University students utilise e-learning resources to gain easy access to information and to make general enquiries. Such online environments offer alternatives to traditional learning, which is now considered expensive, and time-consuming with varying results. Student disengagement is reported as the main problem for higher education e-learning platforms, however, leading e-learning developers to employ Gamification to counteract this issue. A plethora of game elements are used in the gamification of e-learning, however, that necessitates more careful consideration of the various learning activities used in e-learning platforms. This study thus identifies several game elements suitable for inclusion in learning activities in e-learning platforms to improve student engagement, based on a literature-based analysis. This identified the most commonly used game elements, and a subsequent questionnaire survey examined real user perspectives on these elements. As a result, a conceptual engagement framework outlining how game elements might be used to support e-learning activities to engage students is proposed. The framework is intended to be used as a guideline for developers and academics seeking to build engaging e-learning systems based on good foundational concepts. The paper thus presents a short review of existing e-learning gamification frameworks and the steps taken towards the identification of commonly used game elements. Learning activities and student engagement factors usually employed in e-learning platforms are subsequently discussed in relation to the development of the proposed conceptual engagement framework for gamified e-learning activities.

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Recently, gamification in education software development to improve student engagement and performance has become prevalent. Gamification is used to counter attrition and dropout issues in e-learning. A handful of methods are presented for the gamification of e-learning systems in the literature. However, the e-learning gamification methods proposed in the literature lacked consistency. The number and types of game elements used in the methods are varied. In addition, there is a lack of an engagement framework that can be used in applying game elements to e-learning systems. Therefore, this paper provides insights into gamification and how it is used in e-learning systems. Then, the study proposes and evaluates an engagement framework that can be used to guide developers on how to add game elements to e-learning to improve student engagement and performance. The framework consists of three components: game elements, learning activities, and engagement factors components. Two experts evaluate the engagement framework via a semi-structured interview. The evaluation results indicate that developers can efficiently and effectively use the framework to gamify e-learning systems for improved student engagement and performance.

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