Abstract

Gamification is the utilization of game concepts such as quests, leaderboards, and die rolling into educational material and classes (Deterding et al, 2011). Gamification has been used in a healthcare to increase engagement amongst employees (Nevin et al. 2014; Huang, 2013; Singh, 2012;). Taking that notion to education gamification can be used to increase engagement amongst students not only increasing retention but also communication between student and teachers (Hanus, & Fox, 2015; Muntean, 2011). This poster presents on a recent gaimification study on how gamification can increase engagement with teachers and students, and the challenges associated with implementing gamification into a course. The two main research questions from the study are 1) What is the perceived impact on course engagement and performance? And 2) what are the challenges in delivering a gamified course? Data was collected through two student questionnaires, one half way through the course (about week 7) and one at the end of the course (week 12).

The three main questions to be presented are 1) did the students enjoy the course overall?, 2) would students want to take more gamified courses? and 3) did the course hold my attention?. Results from the posed questions indicate that over 80% of students found the course enjoyable or very enjoyable, and that over 75% of students said they agreed or strongly agreed that they wanted to take more gamified courses. With regards to the challenges of gamification, over 75% of students disagreed or strongly disagreed that the course did not hold their attention saying that the majority of students were engaged in the course and content. Although gamifying education seems to be a new field, it is shown in our results that it can have a positive outcome. Gamification can be used to increase enjoyment among the students thus increased engagement between students and teachers.