Engaging Computer Science Students through Gamification in an Online Social Network Based Collaborative Learning Environment

Abstract

Gamification is the use of game mechanics such as rewarding points and achievement badges to engage target audience and encourage desired behaviors. Gamification has gained a great surge of interest in recent years as an effective approach to engage existing users and attract new users to web sites. In this paper, the use of gamification in engaging Computer Science students in an online social network based collaborative learning environment, called PeerSpace, is discussed. PeerSpace integrates a suite of Web 2.0 tools that promote student interactions on course-related topics as well as purely social matters. The design and implementation details of various gamification schemes are presented. An assessment of the effectiveness of the schemes is discussed

Gamification: The effect on student motivation and performance at the post-secondary level

“…Twelve out of 19 studies reported a positive impact on student motivation as a result of gamification (Abramovich et al, 2013;Barata et al, 2013;Charles et al, 2011;deMarcos et al, 2014;Dominguez et al, 2013;Gåsland, 2011;Goehle, 2013;Li et al, 2013;McDaniel et al, 2012;Mekler et al, 2013a;Mekler et al, 2013b;O'Donovan et al, 2013). Elements of gamification such as points, badges, leaderboards and levels provide feedback and encouragement to learners.…”

“…As shown in Table 2, levels were reported in eight of 19 studies (Barata et al, 2013;Berkling & Thomas, 2013;Goehle, 2013;Li et al, 2013;Mayer & Johnson, 2010;Mekler et al, 2013b;Turner et al, 2013;Watson et al, 2013). To implement levels, users must gain points.…”

“…Three studies reported increased student participation (Barata et al, 2013;Charles et al, 2011;Li et al, 2013) and lecture attendance (Barata et al, 2013;Charles et al, 2011) as a result of gamification. Increased student attendance has been shown to correlate positively with improved student performance (Adegoke, Salako, & Ayinde, 2013).…”

“…As shown in Table 2, points were examined in 11 of 19 studies (Barata et al, 2013;Berkling & Thomas, 2013;Charles, Charles, McNeill, Bustard, & Black, 2011;Dominguez et al, 2013;Gåsland, 2011;Li et al, 2013;Mayer & Johnson, 2010;Mekler et al, 2013a;Mekler et al, 2013b;Meyer, 2008;O'Donovan, Gain & Marais, 2013) and are the basis of many gamified elements such as leaderboards and levels (Mekler et al, 2013a). Points can be awarded for a wide variety of tasks such as completing quizzes, attending lectures, taking part in class exercises, solving puzzles, creativity in assignments (Charles et al, 2011;O'Donnell et al, 2013), completing practice questions, or correct answers (Mekler et al, 2013a).…”

“…Leaderboards were tested in 10 of 19 studies (Barata et al, 2013;Charles et al, 2011;de-Marcos et al, 2014;Dominguez et al, 2013;Hanus & Fox, 2015;Li et al, 2013;McDaniel et al, 2012;Mekler et al, 2013b, O'Donovan et al, 2013Turner et al, 2013) examined as depicted in Table 2. Leaderboards create competition and a sense of belonging to a similar-minded group (O'Donnell et al, 2013).…”