An investigation into the effects of gamification on students’ situational interest in a learning environment

Abstract

As today’s students are born into digital technologies, educators must adapt to the growing changes in the edutechnological landscape. For the educators to thrive in their pedagogical endeavours, they need to be able to adopt these technological advancements into their teaching styles and approaches so to better meet the needs of their students. In support of this, gamification is becoming a popular topic in education today. Conceptually, gamification refers to the use of game mechanics in nongame contexts. Many researchers have found that the adoption and use of gamification tools such as Kahoot! has a positive impact on certain psychological aspects of the students’ learning process. These include increased levels of interest in and engagement with content, both of which are key in the overall motivation of students as a psychological construct. The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings from a study that sought to uncover the effects of employing a gamification platform in the teaching and learning processes at a university in Johannesburg, South Africa. Specifically, the study employed a quantitative approach to investigate the effect of gamification on the students’ situational interest. The analysis of data revealed that the concept of gamification has the potential of triggering and maintaining students’ situational interest, which serves as a foundation towards an engaged and motivated student.