Abstract
The importance of formal online education has been felt like never before because of the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers and academics are continuously experimenting with combinations of established pedagogies, tools, and technologies to enhance or sustain the student learning process and motivation. For this study, we have designed and developed a multi-player game called CrossQuestion to explore the combined effect of applying gamification and flipped classroom pedagogies using the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) model guidelines and its application in the obligatory IT foundation online course during the pandemic. We delivered this course to 79 undergraduate (mostly) non-IT students in Ajman University, UAE. Students were randomly divided into a non-gamified cohort (35 students gone through lecture-based instructions and paper-based assessments–Spring 2019-20–pre-COVID-19 face to face environment) and a gamified flipped classroom cohort (44 students, played the CrossQuestion game–Spring 2020-21–during COVID-19 online environment). We collected the survey data anonymously through our customized Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS) tool and then performed descriptive analysis, t-test, and regression analysis to address the research hypothesis. We found a significant relationship between learning motivational factors and learning effectiveness. We also found the positive influence of our game on students’ motivation.
Highlights
In January 2020, education around the world has seen multi-facet challenges due to COVID-19 (Pavlíková et al, 2021)
We performed a t-test to compare the final grades of the pre-COVID-19/Spring 2019-20 non-gamified cohort with the final grades of the during COVID-19/Spring 2020-21 gamified-flipped classroom cohort
The t-test results demonstrate that there was a significant difference in the scores for the gamified-flipped classroom cohort (M=79.4, Standard deviation (SD)=8.6) and non-gamified cohort (M=67.7, SD=6.8); t (77)=6.58. p-value
Summary
In January 2020, education around the world has seen multi-facet challenges due to COVID-19 (Pavlíková et al, 2021). A bigger challenge was the delivery of technical courses to students with a non-technical background in a digital synchronous environment. Students in these circumstances often find themselves overloaded and stranded. Whereas “flipped classroom” is an educational technique that consists of two parts: interactive group learning activities inside the classroom and direct computer-based individual instruction outside the classroom (Bishop & Verleger, 2013) We have applied this combination of gamification, flipped classroom pedagogies, to explore its effectiveness through our group-centered assessment game, the “CrossQuestion” for an online classroom environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The course covered basic IT topics such as introduction to IS and IT, e-business, ethical issues, e-commerce, security, telecommunication infrastructure, and global management
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