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How Gamification Enhances Student Motivation in Online Courses

Published: 12 January 2023 Publication History

Abstract

The educational use of gamification is still in its infancy. The application of gamification in educational settings confers significant advantages in terms of user engagement, social impact, and motivation. The purpose of this study is to explore how gamification motivate students in online courses. This survey included 178 students who were enrolled in online courses. The survey link was distributed to the students via their private group on Zalo, a major social networking site in Vietnam. The students were informed that the survey was anonymous and that their responses would be utilized for research purposes to improve the course's quality. The survey is divided into two sections. Part 1 gathered students' opinions on game aspects in which they had to choose between five scales ranging from not motivated to very motivated. Part 2 required them to respond to open-ended questions about the pros and downsides of implementing gamification in their courses. According to the findings of this study, students had favorable attitudes on the incorporation of gamification into online learning courses. In particular, the majority of the students who took part in this survey reported to being driven by gamification. When a student is playing a game, the most interesting aspect for them is the leaderboard. Points and progress markers also help students stay motivated while playing games. Nonetheless, some disadvantages of gamification have been identified, such as the possibility of distracting students from learning, the loss of time, and the absence of essential knowledge from the online lesson in the game questions.

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    ICDTE '22: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Digital Technology in Education
    September 2022
    440 pages
    ISBN:9781450398091
    DOI:10.1145/3568739
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    Published: 12 January 2023

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    1. Gamification
    2. Online Courses
    3. Student motivation

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