Cogent: Case Study of Meaningful Gamification in Education with Virtual Currency

Abstract

Abstract-This paper analyzes students' experience with Cogent, a virtual economy system used throughout the 4 years of a B.S. degree in a Technology major. The case study explains the rules of the Cogent system and investigates its effectiveness to motivate students to learn. Using focus groups and interviews, we collected qualitative data from students about their experience and perceptions of Cogent. The results indicate that Cogent played an encouraging and motivational role for these students and suggest potential for the successful design and implementation of meaningful gamification systems to promote student motivation and engagement within an educational context.

Learning and engagement in a gamified course: Investigating the effects of student characteristics

“…Although the majority of studies identified in our review uncovered positive motivational effects of gamification (e.g., Chen, Burton, Vorvoreanu, & David, 2015;Ibanez et al, 2014;Maia & Graeml, 2015;Xiang et al, 2014), some pointed to mixed or even negative effects on student engagement. Consistent with their negative findings related to student achievement, Hanus and Fox (2015) found that students in the gamified course showed less motivation, satisfaction, and empowerment than students in the nongamified course.…”

Empleo de la gamificación en un curso de Fundamentos de Biología

“…Ellas mismas expresan cómo la estrategia didáctica las ayudó a analizar la materia vista en clase y a tratar de entenderla por cuenta propia, así como que les dio la motivación para investigar por sí mismas sobre los contenidos vistos en clase. Como lo indican Chen et al (2015), Leblanc apunta que la gamificación puede motivar a las personas a participar más profundamente y cambiar su concepto de sí mismas como estudiantes.…”

“…Junto con ello, es apreciada como un medio para atraer al estudiantado a adquirir conocimientos en distintos cursos académicos y a profundizar en estos (Barlow y Fleming, 2016), al presentar las características de desafío, curiosidad y fantasía (Fan, Xiao y Su, 2015). Esto se debe a que dentro del contexto de los juegos, las personas voluntariamente invierten horas incontables en el desarrollo de habilidades para la resolución de problemas, para nivelarse y para alcanzar sus metas finales (Chen, Burton, Mihaela y Whittinghill, 2015). Con ello, se busca motivar y comprometer al estudiantado por períodos prolongados, y emplear ese mismo nivel de motivación y compromiso en otros contextos distintos donde no se utilice esta estrategia (Cheong, Filippou y Cheong, 2014).…”

Creating and testing a GCP game in an asynchronous course environment: The game and future plans

“…Learners are motivated to engage with the game, and with peers, through a series of intrinsic (self-efficacy, personal challenge of problem solving, etc.) and extrinsic motivators (acquisition of points, levels and rewards, and team competition) [2][3][4][5].…”