Engaging Minds – How Gamified Chatbots Can Support and Motivate Learners in Digital Education

Abstract

Assessment of source code in university education has become an integral part of grading students and providing them valuable feedback on their developed software solutions. Thereby, lecturers have to deal with a rapidly growing number of students from heterogeneous fields of study, a shortage of lecturers, a highly dynamic set of learning objectives and technologies, and the need for more targeted student support. To meet these challenges, the use of an automated programming assessment system (APAS) to support traditional teaching is a promising solution. This paper examines this trend by analyzing the experiences of lecturers and students at various universities with an APAS and its impact over the course of a semester. In doing so, we conducted a total number of 30 expert interviews with end users, including 15 lecturers and 15 students, from four different universities within the same country. The results discuss the experiences of lecturers and students and highlight challenges that should be addressed in future research.