The effect of collaborative gamification in the student's experience in a mathematics course Academic Article in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • © The Authors, 2021. All Rights Reserved.Gamification is a methodology with a potential still not wholly understood nor exploited, where game mechanics are presented in different environments like teaching and learning. Although the main advantage of gamification in teaching is an increased motivation to learn, it can also promote teamwork and collaboration. This work explores the advantages of using a leaderboard to motivate students and promote their teamwork in an undergraduate mathematics course. A team-based leaderboard and an individual leaderboard were implemented to display rankings in different groups, to determine if there was a difference in performances. Additionally, to find out the effect of rewards other than merit, a bonus was given to final grades in some groups based on the leaderboard score. Results came from evaluating the student's performance, as well as using a student experience survey. Findings indicated that the leaderboard increased the overall student motivation, but the effect was more significant when bonuses were given to students based on standings. Additionally, it was found that team-based gamification scenarios can lead to developing teamwork-related skills and improving the grades of underperforming students who receive help from the top students. Moreover, from the student experience survey, it was found that most students liked using the leaderboard, and particularly those whose groups whose focus was to work in teams benefitted from the gamification mechanic.

publication date

  • January 1, 2021