Gamification techniques in Maritime English online courses: Motivating learners in virtual environments

Abstract

The research is conducted to solve the problem of students' motivation while m-learning, namely while Maritime English online courses on LMS MOODLE. Gamification techniques are listed in the paper. The advantages of m-learning with gamification are described. The following activities are listed to motivate and engage students in Maritime English m-learning: leaderboards, badges, points, levels, missions, maps, and scenarios. The research was conducted in higher maritime education institutions in Ukraine. The research results show the positive impact of gamification while m-learning on the formation of communicative competence of future ship engineers. The prospects of further research can be seen in analysing other m-learning techniques to raise the quality of Maritime English online courses (e.g. game-based learning, problem-based learning).