Engaging Students in Learning Activities via Gamification Ideas: Integrating Theory into Practice

Description

"Despite our efforts to develop students’ attitudes, abilities, and achievements in our DEC learning platform, students often find it hard to maintain their engagement. Triggers connected to students’ motivation are key to sustaining their efforts in achieving the intended learning outcomes. Recent theoretical and practical development in gamification shows us a new way to stimulate students’ motivation, namely, by providing game-like dynamics in learning processes. By adding game elements to existing learning processes, the present project intends to give students a sense of accomplishment and to facilitate healthy competition, thereby increasing their engagement in learning activities. Several game mechanics, such as points, levels, badges (PLBs) and leaderboards, will be used to induce game-like dynamics in the courses. These game mechanics will provide students with granular and timely informational feedback and will allow them to track their records; they will also help students to set goals, join challenges, compete with others, and identify self-progress (Whitson, 2013). The results of this project provide meaningful insights into the effectiveness of design features for online learning platforms in training and education. Furthermore, the results will produce academic publications that explain the impact of gamification on students’ motivation and learning outcomes in educational settings."