skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Towards Activity-Centered Gamification Design
Gamification is increasingly advocated as a solution to motivational challenges across learning activities. However, given a particular learning activity, the question of how to choose relevant motivational affordances and how to incorporate them within the activity in order to evoke the desired motivational effect remains an open problem. To address this gap, we propose an activity-centered design framework for gamifying learning activities. The framework is driven by the motivational factors associated with the activity to be gamified and implies identifying potential motivators and demotivators with the intent to guide the selection of relevant motivational affordances. The purpose is to enable a gameful experience by choosing motivational affordances that are in congruence with the motivators while curbing the effect of demotivators. The application of the framework is illustrated by a case study complemented by an empirical evaluation.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1821189
PAR ID:
10190624
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE 2019)
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; (, 25th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2022))
    Auer, M.E.; Pachatz, W.; Rüütmann, T. (Ed.)
    Gamification, the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, has become a promising strategy for enhancing learners’ motivation, engagement, and performance. However, our understanding of how the motivational affordances of gamification interact with the motivational drivers engendered by a learning activity is still limited. In most of the studies the focus is on the role of the incorporated gamification elements, disregarding motivational factors associated with the learning activity, such as perceived utility, expectancy of success, and needed effort to complete it. Expectancy-Value model offers a practical method for estimating the level and quality of learners’ motivation towards a particular task as it accounts for both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Employing this model can shed a new light on the motivational potential of educational gamification. Accordingly, in this paper we present experiments with Expectancy-Value-Cost scale (EVC) as an instrument for estimating the level of students’ motivation towards a gamified learning activity. We studied empirically how the motivational factors measured by EVC relate to the level of learners’ engagement in gamified practicing and assessed their predictive qualities. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; (, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education)
    null (Ed.)
    Abstract The majority of user models in gamification are based on user’s gamer personality. However, the motivations driving individuals’ learning behavior differ from their motivations when playing. There is no evidence that learners’ experiences in gamified activities are described by these models. Thus, an alternative model capturing learners’ motivational experiences and relating them to the motivational mechanisms of gamification design is needed. To fill this gap we propose a context-specific typology which groups learners based on their type of motivation and perceived ability associated with a learning activity. The purpose of this proposal is to provide a framework for connecting each learner’s type to a set of motivational affordances to which that type is susceptible. Facilitating the task of selecting motivational affordances matching learner’s type aids the design of customized gamified learning. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; (, 21st Annual Conference on Information Technology Education)
    null (Ed.)
    Gamification – using game mechanics for affording gameful experiences in non-game contexts – is getting increased attention in the educational field. However, its motivational mechanisms, intended to enhance student learning, are still not sufficiently understood. In this paper, we present an empirical study on the use of one of the most popular gamification elements, badges. The goal is to shed some light on their impact on student engagement and motivation. The study results suggest that while the badges improve student engagement and academic performance, they do not affect the student’s intrinsic motivation. However, we speculate that they foster internalization of the learning-related extrinsic motivators’ values, which results in increased engagement in the learning activities. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; (, 9th Educational Data Mining in Computer Science Education (CSEDM) Workshop at EDM2025)
    Akram, Bita; Shi, Yang; Brusilovsky, Peter; Price, Thomas; Koedinger, Ken; Carvalho, Paulo; Zhang, Shan; Lan, Andrew; Leinonen, Juho (Ed.)
    The “Doer Effect” is the empirical phenomenon observed as a stronger correlational relationship between students who complete more activities and their course learning outcomes compared to those who complete fewer activities or watch fewer videos. In this paper, we extended prior evidence of a “Doer Effect” to investigate how doing more can be related not only to better learning outcomes but also to motivational ones. Specifically, we investigated persistence as the student’s willingness to continue working on course activities. We used secondary analyses of data from MOOC that taught Advanced Placement (AP) Introductory Java Programming to high school students using the digital textbook platform RuneStone. Although we failed to identify a doer effect in learning outcomes, our analyses do suggest that completing more activities is related to longer persistence in the course than reading more pages or watching more videos. This effect does not appear to be limited to highly motivated students. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; (, International Journal of Serious Games)
    Gamification in education primarily aims at increasing learners’ motivation to engage in given learning activities and thereby promote desired learning behaviors. Despite its potential and the increasing number of gamified systems their success is still limited due to the fact that gamifying learning is a challenging process. Part of the challenge stems from an insufficient understanding of the motivational mechanisms of gamification on learners’ experience and from the insufficient attention to factors contributing to gameful experiences and promoting sustainable engagement.  In addition, there is limited empirical evidence on motivational influences driving students to participate in gamified learning activities. Another factor slowing down the progress of successfully gamified applications is the scarcity of tools that would enable instructors to design and implement gamified activities as part of their instructional strategy.  In an attempt to address these challenges, the present paper examines the difficulties inherent in the gamification of educational activities and how the OneUp gamification platform can support instructors in overcoming them with the mechanisms it provides for affording gameful experiences and sustainable engagement. To add to the understanding of the motivational influences towards gamified learning activities, the paper presents a preliminary study of student motivation to use OneUp for out-of-class practicing in a gamified Data Structures course. The outcomes of this study are based on data collected through a focus group, survey data, and system logs. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email