Students' preference for the use of gamification in virtual learning environments

Abstract

Virtual education faces tremendous challenges such as lack of motivation and high dropout rates. However, one solution to this problem is the incorporation of digital pedagogical strategies based on gamification, which promote interest, facilitate the learning process, and contribute to reducing dropout. In this sense, we evaluated the student's preference for using the gamified tool Didactic City, by using a quantitative methodology and structural equation models. This preference included fundamental factors such as utility, knowledge, engagement, enjoyment, motivation, and ease of use. The results are expected to contribute to create a more informed decision-making process not only for video game designers but also for pedagogues, and educational managers who could perform game improvements, redesigns, inclusion, or exclusion of individual elements that would make students prefer to use gamification tools in the future. The results indicate that the students' utility, the enjoyment generated by the tool, and the improvement of knowledge are the critical factors in terms of preference for using gamified tools in virtual learning environments.
 
 Implications for policy and practice:
 
 In virtual learning environments, higher education institutions and instructors can include gamified tools to create pleasant environments that increase students' motivation and facilitate learning.
 Designers and developers of gamified educational tools should measure their acceptance, as this factor is decisive for fulfilling the purposes of these pedagogical tools.
 Researchers could evidence more factors that influence the preference for the use of gamified educational tools.

The Direct and Indirect Influence of Gamification on Learning Engagement: The Importance of Learning Goal Orientation (A Preliminary Study)

“…The findings in current study show that gamification perceived ease of use has a significant relationship with learning engagement. The result of current study is in line with Rahman et al's [13] study. The result of hypothesis 2 validates several previous studies (e.g.…”

“…This study measures the items employing a Likert scale having five points from "1" strongly disagree to "5" strongly agree. All the variables will be measured empirically using a 5-point Likert scale developed by Rahman et al [13]. An altered version of Vandewalle's [12] 13-item measure was used to assess learning goal orientation.…”

“…Example items for LGO are "I am willing to select a challenging work assignment that I can learn a lot from" and "I would rather prove my ability on a task that I can do well than try a new task." Gamification ease of use is measured by adapting Rahman et al's [13] study. Some of the items are "Interacting with the online gamification system does not require a lot of my mental effort" and "I find the online gamification system to be flexible to be used."…”

Incorporação das mecânicas de jogos como ferramenta de engajamento de alunos em sistemas de ensino à distância: uma revisão sistemática da literatura

“…"Este impacto positivo pode ser atribuído ao método utilizado que oferece experiências de aprendizagem que diferem dos métodos de ensino tradicionais" (p. 10, tradução nossa). Acosta-Medina, et al, (2021) desenvolveram seu estudo com alunos do ensino superior da Colômbia para verificar quais fatores determinam a preferência dos alunos pelo uso da gamificação em salas de aula virtuais. Como resultado do estudo os autores afirmam que "a gamificação gera ambientes abrangentes e imersos que facilitam a aquisição de conhecimento e Research, Society andDevelopment, v. 12, n. 2, e26412240213, 2023 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v12i2.40213 aumentam a motivação" (p. 155, tradução nossa).…”

Efecto de la gamificación en el aprendizaje activo: Revisión sistemática

“…El uso de la gamificación en el ámbito educativo es una demostración de que la tecnología está al servicio de la formación de las personas (Acosta- Medina et al, 2021); en esto coinciden algunos autores analizados ya que sostienen que es importante que la tecnología simplifique el proceso educativo no solamente en la construcción de los conocimientos y en la motivación de los estudiantes, sino también en la forma de evaluar y retroalimentar para conseguir aprendizajes que fortalezcan la formación universitaria, la cual requiere de un cambio radical en su concepción (Głowacki et al, 2018).…”