Gamification in higher education

Abstract

Gamification has been emerging as the demand and transition towards online education has increased in previous years. Especially, the student-centric nature of higher education calls for means to motivate and engage students in the e-learning era. Gamification is a potential enabler of increased student motivation, engagement, and interaction. Higher education students could benefit from gamification through the creation of interactive learning environments, and through the usage of captivating game elements, mechanics, and dynamics.

The objective of this literature research was to gather, review, and analyse information to answer the set research problem and research questions. This study focused on the application of gamification in higher education online settings. This literature research was conducted by executing a set of database searches in various digital databases. Data were collected through reviewing and analysing selected literature.

Based on the results of this literature research gamification was identified to have several benefits in higher education through the student perspective. The results suggested that gamification can increase student motivation, interaction, engagement, knowledge retention, learning performance, as well as the overall learning experience. Furthermore, various game elements were found to be successful in online education. The adoption of gamification into higher education is increasing but does not come without challenges. The benefits of gamification have been reported, however more research on the field is needed. The results suggested that a gap is present in the literature of proof-of-concept studies, as well as in generally applicable design frameworks in the higher educational context.