Implementation and assessment of three gamification strategies across multiple higher education disciplines

Abstract

Gamification is the use of game-like strategies and elements in a non-game setting. In educational disciplines, it is suggested to increase student engagement and motivation, potentially resulting in better learning outcomes. In this work, we examine students’ grades and anonymously submitted end-of-semester surveys for a period prior-to and following the implementation of distinct gamification strategies across courses from the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information, School of Pharmacy, and School of Dental Medicine. This study aims to determine whether the introduction of gamification strategies into course curricula has positively affected students’ perceptions of that course, and whether it enhanced performance, as measured by improvements in final grades. Survey responses were rated both by hand and via automated sentiment analysis software as positive, neutral, or negative in nature, quantifying the otherwise qualitative data. Results showed an increase in students’ perceptions of all three courses after the respective gamification elements had been introduced. We did not see any evidence of improvement in students’ performance in pre-and post-gamification course grades.