ERIC Number: EJ1190330
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Oct
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0266-4909
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Learning and Engagement in a Gamified Course: Investigating the Effects of Student Characteristics
Davis, K.; Sridharan, H.; Koepke, L.; Singh, S.; Boiko, R.
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, v34 n5 p492-503 Oct 2018
The current study investigated college students' experiences of a gamified informatics course. We surveyed 139 students aged 18-31 years (M = 20 years, SD = 1.5) enrolled in an undergraduate informatics course focused on social networking technologies. Surveys were conducted at 3 time points during the course (beginning, middle, and end). Overall, we found positive trends with respect to students' perceptions of gamification's impact on their learning, achievement, and engagement in the course material. Although students who played and identified variously with recreational games were more alike than not, we did uncover one notable difference with respect to how students' gaming frequency impacted their engagement in the course. Nongamers expressed somewhat less motivation to do well in the course than frequent gamers. For all other measures of engagement, however, nongamers appeared to be equally engaged by the gamified format of the course as gamers. There were virtually no differences between male and female students' perceptions of gamification. This study contributes new insight into the conditions under which gamification succeeds or fails in educational settings. These insights will be useful to designers and instructors of gamified learning environments as they seek to engage and support a variety of learners.
Descriptors: Learner Engagement, Information Science Education, Undergraduate Students, Social Networks, Student Attitudes, Computer Games, Trend Analysis, Academic Achievement, Learning Motivation, Computer Assisted Instruction, Instructional Design, Teaching Methods, Student Characteristics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A