Gamification In Higher Education Research Articles

A mobile game-based C programming language learning: results of university students' achievement and motivations

Teaching and learning process has been modified from lecture-based learning to be more interesting and motivating learning environment with the use of modern technologies and variety of technological tools. The educational computer game, which is one of the effective learning tools, has been used to support teaching and to motivate learning in various subjects. With less computer game in higher education, especially on C programming language course, this study developed a mobile game for simulating the compiler working with human daily life situations for the C programming language learning. The developed game was conducted on university students for evaluating the overview of students' C programming language motivation and learning achievement. Moreover, this study examined the differences of motivation and learning achievement between students who had experience and inexperience with educational computer games.

Acquisition of emotional competences by means of the development and use of Serious Games in higher education

En este estudio realizado en una institucion argentina de educacion superior se comparan tres estrategias pedagogicas: la tradicional (basada en resolver problemas), el desarrollo de juegos serios y el uso de estos. Se utilizo una metodologia mixta con ejecucion secuencial explicativa. Los datos cuantitativos se recogieron usando pruebas objetivas y el TEIQue (Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire). Por conveniencia se realizo un muestreo incidental no probabilistico (tradicional: n=27; desarrollo de juegos: n=25; uso de juegos: n=25). Despues se recabaron datos cualitativos mediante 16 entrevistas. Los resultados del analisis indican que existen diferencias significativas a favor de las estrategias ludicas.

Implementation of Gamification in Heis in the Republic of Macedonia

The focus of the paper is gamification, which has been researched typically through its’ implementation in the business sector. Our research follows the implementation of gamification in Higher Educational Institutions, since the same concepts and benefits that function in the workplace, should function with similar effect or yield even better results with students. The topic of gamification in education is a relatively novel one, with only a few papers addressing it in detail, especially on the Balkan region. The contribution of the paper is two-sided, i.e., through primary and secondary research, recommendations for optimal ways of implementing gamified systems in higher education is given, and according to the obtained data, present statistics and implications for implementing gamification in HEIs in the Republic of Macedonia. The core elements and mechanics of gamification are researched and adjusted in the context of education, as well as improving existing implementations of gamification in HEIs through the introduction of cycles of interest (rewards for encouraging a certain type of behavior of students) and cycles of progression (a stepwise increase in the weight of the activities).
 The results of the primary research demonstrate that the concept of gamification offers great potential advantages for students and teaching staff, primarily by increasing the level of intrinsic motivation and the degree of completion of subjects. The paper uncovers the gamification mechanics and elements that would work best for HEIs in Macedonia, as well as outline the biggest motivational problems students have when navigating through the educational process. Through the primary research conducted, the first public available information on the introduction of gamification in higher education in the Republic of Macedonia is made available.

GAMIFICATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: EXPERIENCE OF POLAND AND UKRAINE

Open access to modern information technologies generates a new type of society that increases the productivity and competitiveness of any country in the world market and requires significant changes in the education system. One of the most innovative approaches in education is gamification of learning which has considerable capabilities to increase students’ enjoyment, interest and engagement in the study. In this regard, the aim of our research is to analyse the use of gamification in higher education institutions of Poland, Ukraine and to study the effectiveness of using Kahoot as one of gamification technologies in teaching English for specific purposes (ESP) to students in a technical university. As shown by the results of the study, Poland has considerable experience in the use of computer games in higher education, whereas Ukraine is only beginning to implement these technologies in learning. An experimental study of the use of Kahoot platform in ESP classes at university level, which employed the methods of testing, observation and questioning, showed the effectiveness and expediency of this technology, as the students demonstrated a higher achievement rate, more active engagement and deeper motivation for learning.

Fun and games in higher education: an analysis of UK student perspectives

ABSTRACTIn an increasingly neoliberal Higher Education sector, there is increased pressure on institutions to enhance learner engagement and student satisfaction. Many academics believe that students expect their university learning experiences to be enjoyable, and discourses of game-based learning reflect this, with a dominant narrative highlighting the fun of educational games. Whether students expect learning to be fun or see a relationship between fun and games is under-explored. To address this, we investigated student perceptions of fun in Higher Education using a thematic network analysis based on data from 37 in-depth interviews with undergraduate students. Here, we highlight five themes that encapsulate what students perceive to be a fun learning experience: stimulating pedagogy; lecturer engagement; a safe learning space; shared experience; and a low-stress environment. These aspects are not unique to games, and we conclude by considering the relationship between educational games and fun, and alternative playful approaches.

An Overview of the Current Trends on the Use of Gamification in Higher Ed Engagement and Recruitment

Gamification is defined as: the process of adding games or game-like elements to something (such as a task) so as to encourage participation. There are many examples of gamification in higher education; games have been shown to motivate students to engage more with their study tasks. Even though the use of gamification (as an engagement and recruitment strategy in higher ed) has been utilized since 1999 (Fairmont State), only a select few universities have leveraged gamification as a tool for engagement and recruitment over the last 18 years. The strategy overall has not garnered much research but since gaming culture is now more ubiquitous than ever (67 percent of American households own a device used to play video games) it is inevitable that more gamified-based recruitment strategies will start to take shape in the near future.
 
 
 
 

Gamified learning in higher education: A systematic review of the literature

The ubiquitous presence of technology in classrooms has inspired a shift from traditional classroom lectures to integrated digital learning environments. These interactive learning environments present the opportunity to evolve the teaching process through the incorporation of game elements that have been shown to capture user attention, motivate towards goals, and promote competition, effective teamwork, and communication. Gamification and game-based learning systems aim to bring these benefits into the learning and teaching process. This paper presents a systematic literature review of game-based learning systems, frameworks that integrate game design elements, and various implementations of gamification in higher education. A systematic search of databases was conducted to select articles related to gamification in education for this review. The objective is to identify how gamified learning systems can be used and categorize its usefulness in higher education. The findings of this literature review allow higher education universities to employ and explore efficient gamified learning and teaching systems to improve student engagement, motivation, and performance.

Student acceptance of educational games in higher education

Studies of educational games (EG) are rapidly growing in recent years due to its promising potential for education. New generation are highly engaged with games technology resulted with many games produced from industry or research. Despite that, student acceptances on games are still low due to issues from both student and games side including effectiveness, matching with syllabus as well as games design. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the factors that contribute to student acceptance of EG in order to produce a better game.This study proposed and validated games acceptance framework with six factors. Data was collected with 180 university students and analyze using descriptive and inferential analysis. Learning Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Attitude and Enjoyment were found significant. Games designers can leverage the issues concern with students in developing better games.

Evaluating student perceptions of using a game-based approach to aid learning: Braincept

Gamification in higher education has steadily been gaining traction as a useful addition to the diversity of learning resources available to both teachers and students. We have invented a card-based, role-playing team game called ‘Braincept’ to help aid pharmacology learning for medical students. The aims of the current study are to determine whether the students who played the game perceived any benefit to their pharmacology learning and to gauge any learning gain as a result of playing the game. Here, we present questionnaire data and thematic analysis collected from students who played Braincept along with our data on learning gain associated with play. Our data show that this style of gamified learning has a positive effect on student confidence in handling pharmacological knowledge and that there was measurable learning gain after playing the game.

Can Gamified Assessment Replace Traditional Tests?

This paper analyzes the potential of gamified tests as a replacement for conventional tests, and the benefits and challenges of the application of gamification in universities and colleges. It looks into the pros and cons of the use of gamification in higher education, reviews the application of gaming elements in assessments and suggests that the incorporation of gamified activities in some of the practical tasks in the classroom helps to develop and nurture the students’ practical competences. The article concludes that although the potential of gamified assessment cannot be ignored, the idea that gamification can result in the mastering of the theoretical concepts has not been proven.

Research on Efficiency of Applying Gamified Design into University’s e-Courses: 3D Modeling and Programming

Research presented in this paper represents a further step towards proving the efficiency of gamification in higher education. Our research was conducted within two higher education institutions and includes full-time and part-time students who enrolled in the courses 3D modeling and Programming. Based on the research results, three hypotheses were tested. These hypotheses give a better insight into some psychological phenomes. The first hypotheses tested the level of knowledge in experimental and control groups for all students who achieved a minimum of 50% score in the pre-test. Our results confirmed the existence of statistically significant difference in the benefit of the experimental group. The other two hypotheses are spreading results even more. We analyzed 50% of the highest ranked and also 50% of the lowest ranked students’ score with the use of t-test. Based on our analysis of the average number of points on the post-test for participants with the lowest ranking we found no statistically significant difference. On the other hand, the same analysis for participants with the highest ranking shows, with statistically significant difference, that the experimental group achieved notably better score.

Student attitudes to games-based skills development: Learning from video games in higher education

Qualitative interview data is presented in support of previously-published quantitative evidence that suggests commercial video games may be used to develop useful skills and competencies in undergraduate students. The purpose of the work described here was to document the attitudes of those students involved in the quantitative study and to explore how the game-based intervention was perceived. To this end, student attitudes to the use of specified games to develop communication skill, resourcefulness and adaptability are examined. A broadly positive perception of the games' efficacy for skills development is revealed, and the aspects of game play that students believe contribute to skills development are discussed. These aspects include the need to communicate with team mates in order to succeed, and the fluid, unpredictable nature of in-game challenges. It is suggested that while the games played an important role in skills development, interaction between students, facilitated by game play, was also a significant factor.

Education of managers in the area of accountancy

Education of managers in the area of accountancy The paper highlights the most important factors in the process of passing on knowledge about a compa-ny’s financial situation, or accountancy in general. Those factors are general conditions relevant for every educational process, as well as specific ones characteristic of a particular field of knowledge. The article also describes an innovative game created by one of the authors for the purpose of basic education, and it analyzes the possibilities and limitations of that tool in the educational process. The conclusions were made based on a series of tests of the game which are described in this article, and which were conducted among professors and students of accountancy, as well as active businesspeople. In the last section of the paper, the authors suggest possible uses of the game in higher education, in the research of accountancy, as well as in primary and secondary education.

Development of Farm simulation application, an example for gamification in higher education

The online applications and game are related to continuous innovation, technical and technological advances in last decades. Our digital society based on the technological advancements, because the changing consumer requirements needs a quick and new solutions in the field of technology. We created an online farm simulation application named Crownking. The program is based on PHP language and has a MySQL database. The game has a huge similarity to real life because it have factors which can directly affect the growth of the crops, such as the weather, soil quality, soil maintain and the player’s profession. Our main goal is help the students in learning with the help of gamification, and moreover to introduce the agriculture to the young generation, and give some spirit about farmer's life.

Supporting Educational Games in Higher Education: the Creation and Implementation of Custom Game Engine for a University

Interest towards implementing educational gaming into courses within higher education continues to increase, but it requires extensive amounts of resources to create individual games for each course. This paper is a description of a university’s effort to create a custom educational game engine to streamline the game development process within the university. This paper includes a discussion of the institutional effort, the game engine itself, as well as a case study of a game created with the custom FLAG (an HTML5 game engine built to run 2D games on any HTML5 compatible device) game engine to illustrate how the FLAG engine can simplify the game development process and promote game-based learning in higher education.

Gamification in the Business Communication Course

Interest in gamification in higher education has been growing steadily in the past decade. Using games and game elements has been shown to increase student engagement, motivation, and autonomy. This article draws parallels between game elements, instructional design, and the teaching of business and professional communication. It suggests ways that teachers can incorporate game elements into their courses (or perhaps identifies ways in which readers are already doing so without realizing it). The article concludes with an example of how game elements are used in the design of an introductory business communication course.

The Use of Gamification in Higher Education: An Empirical Study

The use of gamification in higher education has increased considerably over the past decades. An empirical study was conducted in Hungary with two groups of students to investigate their behaviour while interacting with Kahoot! The results were analyzed based on the technology acceptance model. They indicate that the positive attitude, good experience and ease of availability contributed to improve student performance which strengthened the intention to use the application. Besides these, the perceived utility was positively influenced by the ease of use as consequence.

Essential features of serious games design in higher education: Linking learning attributes to game mechanics

AbstractThis paper consolidates evidence and material from a range of specialist and disciplinary fields to provide an evidence‐based review and synthesis on the design and use of serious games in higher education. Search terms identified 165 papers reporting conceptual and empirical evidence on how learning attributes and game mechanics may be planned, designed and implemented by university teachers interested in using games, which are integrated into lesson plans and orchestrated as part of a learning sequence at any scale. The findings outline the potential of classifying the links between learning attributes and game mechanics as a means to scaffold teachers’ understanding of how to perpetuate learning in optimal ways while enhancing the in‐game learning experience. The findings of this paper provide a foundation for describing methods, frames and discourse around experiences of design and use of serious games, linked to methodological limitations and recommendations for further research in this area.

An Overview and Study on the Use of Games, Simulations, and Gamification in Higher Education

This article examines the use of both game-based learning (GBL) and gamification in tertiary education. This study focuses specifically on the use of games and/or simulations as well as familiarity with gamification strategies by communication faculty. Research questions concentrate on the rate, frequency, and usage of digital and non-digital games and/or simulations in communication courses, as well as instructor familiarity with gamification. A survey was constructed with questions emerging from the game-based learning and gamification literature. It was distributed to communication faculty at public institutions of higher education in a southern state. In this context, the author argues that while the term gamification is novel, the approach is not. Based on the results, current gamification strategies appear to be a repackaging of traditional instructional strategies.

Modifying an information literacy game for outreach events

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss how to use a web-based library game as an outreach tool at events. Games in higher education are a trend that libraries have used for information literacy but less frequently for outreach. Although there are relatively few examples of the use of games in academic library outreach events, games have the potential to be excellent outreach tools by engaging students and presenting them with the opportunity to change their perceptions of the library. Design/methodology/approach – The University of North Dakota (UND) Libraries successfully connected with students at an outreach event by using a modified version of the Information Literacy Game originally developed by the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). UND Librarians created specific technical modifications and an event workflow, highlighted here, that other academic libraries can adapt for use at outreach events to attract both students who are and those who are not typically users of the library. Findings – The information literacy game, with some specific technical changes, is customizable in relatively inexpensive ways that allow librarians from institutions of all sizes to engage students with a game at outreach events. Originality/value – Games, especially Web-based games, have not previously been used in outreach events. The literature on the use of games in information literacy sessions but outreach is an even more logical fit for gaming. This paper presents a practical, value-oriented method for academic libraries to modify an information literacy game for use in outreach.