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Gamification Behind the Scenes

Designing a Software Engineering Course

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Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2015)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 583))

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Abstract

Creating a blended and open learning environment that supports self-directed learning is a desirable achievement. However, the difficulty of moving away from a guided, grade-based, exam-cramming teaching style has been shown to be demotivating for students and it is still unclear, how to design the on-boarding process well. We show that the current design of a course, despite being perceived as difficult, leads to mostly positive attitudes towards most aspects of the course across virtually all students. The success is a consequence of applying an evidence-based framework that takes into account two dimensions as guides in the design process: incorporating gamification factors and creating room for learner types. The paper describes how the framework is used during design decisions. Comparing the analysis for individual forum use and peer-reviews on team blogs elucidates why the former is perceived less favorably than the latter and provides insight into potential improvements.

K. Berkling—The author wishes to thank the students who have helped shape this course over the years starting in Puerto Rico.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cooperative State University, Erzbergerstraße 121, 76133, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Kay Berkling

Authors
  1. Kay Berkling
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kay Berkling .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Susan Zvacek

  2. do Porto, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade, Porto, Portugal

    Maria Teresa Restivo

  3. School of Engineering, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, United Kingdom

    James Uhomoibhi

  4. Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland

    Markus Helfert

Appendix

Appendix

Table 9 lists all items of the questionnaire used to evaluate the onboarding process for Software Engineering based on principles of gamification with blended learning.

Table 9. Hidden gamification factors.
Full size table

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Berkling, K. (2016). Gamification Behind the Scenes. In: Zvacek, S., Restivo, M., Uhomoibhi, J., Helfert, M. (eds) Computer Supported Education. CSEDU 2015. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 583. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29585-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29585-5_16

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29584-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29585-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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