Validating Gamification Mechanics and Player Types in an E-learning Environment
We present a preliminary user study in an e-learning environment aimed to adapt and validate generic mechanics and player types proposed in the gamification literature. We incorporate well-known gamification mechanics into a number learning activities, im
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Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain {borja.gil,ivan.cantador}@uam.es 2 Digital Solutions Unit, Capgemini, London, EC1N 2PB, UK [email protected]
Abstract. We present a preliminary user study in an e-learning environment aimed to adapt and validate generic mechanics and player types proposed in the gamification literature. We incorporate well-known gamification mechanics into a number learning activities, implemented them as functionalities of an e-learning system, and investigate the learning effectiveness of the proposed mechanics, as well as the relations between the mechanics and their assumed player types. Keywords: E-learning · Gamification · Learning style · Motivation · Engagement
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Introduction
Gamification is defined as the application of game-design elements to non-game contexts with the intention of modifying behaviours, increasing fidelity or motivating and engaging people [3], by leveraging human motivations present in games, e.g. competition, rewards and socializing. In the literature, these motivations have been identified and associated to the so called types of players [1, 6]. Specifically, four main player types may be considered: achievers, who are motivated by mastery and rewards, explorers or free spirits, who are motivated by autonomy and self-expression, social‐ izers, who are motivated by social relatedness and status, and philanthropists, who are motivated by altruism and care-taking. For each of these player types, particular gami‐ fication mechanics have been proposed to support the corresponding motivations [5]. Hence, for example, mechanics that may suit an achiever’s motivations are the achieve‐ ment of certain challenges and levels, and the gain of points and badges. Although gamification has already been applied successfully in a large number of cases [7], to the best of our knowledge, it still pending the study on how to effectively acquire the users’ motivations and player types, and how to select the appropriate gami‐ fication mechanics, and translate them into tasks and actions for a given application or domain [2, 8]. As in [4], we focus on Higher Education, and start addressing the above issues through a preliminary user study aimed to validate existing gamification mechanics and player types, addressing the following research questions:
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 G. Conole et al. (Eds.): EC-TEL 2015, LNCS 9307, pp. 568–572, 2015. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-24258-3_61
Validating Gamification Mechanics and Player Types in an E-learning Environment
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• RQ1: Which gamification mechanics are effective in e-learning, and how can they be implemented by means of generic learning activities? • RQ2: Do the considered gamification mechanics really correspond to the students’ inferred types of player?
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Gamification-Based E-Learning Framework
In the classroom and during several lectures, students were requested to solve a number of assignments related to topics of a subject, working in different ways (alone, in
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