Potentials of Gamification in Learning Management Systems: A Qualitative Evaluation
Besides game-based learning, gamification is an upcoming trend in education, studied in various empirical studies and found in many major learning management systems. Employing a newly developed qualitative instrument for assessing gamification in a syste
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Abstract. Besides game-based learning, gamification is an upcoming trend in education, studied in various empirical studies and found in many major learning management systems. Employing a newly developed qualitative instrument for assessing gamification in a system, we studied five popular LMS for their specific implementations. The instrument enabled experts to extract affordances for gamification in the five categories experiential, mechanics, rewards, goals, and social. Results show large similarities in all of the systems studied and few varieties in approaches to gamification. Keywords: Gamification
LMS Learning Management
1 Introduction Experiments of classroom gamification are becoming increasingly common (e.g. [1]). Gamification is likewise found in information systems, especially those supporting online communities (e.g. [2]). It is therefore not surprising that learning management systems (LMS) have been adopting gamification in some form or another. In a ranked list of the top 20 most popular LMS by Capterra [3], 10 systems are listed as including gamification. Unlike game-based learning (cf. [4]), gamification does not employ full-fledged games but game design elements in non-game contexts [5]. In most cases, this is done to improve user engagement [6], to motivate users [7], or to support value creation [8]. In education, goals of gamification are similar. Non-game systems, such as LMS, are enhanced with aspects of games in order to engage students with the content of the course. Outcomes reported in studies include higher performance on tasks, higher attention to reference materials, higher activity in a system, and self-reported satisfaction with the course or learning value. See [9] for a good overview. As in other contexts, reports on gamification in education and are generally positive, but empirical validation is limited to a small subset of possible contexts. In [10] we have shown the same phenomenon for gamification in general and discussed possible implications thereof.
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 G. Conole et al. (Eds.): EC-TEL 2015, LNCS 9307, pp. 389–394, 2015. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-24258-3_29
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J. Broer and A. Breiter
2 Methods Following Arjoranta’s [11] suggestion of focusing definitions on Wittgensteinian family resemblances instead of a common core, we performed a survey among experts on gamification in order identify key terms that are relevant for describing gamification and, by corollary, indicators of the presence of gamification. A catalogue of questions was derived from the survey results and applied to five popular LMS. The instrument consists of 38 items, each with a standardized part categorizing the response into yes, no, or maybe and an open part detailing the reasoning for the answer. “Maybe” responses were reserved for cases in which a system had potential for gamification, but relied on user input for it. The items are divided into five categories – experiential, mechanics, rewards, goals, and social (see Table 1 for example items). Four evaluators applied
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