This literature review explores the main causes and effects of absenteeism in a post-secondary educational context, as well as strategies that can potentially be used by such educational institutions to tackle absenteeism. With this aim, the literature review defines absenteeism in post-secondary educational institutions, highlights its main causes, possible effects, as well as examples of practice and recommendations on how this phenomenon can be curbed. Given the complex and multifactorial nature of the phenomenon, absenteeism cannot be tackled by simple intuition-based methods and is not a one-tool fix. Not only that effectively addressing absenteeism requires a combination of strategies and involves various actions and stakeholders, but also, there is evidence that strategies where educators show more interest in individual students life and behaviour have a significant effect on students attendance.

Gamification is a relatively new concept that uses game elements in a non-game context. The use of gamification in education appears to increase students' cognitive load and performance levels. The objectives of this research were to identify a students profile, their gaming and learning preferences, and to explore students expectations of gamification in education. A descriptive study was opted for, and an online questionnaire was carried out with level 1-6, full-time, MCAST students. The survey included 271 students, with an average age of 204 years old, most of whom were Maltese (81.9%; 2, p= .000). The majority of students think that the lectures can be turned into a fun game (63.8%; 2, p= .000) and they like that idea (71.6%; 2, p= .000). The favourite type of games for the male participants in this study were first-person shooters, while for the female participants, it was intelligence and quiz/trivia games 2 (8, N = 271) = .69.764, p = .000. Students reported that they might feel more involved in a lecture that makes use of game elements (34.3%; 2, p= .000), and if a specific task is gamified, they would probably feel more competitive and eager to complete it (43.9%; 2, p= .000). When asked which specific game delivery platform has the potential to improve their studies the most, the largest share of students responded with web-based learning platforms (44.3%; 2, p= .000). In conclusion, understanding the students profile allows for more personalisation of teaching activities. Activities can be customised based on students learning preferences, with learning instruction guided by the students expectations of what it would be like to make classes game-like, i.e., gamification.

Gamification is a motivational tool that is designed to improve an already existing process and, for an educational gamified system to deliver the intended goal, it is of greatest importance to identify users learning and gaming background and their behaviour in related situations, but also, their expectations from gamified interaction that is intended for specific purposes. As a part of Malta College of Arts Science and Technology (MCAST) pre-implementation strategy, this study employs a mixed methods approach. The study was conducted in the March-July of 2019 period, and it involved 74 Level 2-3 MCAST, chosen by convenience sampling. The findings show that participants prefer playing in cooperative digital game contexts, and, generally play more than 3 times a week. 64.38% of respondents like the idea of learning via games, while the majority of students (48.65%) has a habit of replaying a game once they have finished it. In the classroom, students would like to see more lecturers who adapt to their level, have more interaction both between themselves and the lecturer, and more activities integrated. In addition, students suggested involving more practical aspects within the more abstract theoretical modules in order to help them assimilate their knowledge. Among those students, in the sample, who play digital games, explorers and socializers are the prevalent player types, with a few strong killers. With this in mind, the following rounds of research will explore in more details students a) learning and gaming patterns, b) and factors leading to student satisfaction in order to adequatlly incorporate in the system those game mechanisms that prevalent player types find the most stimulating.Highlights:The majority of participants prefer playing digital games.The majority of participants prefer playing in cooperative mode.The majority of participants play digital games more than 3 times a week.The majority of participants likes the idea of learning through games.The participants call lecturers to adapt to their level; involve more interaction both between themselves and the lecturer in the classroom, and have more activities integrated. Participants call for blending more practical aspects within the more abstract theoretical modules in order to help them assimilate their knowledge. Among the participants who play digital games prevalent player types are explorers and socializers.

Gamification is only successful if the key elements are joint and run in unity in favour of the user, and knowing game-playing characteristics of target audience is of utmost importance. This study aimed to identify the students' game-playing preferences and styles, considering the opportunity to implement gamification in education in a personalized way. A descriptive-normative survey involved 74 students of a Vocational Education and Training (VET) Institution, chosen by convenience sampling. The target audience of the research was students at the MQF introductory level A and B (17.6%), at MQF level 2 (40.5%) and at MQF level 3 (41.91%). Participants received a questionnaire about game-playing preferences and styles. Students’ average age was 18.31±0.776 years, 70.3% males and 29.7% females (p=0.001), and the majority were Maltese (79.7%; p=0.000). Most of the participants (72.9%) preferred digital games. Regarding the style of playing, students reported preferring a mix of single-player games and cooperative games (38.7%). The students responded that, when they re-play a game, they do so “because it is interesting” or they “like it” (15.82%) and most of them (64%) reported they liked the idea of learning through games. Thus, according to these findings, the students prefer to play in cooperative digital game contexts and most of them like the idea of learning through games because they believe that they can learn and have fun at the same time.

This systematic review critically explores the intervention design and findings of the experimental studies that were published between January 2012-December 2020 in a number of digital libraries and databases and had the effect of a gamified instruction on students’ learning outcomes in their focus, with the aim of identifying what constitutes success or the lack thereof in the given context. The found effect(s) of gamified instruction on students’ learning engagement and achievement are discussed in relation to the a) intervention design, its flaws and their potential impact on reported outcomes and b) prevalent practice in gamification research. The discussion is structured around data collection sources, sample size, and intervention duration, but also the characteristics of learning technology, learning approach, course content, type of games and game elements. This study proposes a list of categories to be included in the description of a study context so that it is possible to a) systematically organise research findings, b) filter the variety of findings via means of replication studies. c) recognise the variant effect on different sub-populations, and d) suggest the way forward when designing and implementing gamified instruction within specific conditions. Furthermore, the study highlights the necessity of approaching the topic through a mixed-method approach involving a more intensive tracking schedule with new assessment instruments and a larger number of participants that are longitudinal or at least of a longer duration in order to obtain more comprehensive findings.