Evaluating Learner Engagement with Gamification in Online Courses

Several reasons underlie the low retention rates in MOOCs. These reasons can be analysed from different perspectives, either in terms of the course design or the enrolled students. On the student side, we find little social interaction, boredom, tiredness, and a lack of motivation and time. These ch...

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Authors: Puig Puig, Anna; Rodríguez Santiago, Inmaculada; Rodríguez, A.; Gallego, I.
Format: Article
Status:Published version
Publication date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/192918
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/192918
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Ludificació
Cursos en línia oberts i massius
Interacció persona-ordinador
Interfícies d'usuari (Sistemes d'ordinadors)
Gamification
Massive Open Online Courses
Human-computer interaction
User interfaces (Computer systems)
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author Puig Puig, Anna
author2 Rodríguez Santiago, Inmaculada
Rodríguez, A.
Gallego, I.
author2_role author
author
author
author_browse Gallego, I.
Puig Puig, Anna
Rodríguez Santiago, Inmaculada
Rodríguez, A.
author_facet Puig Puig, Anna
Rodríguez Santiago, Inmaculada
Rodríguez, A.
Gallego, I.
author_role author
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
description Several reasons underlie the low retention rates in MOOCs. These reasons can be analysed from different perspectives, either in terms of the course design or the enrolled students. On the student side, we find little social interaction, boredom, tiredness, and a lack of motivation and time. These challenges can be addressed by adaptive gamification that proposes the design of personalised, hedonic learning experiences. Studies to date have adopted either the one-fits-all approach or the adaptive approach. Nevertheless, the adaptive solutions have considered a static player profile throughout the entire experience. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a dynamic adaptive gamification approach which—based on students’ interactions with game elements and also their opinions about these elements—dynamically updates the students’ player profile to better figure out which game elements suit them. We evaluated the engagement of students with gamification elements by means of a course composed of a knowledge "pill" related to the topic of “recycling plastics from the sea”, offered through the nanoMOOCs learning platform. We propose metrics such as the mean number of interactions with the gamification dashboard, the time spent by participants with game elements, and the opinions of students about these elements to compare the Dynamic Adaptive Gamification (DynamicAG) and the Static Adaptive (StaticAG) approaches. An experimental study with 66 high school students showed significant differences between both approaches. Specifically, the DynamicAG group spent twice as much time with the Dashboard than the StaticAG group. Moreover, students in the DynamicAG group were more engaged with game elements (mean number of interactions = 12.13) than those in the StaticAG group (mean number of interactions = 3.21).
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institution Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
network_acronym_str ES
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oai_identifier_str oai:recercat.cat:2445/192918
publishDate 2023
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publisher MDPI
publisherStr MDPI
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
spelling Evaluating Learner Engagement with Gamification in Online Courses Puig Puig, Anna Rodríguez Santiago, Inmaculada Rodríguez, A. Gallego, I. Ludificació Cursos en línia oberts i massius Interacció persona-ordinador Interfícies d'usuari (Sistemes d'ordinadors) Gamification Massive Open Online Courses Human-computer interaction User interfaces (Computer systems) Several reasons underlie the low retention rates in MOOCs. These reasons can be analysed from different perspectives, either in terms of the course design or the enrolled students. On the student side, we find little social interaction, boredom, tiredness, and a lack of motivation and time. These challenges can be addressed by adaptive gamification that proposes the design of personalised, hedonic learning experiences. Studies to date have adopted either the one-fits-all approach or the adaptive approach. Nevertheless, the adaptive solutions have considered a static player profile throughout the entire experience. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a dynamic adaptive gamification approach which—based on students’ interactions with game elements and also their opinions about these elements—dynamically updates the students’ player profile to better figure out which game elements suit them. We evaluated the engagement of students with gamification elements by means of a course composed of a knowledge "pill" related to the topic of “recycling plastics from the sea”, offered through the nanoMOOCs learning platform. We propose metrics such as the mean number of interactions with the gamification dashboard, the time spent by participants with game elements, and the opinions of students about these elements to compare the Dynamic Adaptive Gamification (DynamicAG) and the Static Adaptive (StaticAG) approaches. An experimental study with 66 high school students showed significant differences between both approaches. Specifically, the DynamicAG group spent twice as much time with the Dashboard than the StaticAG group. Moreover, students in the DynamicAG group were more engaged with game elements (mean number of interactions = 12.13) than those in the StaticAG group (mean number of interactions = 3.21). MDPI https://hdl.handle.net/2445/192918
spellingShingle Evaluating Learner Engagement with Gamification in Online Courses
Puig Puig, Anna
Ludificació
Cursos en línia oberts i massius
Interacció persona-ordinador
Interfícies d'usuari (Sistemes d'ordinadors)
Gamification
Massive Open Online Courses
Human-computer interaction
User interfaces (Computer systems)
status_str publishedVersion
title Evaluating Learner Engagement with Gamification in Online Courses
title_full Evaluating Learner Engagement with Gamification in Online Courses
title_fullStr Evaluating Learner Engagement with Gamification in Online Courses
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating Learner Engagement with Gamification in Online Courses
title_short Evaluating Learner Engagement with Gamification in Online Courses
title_sort Evaluating Learner Engagement with Gamification in Online Courses
topic Ludificació
Cursos en línia oberts i massius
Interacció persona-ordinador
Interfícies d'usuari (Sistemes d'ordinadors)
Gamification
Massive Open Online Courses
Human-computer interaction
User interfaces (Computer systems)
topic_facet Ludificació
Cursos en línia oberts i massius
Interacció persona-ordinador
Interfícies d'usuari (Sistemes d'ordinadors)
Gamification
Massive Open Online Courses
Human-computer interaction
User interfaces (Computer systems)
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/192918