Although many CS courses require extensive practice, a large number of students show low motivation for engaging in non-graded, self-directed learning activities. To address this problem, we developed OneUp – a highly configurable course gamification platform that enables instructors to tailor the gamification features to fit their preferences. This paper presents a case study of using OneUp to gamify a Data Structures course. The focus is on encouraging students’ self-study and better engagement with out-of-class online practicing. We describe the utilized game elements - badges, leaderboard, virtual currency, and learning dashboards, and provide a descriptive analysis of their use. The results of our evaluation show that this gamification intervention has been well received by the students, resulting in significantly increased student engagement and out-of-class practicing and in a reduced failing rate.
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Do Badges Increase Student Engagement and Motivation?
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.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1821189
- PAR ID:
- 10290885
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 21st Annual Conference on Information Technology Education
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 81 to 86
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3368308.3415393
