Assessing the Impacts of Gamification on Students’ Motivation, Learning and Participation

Abstract

Gamification is an approach for motivating and engaging participants using game-like design elements. Integrating game-like design elements into educational context has the potential to increase students’ motivation and improve students’ academic outcome. Empirical studies on gamification have tested how one or several game design elements could influence student learning, motivation, and participation. There is a lack of empirical research on evaluating the effectiveness of a complete gamification design model. We propose to extend their research by developing a gamification design model based on motivation theories and empirical findings. We will then field test this design model in three university-level courses. The purpose of this research is twofold: first, to examine the effectiveness of this gamification design model, and second, to develop a deeper understanding on the impact of gamification on students’ motivation, academic outcome, and participation.