GamiCSM

Abstract

The potential of gamification to improve users' motivation and engagement influenced many researchers and professionals to analyse its effects in educational settings. While some studies focus on adapting game elements according to demographic and behavioural information of the user profile, few of them explore (or even consider) cultural factors. These cultural factors play an essential role in our societies' development. Thus, this work proposes and evaluates a representative model to understand better the relationship between cultural factors and gamification within educational domains, namely the Gamification for Cultural Studies Model (Gam-iCSM). Through a qualitative approach, we map Hofstede's cultural dimensions (i.e., power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, long/short-term orientation, and indulgence/restraint) with a Taxonomy of Gamification Elements for Education (TGEEE), a recent model for gamification elements for educational environments. Furthermore, we adapted a survey to evaluate the resultant model with eight domain experts in gamification and education. Based on this evaluation, we are able to propose a starting model, containing some additional refinements and improvements. Thus, the main contributions of this work are: (i) the first model to relate game elements and cultural dimensions within educational domains and (ii) a state-of-the-art empirical study intersecting culture, gamification and education.

Exploring the impact of gamification and the Flippity tool in teaching Brazilian culture: insights and recommendations

“…As we saw in related works [Toda et al 2020a]; [Rodrigues and Isotani 2023] e [Toda et al 2020b] the teacher must take into account the reality of the students, their habits, and previous knowledge. In this report, we seek to meet all these needs, so that there is a better use and engagement of the students.…”

“…In their study [Rodrigues and Isotani 2023] they tell us about the importance of personalizing gamification according to users and content to be addressed within the school context, so that there is better engagement and students feel more motivated to carry out the proposed activities. It is worth mentioning that [Toda et al 2020a] in their study recommends that to achieve positive effects it is necessary to follow good design practices, with a broad focus on the characteristics of users and their cultural context to avoid demotivation and unwanted behavior.…”