The Analysis and Review of the Literatures in the field of Gamification in e-Learning

Batooli, Z.; Fahimnia, F.; Naghshineh, N.; Mirhosseini, F.

doi:10.22061/jte.2018.3550.1893

Document Type : Review Paper

Authors

¹ Department of Knowledge & Information Science, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

² Department of Anesthesia, Faculty of Paramedical, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22061/jte.2018.3550.1893

Abstract

Background and Objective:Despite the advent of new technologies and the consequent change in lifestyle in recent decades, education systems have retained their traditional way of teaching and have not adapted to the characteristics of the digital generation. At the same time, the characteristics of digital people have also influenced their teaching-learning methods. One of the latest developments in the field of new technologies is the revitalization of educational environments. Despite the emergence and advancement of new technologies and, consequently, the change in lifestyle in recent decades, education systems have maintained the same traditional method of education and have not changed according to the characteristics of the digital generation. Meanwhile, digital generation features have been effective on their learning-teaching methods. One of the most important and recent developments in the field of modern technologies is gamified learning environments. The purpose of this study was to review the studies in the field of ‘Gamification in e-Learning’ and to provide the content analysis of this field and its effectiveness in education.
Materials: After searching the databases with related keywords and based on input criteria, 60 relevant articles were selected in this study. The selected articles were analyzed in terms of the game elements, gamified e-learning courses and the purpose of the articles. The effectiveness of the gamification on participation, learning, motivation, anxiety, peer assessment, collaboration, website optimization, cost reduction and faculty load were among the subject areas of these articles. The programming languages and English language were the most gamified educational courses. The game element point, leaderboard, badge, levels, challenge and feedback were used more than other elements.
Findings: The results indicated the effectiveness of gamified e-learning environments to increase learning, engagement and motivation of learners.
Conclusion: The present study tries to have a comprehensive review of studies in the field of gamification in e-learning, although it was accompanied by limitations such as not reviewing articles in non-English languages and not reviewing studies published in a format other than journal and conference articles. Undoubtedly, in order to succeed in projects related to gamification in e-learning, looking at its different dimensions and planning in those areas will be very fruitful, and research such as the present study can provide a comprehensive view for designing long-term gamified e-learning environments. The subjects obtained from the analysis of the field studies of gamification in e-learning can be done in Iran, although additional and more detailed research with various methods will help to enrich it.

Keywords

20.1001.1.20080441.1398.13.3.18.3

Main Subjects

Educational computer games

COPYRIGHTS
©2019 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.

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