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Gamification and serious game approaches for introductory computer science tablet software

Published: 02 October 2013 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper, we overview the design of tablet apps built to teach introductory computer science concepts, and present the results and conclusions from a study conducted during a first year computer science course at McMaster University. Game design elements were incorporated into the apps we designed to teach introductory computer science concepts, with the primary aim of increasing student satisfaction and engagement. We tested these apps with students enrolled in the course during their regular lab sessions and collected data on both the usability of the apps and the student's understanding of the concepts. Though overall we found students preferred instruction with the apps compared to more traditional academic instruction, we found that students also recommended combined instruction using both traditional methods and the apps in the future. Based on this we conclude that gamification and serious game design approaches are effective at increasing student satisfaction, and make several recommendations regarding the usage and design of educational software incorporating game design elements.

References

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Culén, A. L., and Gasparini, A. ipad: a new classroom technology? a report from two pilot studies. INFuture Proceedings (2011), 199--208.
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Deterding, S. Situated motivational affordances of game elements: A conceptual model., 2011. Presented at Gamification: Using Game Design Elements in Non-Gaming Contexts, a workshop at CHI 2011. Retrieved from http://gamification-research.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/09-Deterding.pdf.
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Wattanatchariya, K., Chuchuaikam, S., and Dejdumrong, N. An educational game for learning wind and gravity theory on ios: Drop donuts. In Computer Science and Software Engineering (JCSSE), 2011 Eighth International Joint Conference on (may 2011), 387--392.
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Yan, F. A sunny day: Ann and rons world an ipad application for children with autism. In Serious Games Development and Applications, M. Ma, M. Fradinho Oliveira, and J. Madeiras Pereira, Eds., vol. 6944 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer Berlin/Heidelberg, 2011, 129--138.

Cited By

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  • (2024)Essential Aspects in Digital Educational Games to Support the Teaching-Learning of Computing ContentsProceedings of the 20th Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems10.1145/3658271.3658335(1-10)Online publication date: 20-May-2024
  • (2020)Mapping Gaming Elements with Gamification Categories: Immersion, Achievement, and Social in a MOOC Setting2020 14th International Conference on Innovations in Information Technology (IIT)10.1109/IIT50501.2020.9299047(63-68)Online publication date: 17-Nov-2020
  • (2019)Using Gamification and Serious Games for English Language Learning2019 International Conference on Computer and Information Sciences (ICCIS)10.1109/ICCISci.2019.8716451(1-6)Online publication date: Apr-2019
  • Show More Cited By

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    Gamification '13: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Gameful Design, Research, and Applications
    October 2013
    148 pages
    ISBN:9781450328159
    DOI:10.1145/2583008
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

    Sponsors

    • UWATERLOO: University of Waterloo
    • IMMERSe: IMMERSe Network
    • Waterloo Stratford Campus: University of Waterloo Stratford Campus
    • University of Ontario Institute of Technology

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 02 October 2013

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    Author Tags

    1. e-learning
    2. gamification
    3. m-learning
    4. serious games
    5. tablet software usability

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    • Research-article

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    Gamification '13
    Sponsor:
    • UWATERLOO
    • IMMERSe
    • Waterloo Stratford Campus
    Gamification '13: Gameful Design, Research, and Applications
    October 2 - 4, 2013
    Ontario, Toronto, Canada

    Acceptance Rates

    Gamification '13 Paper Acceptance Rate 9 of 25 submissions, 36%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 9 of 25 submissions, 36%

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    Cited By

    View all
    • (2024)Essential Aspects in Digital Educational Games to Support the Teaching-Learning of Computing ContentsProceedings of the 20th Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems10.1145/3658271.3658335(1-10)Online publication date: 20-May-2024
    • (2020)Mapping Gaming Elements with Gamification Categories: Immersion, Achievement, and Social in a MOOC Setting2020 14th International Conference on Innovations in Information Technology (IIT)10.1109/IIT50501.2020.9299047(63-68)Online publication date: 17-Nov-2020
    • (2019)Using Gamification and Serious Games for English Language Learning2019 International Conference on Computer and Information Sciences (ICCIS)10.1109/ICCISci.2019.8716451(1-6)Online publication date: Apr-2019
    • (2019)sCool - Game Based Learning in STEM Education: A Case Study in Secondary EducationThe Challenges of the Digital Transformation in Education10.1007/978-3-030-11932-4_58(614-625)Online publication date: 16-Mar-2019
    • (2018)Does gamification matter?Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing10.1145/3167132.3167347(2006-2012)Online publication date: 9-Apr-2018
    • (2018)Gamification and Augmented Reality Utilization for Islamic Content Learning: The Design and Development of Tajweed LearningUser Science and Engineering10.1007/978-981-13-1628-9_15(163-174)Online publication date: 24-Jul-2018
    • (2017)Gamification strategies for mobile device applications: A systematic review2017 12th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI)10.23919/CISTI.2017.7975943(1-7)Online publication date: Jun-2017
    • (2017)Academic methods for usability evaluation of serious gamesMultimedia Tools and Applications10.1007/s11042-016-3845-976:4(5755-5784)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2017
    • (2016)Implementing a Gamified application for a Risk Management course2016 IEEE Ecuador Technical Chapters Meeting (ETCM)10.1109/ETCM.2016.7750858(1-6)Online publication date: Oct-2016

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