Issue 3 | Article 8


ABSTRACT

Strengthening student motivation and engagement has always been a huge challenge facing academics in the higher education sector. It has become an even greater challenge now that most students are members of the internet generation, becoming bored quickly and having variable attention spans. However, while technology is contributing to the problem of declining student motivation and engagement, it is also offering pathways to a solution. Edutainment is becoming an increasingly feasible and popular means of gaining and maintaining the attention of students. This article identifies and discusses some elements of gamification that can increase student motivation and engagement and therefore promote learning in higher education.

INTRODUCTION

According to Statista, in May 2022, 6.64 billion people (83.72% of the global population) owned a smartphone. Ericsson and The Radicati Group forecast that this number will grow to 7.33 billion (90.1% of total population) in 2025 (Turner, 2022). FORBES estimates that 80% of smartphone users (67% of the population) play games on mobile phones and nearly 50% (42% of the population) play games every day (Burmester, 2021).

The nature of education has changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, due mainly to increased use of mobile apps during the lockdown periods. Whether it is face-to-face (F2F), wholly online, or distance learning all participants in the education sector must accept this change in the learning environment. Academics, in particular, need to meet the challenge of learning about the new technologies and using them to entertain students, thus keeping them focused and engaged. Gamification is an important and widely used tool for motivating learners, and it can be applied to all age groups. Minecraft is currently the most popular computer game.

Edutainment
According to the School of Education at American University, edutainment is a form of media, games, toys, and experiences that mixes fun and learning to motivate students (College, 2022). It teaches students programming skills, as they design their own world within the game. Players compare their achievements and performances with those of their fellow participants.

Gaining the attention of students is a challenging task, but it can be made easier and more effective by using technology. Gamified learning activities create an environment that forces learners to become involved, drawing on the human survival-based instinct of wanting to win. Gamification is also an effective tool for providing instructions, goals, and feedback as well as for increasing interactions among students and between students and academics (Leonardou, 2022).

Intrinsic motivation for learning
For academics, it is challenging to design learning activities that promote sustained engagement by learners, especially when the latter have diverse backgrounds, experiences, and expectations. They can best meet the challenge when they use approaches that tap into the intrinsic motivation of students.

Intrinsic motivation refers to behaviours that are driven by internal rewards such as personal satisfaction, enjoyment, and the feeling of self-determination. It can come from a passion for a topic or the relevance of the topic to an important, everyday life skill. Intrinsic motivation is long-lasting and self-sustaining, ensuring learners stay focused and engaged for long periods.

Intrinsic motivation among students can take one or more of three forms:

  1. A desire to learn for the pleasure of learning.
  2. A desire to learn and engage for the pleasure and satisfaction of accomplishing a difficult task.
  3. A desire to experience stimulations, such as sensory pleasure, aesthetic pleasure, or emotional pleasure, that occur during the learning activity (Leonardou, 2022).


Gamification and student engagement
In recent years, gamification has become recognised as an important tool for promoting student engagement. As a result, mobile apps like Kahoot, Quizizz, Socrative, and Quizalize are becoming increasingly popular in the education industry. Their use in F2F and online classes enhances both physical and mental student engagement. Student engagement comprises three dimensions; cognitive, behavioural, and emotional. The relationship between the student and the educator is a major factor in achieving student engagement. Game elements like leader boards (a design element of gamification that lists scores being achieved by participants), badges, points, and levels generate engagement by creating a competitive environment for players (Rahman, 2019.

In 2014, an experiment was carried out on a cohort of 371 students: 114 in a gamified group, 184 in a social networking group, and 73 in a control group. The experiment showed that skills development was greater for students in the gamification and social networking groups than for those in the control group (de-Marcos, 2014). Both the influence and acceptance of game-based learning in education are growing (Subhash, 2018). However, there is still a lack of awareness among most academics of its ability to foster engagement among students (Rahman, 2019). Hence, the full potential for learning provided by the device our students hold in their hands is not being realised.

Introducing gamification in classes
The lead author of this article has been using leader boards to create a competitive environment in online classes at two higher education institutions in Sydney. In these classes, he has allocated a maximum mark for participation of between 5 and 10% of the total unit mark, depending on the nature of the practical tasks involved. For example, for the unit Corporate Accounting, only 5% of marks are awarded for class participation as it mainly involves undertaking tutorial activities during class time, while for the unit IT for Accountants 10% is allocated for participation, as this unit requires students to complete two individual assignments using different software platforms, namely Excel and Xero.

The author has also been using Kahoot! (a very popular online quiz platform with a mobile app option) in online classes during the lockdown as well as in F2F classes before and after the lockdown. He observed the following behaviour among his students when they play Kahoot!:

  • Even the most non-engaged student participates.
  • Students love using different, funny nicknames for themselves. Sometimes they have a big laugh at their own names. This has worked well as an ice-breaking activity before the quiz.
  • Every student wants to win. Sometimes they call out wrong answers, hoping other students will accept them and so achieve lower scores.
  • Students frequently ask, “Can we restart the game?” when they realise they have given too many wrong answers to have any chance of winning.

Picture 1: Exited students participating in Kahoot!

The picture above shows students participating in a game of Kahoot!. Many are standing up to play the game, despite five of the 13 students averaging less than 4 correct answers (from 10 questions) over the whole trimester. Leader boards have not created the same level of enthusiasm, but their use has increased student engagement.

Picture 2: Example of leader board

Motivation is a key ingredient to student success. The outcomes above demonstrate that the more immediate the rewards for participation the greater is the motivation of students to participate. For students who are bored with traditional approaches and not interested in learning in sage-on-the-stage environments, the introduction of content-rich games that provide immediate rewards can significantly increase intrinsic student motivation (Ferriz-Valero, 2020).

CHALLENGES/LIMITATIONS

This article addressed factors influencing the motivation of learners and ways in which motivation could be enhanced. Most likely, the use of gamification among IT-savvy academics will continue to increase. However, most academics are not IT specialists and are either not aware of what gamification has to offer or do not think it is an effective tool for promoting learning. The challenge is to help these academics learn about gamification and encourage them to explore its use in their classes.

CONCLUSION

The literature review contained in this article indicates that there are considerable benefits from using gamification in learning, such as increased student motivation and engagement, a more positive attitude toward learning, and improved academic performance. It makes a strong case for more research to be undertaken into the use of gamification learning in higher education. Such research would help identify game elements that are suitable for use in different learning environments and delivery modes.

 

REFERENCES

Angeliki Leonardou, M. R. (2022). Efect of OSLM features and gamifcation motivators on motivation in DGBL: pupils’ viewpoint. Smart Learning Environments(9). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-022-00195-w

Burmester, N. (n.d.). 7 Best Gamification Examples 2021. Retrieved from Gamify.com: https://www.gamify.com/gamification-blog/7-best-gamification-examples-2021

College, D. (2022, March 19). Nuñez Enterprise. Retrieved from What is edutainment? The past, present, and future of this innovative framework: https://www.nunezenterprise.com/post/what-is-edutainment-the-past-present-and-future-of-this-innovative-framework

lberto Ferriz-Valero, O. Ø.-J. (2020). Gamification in Physical Education: Evaluation of Impact on Motivation and Academic Performance within Higher Education. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124465

Luis de-Marcos, A. D.-d.-N. (2014). An empirical study comparing gamification and social networking on e-learning. Computers & Education, 82-91. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.01.012

Rafidah Ab Rahman, S. A. (2019). A Study on Gamification for Higher Education Students’ Engagement Towards Education 4.0. Intelligent and Interactive Computing, 491–502. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6031-2_5

Sujit Subhash, E. A. (2018). Gamified learning in higher education: A systematic review of the literature. Computers in Human Behavior, 192-206. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.05.028

Turner, A. (n.d.). How many phones are in the world? Retrieved from bankmycell.com: https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how


BIOGRAPHIES


Mohammad Akbar
is Assistant Professor and a member of the Academic Integrity Committee at UBSS, Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) and a member of the Australian Integrity Committee at Polytechnic Institute of Australia (PIA), and a PhD researcher at Universiti Malaysia Perlis. He has MBAs from universities in both Bangladesh and Australia. Mohammad has considerable experience in marketing and sales, especially in the Entertainment and Internet Service Provider (ISP) industries.


Mohammad Aminul Islam is Professor of Finance at Universiti Malaysia Perlis. He received his PhD from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Mohammad is a member of the Asian Academy of Management and the Malaysian Institute of Management and is an associate member of the Malaysian Finance Association. His research interests include research methodology, data analysis, fintech, entrepreneurship, block chain, blue economy, Islamic banking, and Sukuk. He has authored or co-authored five books, two book chapters, and more than 200 research papers.


Suraiya Ibrahim
is a Senior Lecturer in Management Accounting Practices at Universiti Malaysia Perlis and a Chartered Accountant of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). She holds a PhD (Management Accounting & Practices) from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Suraiya’s research interests include management accounting and control (MCS), performance management systems (PMS), governance, accountability and institutional sociology, and digital accounting. She has published articles in numerous academic journals and presented papers at domestic and international conferences.