Developing a Comprehensive Engagement Framework of Gamification for Reflective Learning

Engagement is a key reason for introducing gamification to learning and thus serves as an important measurement of its effectiveness. Based on a literature review and meta-synthesis, this paper proposes a comprehensive framework of engagement in gamification for learning. The framework sketches out the connections among gamification strategies, dimensions of engagement, and the ultimate learning outcome. It also elicits other task - and user - related factors that may potentially impact the effect of gamification on learner engagement. To verify and further strengthen the framework, we conducted a user study to demonstrate that: 1) different gamification strategies can trigger different facets of engagement; 2) the three dimensions of engagement have varying effects on skill acquisition and transfer; and 3) task nature and learner characteristics that were overlooked in previous studies can influence the engagement process. Our framework provides an in-depth understanding of the mechanism of gamification for learning, and can serve as a theoretical foundation for future research and design.

[1]  Celine Latulipe,et al.  Structuring Flipped Classes with Lightweight Teams and Gamification , 2015, SIGCSE.

[2]  E. Deci,et al.  The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior , 2000 .

[3]  Harri Ketamo,et al.  Conceptual Change Takes Time: Game Based Learning Cannot be Only Supplementary Amusement , 2010 .

[4]  Peta Wyeth,et al.  GameFlow: a model for evaluating player enjoyment in games , 2005, CIE.

[5]  J. Reeve,et al.  Enhancing Students' Engagement by Increasing Teachers' Autonomy Support , 2004 .

[6]  George Tzanetakis,et al.  Adapting personal music for synesthetic game play , 2010, FDG.

[7]  Lennart E. Nacke,et al.  The kaleidoscope of effective gamification: deconstructing gamification in business applications , 2013, Gamification.

[8]  D. Norman.  Emotional design : why we love (or hate) everyday things , 2004 .

[9]  J. Grafman,et al.  Are the frontal lobes implicated in “planning” functions? Interpreting data from the Tower of Hanoi , 1995, Neuropsychologia.

[10]  Leland Harden,et al.  Digital Engagement: Internet Marketing That Captures Customers and Builds Intense Brand Loyalty , 2009 .

[11]  K. P. Kallio,et al.  At Least Nine Ways to Play: Approaching Gamer Mentalities , 2011, Games Cult..

[12]  Paul A. Cairns,et al.  Measuring and defining the experience of immersion in games , 2008, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[13]  Lauri Malmi,et al.  Increasing Students’ Awareness of Their Behavior in Online Learning Environments with Visualizations and Achievement Badges , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

[14]  John W. Rice,et al.  The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education , 2012, Int. J. Gaming Comput. Mediat. Simulations.

[15]  Kay Berkling,et al.  Gamification of a Software Engineering course and a detailed analysis of the factors that lead to it's failure , 2013, 2013 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL).

[16]  L. Meltzer,et al.  Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice. , 2007 .

[17]  Paul A. Cairns,et al.  A grounded investigation of game immersion , 2004, CHI EA '04.

[18]  Luis de Marcos,et al.  An empirical study comparing gamification and social networking on e-learning , 2014, Comput. Educ..

[19]  T. C. Nicholas Graham,et al.  Beyond designing for motivation: the importance of context in gamification , 2014, CHI PLAY.

[20]  B. Laurel,et al.  Computer as Theatre , 1993 .

[21]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Framework for Designing and Evaluating Game Achievements , 2011, DiGRA Conference.

[22]  Tovi Grossman,et al.  CADament: a gamified multiplayer software tutorial system , 2014, CHI.

[23]  Takahiro Yamasaki,et al.  A discussion on introducing half-anonymity and gamification to improve students' motivation and engagement in classroom lectures , 2013, 2013 IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technology Conference.

[24]  Gregory P. Garvey.  Drawing a line in the sand: border/boundary theories and games , 2007, Sandbox '07.

[25]  Marina Krcmar,et al.  Conceptualizing Media Enjoyment as Attitude: Implications for Mass Media Effects Research , 2004 .

[26]  O. Spreen,et al.  A Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests: Administration, Norms, and Commentary , 1991 .

[27]  Anders Drachen,et al.  Towards a Framework of Player Experience Research , 2011 .

[28]  Gabriella Kazai,et al.  Towards a science of user engagement. , 2011 .

[29]  Mel Slater,et al.  Depth of Presence in Virtual Environments , 1994, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[30]  J. Dewey.  Art as Experience , 1934 .

[31]  Karim Sehaba,et al.  Defining Engagement and Characterizing Engaged-Behaviors in Digital Gaming , 2014 .

[32]  M. Fardo.  KAPP, Karl M. The gamification of learning and instruction: game-based methods and strategies for training and education. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2012. , 2013 .

[33]  Joseph Jay Williams,et al.  A Playful Game Changer: Fostering Student Retention in Online Education with Social Gamification , 2015, L@S.

[34]  Julita Vassileva,et al.  Does gamification work for boys and girls?: An exploratory study with a virtual learning environment , 2015, SAC.

[35]  Juan Manuel Dodero,et al.  Foreign language learning using a gamificated APP to support peer-assessment , 2014, TEEM '14.

[36]  Katie Davis,et al.  Digital badges in afterschool learning: Documenting the perspectives and experiences of students and educators , 2015, Comput. Educ..

[37]  D. Hoang.  FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience , 2018 .

[38]  Karolien Poels,et al.  Measuring the experience of digital game enjoyment , 2008 .

[39]  Jesse Fox,et al.  Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation, social comparison, satisfaction, effort, and academic performance , 2015, Comput. Educ..

[40]  Yu-Hao Lee,et al.  Beyond player types: gaming achievement goal , 2011, SIGGRAPH '11.

[41]  Arthur A. Raney,et al.  Entertainment as Pleasurable and Meaningful: Identifying Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motivations for Entertainment Consumption , 2011 .

[42]  Henrik Schoenau-Fog,et al.  The Player Engagement Process - An Exploration of Continuation Desire in Digital Games , 2011, DiGRA Conference.

[43]  Luis de Marcos,et al.  Gamifying learning experiences: Practical implications and outcomes , 2013, Comput. Educ..

[44]  Tovi Grossman,et al.  GamiCAD: a gamified tutorial system for first time autocad users , 2012, UIST.

[45]  Renée A. McCauley,et al.  Facilitating Programming Success in Data Science Courses through Gamified Scaffolding and Learn2Mine , 2015, ITiCSE.

[46]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Does Gamification Work? -- A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Gamification , 2014, 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[47]  Robert T. Hays,et al.  Simulation Fidelity in Training System Design: Bridging the Gap Between Reality and Training , 1988 .

[48]  Amy L. Parsons,et al.  Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things , 2006 .

[49]  Ari Korhonen,et al.  How (not) to introduce badges to online exercises , 2014, SIGCSE.

[50]  John L. Sherry,et al.  Sex Differences in Video Game Play: , 2004, Commun. Res..

[51]  Siobhan O'Donovan,et al.  A case study in the gamification of a university-level games development course , 2013, SAICSIT '13.

[52]  James M. Boyle,et al.  Engagement in digital entertainment games: A systematic review , 2012, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[53]  Nick Yee,et al.  Motivations for Play in Online Games , 2006, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[54]  Lasse Hakulinen,et al.  The Effect of Gamification on Students with Different Achievement Goal Orientations , 2014, 2014 International Conference on Teaching and Learning in Computing and Engineering.

[55]  S. Pickering,et al.  Working memory and education , 2006 .

[56]  Lennart E. Nacke,et al.  More than a feeling: Measurement of sonic user experience and psychophysiology in a first-person shooter game , 2010, Interact. Comput..

[57]  R.I.A. Mercuri,et al.  Technology as Experience , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

[58]  R. Mayer,et al.  Role of guidance, reflection, and interactivity in an agent-based multimedia game , 2005 .

[59]  Paul Denny,et al.  The effect of virtual achievements on student engagement , 2013, CHI.

[60]  Elaine Toms,et al.  What is user engagement? A conceptual framework for defining user engagement with technology , 2008, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[61]  N. Lazzaro.  Why we Play Games: Four Keys to More Emotion without Story , 2004 .

[62]  P. Vorderer,et al.  Enjoyment: At the Heart of Media Entertainment , 2004 .

[63]  Andika Y. Utomo,et al.  An empirical study of gamification impact on e-Learning environment , 2013, Proceedings of 2013 3rd International Conference on Computer Science and Network Technology.

[64]  Edwin B. Parker,et al.  Television in the lives of our children , 1962 .

[65]  James Paul Gee,et al.  What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy , 2007, CIE.

[66]  Brenda Laurel,et al.  Computers as theatre , 1991 .

[67]  Stephanie Fisher,et al.  Girls playing games: rethinking stereotypes , 2007, Future Play.

[68]  P. Jordan.  Designing Pleasurable Products: An Introduction to the New Human Factors , 2000 .

[69]  L. Jacoby,et al.  Multiple levels of control in the Stroop task , 2008, Memory & cognition.

[70]  A. McMahan.  Immersion, Engagement, and Presence: A Method for Analyzing 3-D Video Games , 2013 .

[71]  Beth Kolko,et al.  Modeling but NOT measuring engagement in computer games , 2011 .

[72]  Joaquim A. Jorge,et al.  Relating gaming habits with student performance in a gamified learning experience , 2014, CHI PLAY.

[73]  Jakob Grue Simonsen,et al.  Is once enough?: on the extent and content of replications in human-computer interaction , 2014, CHI.

[74]  Alexandre N. Tuch,et al.  A systematic review of quantitative studies on the enjoyment of digital entertainment games , 2014, CHI.

[75]  Chad R. Mortensen,et al.  A pox on the mind: Disjunction of attention and memory in the processing of physical disfigurement. , 2009, Journal of experimental social psychology.

[76]  Lennart E. Nacke,et al.  From game design elements to gamefulness: defining "gamification" , 2011, MindTrek.

[77]  J. Huizinga.  Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture , 1938 .

[78]  Usef Faghihi,et al.  How Gamification Applies for Educational Purpose Specially with College Algebra , 2014, BICA.

[79]  Jakob Nielsen,et al.  Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces , 1990, CHI '90.

[80]  Patrick McAndrew,et al.  The Gaming Involvement and Informal Learning Framework , 2014 .

[81]  Jeanne H. Brockmyer,et al.  The Development of the Game Engagement Questionnaire: A Measure of Engagement in Video Game Playing: Response to Reviews , 2009, Interacting with computers.

[82]  Geoffrey P. Goodwin,et al.  The psychological puzzle of Sudoku , 2008 .

[83]  Regan L. Mandryk,et al.  Manipulating Leaderboards to Induce Player Experience , 2015, CHI PLAY.

[84]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Player Types: A Meta-synthesis , 2014, Trans. Digit. Games Res. Assoc..

[85]  Michael J. Singer,et al.  Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire , 1998, Presence.

[86]  Connie Malamed,et al.  Book Review: 'The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies For Training And Education' by Karl Kapp , 2012, ELERN.