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Gamification in Engineering Education: Exploring Students' Performance, Motivation, and Engagement

Abstract:

Gamification has become a popular approach to support teaching and learning in Higher Education. A significant bag of research has demonstrated its benefits, such as engagement, motivation, and learning performance. However, it has been argued that the success of a gamification application does not occur automatically without a good design process. This paper presents the design and implementation of Easy-Newton, a gamified application to help students practice physics-related concepts in a Higher Education context. The application includes gamification elements such as scores, levels, badges, and progress over the different topics and chapters. A total of 4 teachers and 261 students have utilized Easy-Newton in different stages of the design and implementation processes. We report the evaluation of Easy-Newton in terms of students' perceived motivation, engagement, and academic performance. For students' motivation, 84% of students (n = 163) reported a good experience using Easy-Newton. Concerning engagement, 88% of students (n = 261) completed at least one hard level from one topic, and 71% of students finished a complete chapter. As for the academic performance, there was no strong correlation between the usage (time a student spent) of Easy-Newton and its GPA, suggesting that more complex exercises, similar to the ones proposed in exams, should also be considered in the application.