages of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) to motivate learners.  Method: This case study aimed to investigate the efficiency of ClassDojo to motivate Ecuadorian students' participation during the English online classes. A sample of 29 sixth-graders from a private school, ranging from 9 to 11 years old, participated in this research. The data were collected during four months of classes (August to November 2020) through tests (pre and post), interview, and teacher's journal. Results: After the implementation of the app, the participants presented a significant difference between the pre-test (M= 2.03, SD= 1.26) and post-test (M= 7.28, SD= 1.69) with a p = 0.00 and Cohen’s d=3.52. The results gathered from the pre and post-test revealed that ClassDojo motivated students' participation in class. Results from the interview showed students' positive opinions on the use of ClassDojo. Conclusions: This app allowed participants to learn, interact, and have fun at the same time. This research is addressed to teachers who have online classes and want to increase learners' participation.Introdução: A pandemia da COVID-19 mudou a forma como as aulas eram ministradas em todo o mundo. Os professores equatorianos foram obrigados a implementar aulas de forma síncrona e assíncrona. Consequentemente, todo o conteúdo foi adaptado para este novo tipo de aula. Por outro lado, os alunos, apresentam cansaço durante as aulas, desmotivação para aprender e infelicidade com a nova modalidade. Estudos têm demonstrado as vantagens do Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) para motivar os alunos. Método: Este estudo de caso teve como objetivo investigar a eficiência do ClassDojo para motivar a participação de alunos equatorianos durante as aulas online de inglês. Uma amostra de 29 alunos do sexto ano de uma escola particular, com idades entre 9 e 11 anos, participou desta pesquisa. Os dados foram coletados durante quatro meses de aulas (agosto a novembro de 2020) por meio de provas (pré e pós), entrevista e diário do professor. Resultados: Após a implementação do aplicativo, os participantes apresentaram diferença significativa entre o pré-teste (M = 2,03, DP = 1,26) e o pós-teste (M = 7,28, DP = 1,69) com p = 0,00 e d de Cohen = 3,52. Os resultados recolhidos do pré e pós-teste revelaram que o ClassDojo motivou a participação dos alunos nas aulas. Os resultados da entrevista mostraram as opiniões positivas dos alunos sobre o uso do ClassDojo. Conclusões: Este aplicativo permitiu aos participantes aprender, interagir e se divertir ao mesmo tempo. Esta pesquisa é dirigida a professores que têm aulas online e desejam aumentar a participação dos alunos