Undergraduates' Perception of Gamification in E-Learning

Abstract

This research was conducted to examine the undergraduate students’ perception of the implementation of gamification in E-Learning. The subject of this research are 36 students of Fifth semester in English Language Education, Ganesha University of Education. The questionnaire is the instrument of this research. The researcher analyzed 36 filled questionnaires, which had been shared via Google Forms link, by 5th semester of undergraduate students in English Language Education, Ganesha University of Education, concerning the implementation of gamification in E- Learning. The results show that the percentage of the participants who think positively toward the implementation of gamification in E-Learning are higher than the rest who do not think positively regarding it.

Keywords: Gamification, E-Learning, Perception, Undergraduate

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Introduction

Nowadays, E-Learning tend to be implemented in the class. In this era, over the years technology has been developed and progressed, as well E-learning also has grown significantly as a tool in an educational context. (El-Seoud, Taj-Eddin, Seddiek, El-Khouly, Nosseir, 2014) “The 21st century has seen rapid progress with such things as the Internet and online learning”. (El- Seoud, Taj-Eddin, Seddiek, El-Khouly, Nosseir, 2014) Remarkably, the efforts at advancing the technology are greater than on make an effort to understand the needs and learning styles of each individual learners.

Gamification has been widely applied to many sectors in this era. The concepts of gamification have been implemented in several industries as well as extensively deliberated in academic literature over the past few years. (Carlson, J., Harris, R., Harris, K. 2017) Risal (2013), S. Deterding, et al. (2011) in Setiana, Hansun (2017) stated:

“Gamification is a process that aims to change a non-game context (example: learning, teaching, marketing) becomes much more interesting by integrating games thinking, game design and game mechanics (game elements)”

The implementation of gamification in E-Learning can help the teacher to engage their online class in order to motivate the students to participate actively and get a good achievement. Applying gamification in education, commonly focuses on enhancing students’ interest to the course, improve the competitive spirit in the class and give the students motivation to participate actively in the learning process via using some game elements such as points, badges, levels and etc. (Çeker, Özdamlı, 2017)

The components of Gamification are linked with the students’ positive actions in lessons by the teacher and observed for better participation, better homework habits, and attitudes in (1) keeping essential equipment ready every time required. The teacher have to announce the method of evaluation which will be used, before the learning process, to establish and maintain it. Next, in the teaching-learning process, the teacher can use gamification components, by using points, and badges for rewarding, transfer it to levels and leaderboard tables (Deterding and fri., 2011 in Çeker, Özdamlı, 2017).

One example of the implementation of gamification in E-Learning is Duolingo. We see Duolingo approaching forward among platforms of language-learning with gamification supported and an international vision. Duolingo website is very widespread, easy to use and at the end, an evaluation exam is available for level of language competency. Duolingo also provides all free courses of language learning. Since 2016, according to the records, there are language courses for 23 different languages provided by Duolingo. The application of Duolingo can be used easily in iOS, Android or Windows operating system platforms. The total of users, who have been registered the software, passed 120 million in 2016 (https://www.duolingo.com/).

Based on the aforementioned background the researcher found some questions which are the questions of this research, (1) Is gamification in E-Learning familiar to undergraduate students? (2) What is the undergraduate students’ perception toward the implementation of gamification in E-Learning? (3) is it good to implement gamification in E-Learning?

Undergraduate students also hold the important role in the successful of implementation of gamification in E-Learning. Consequently, in order to get the answer from the three questions above, the researcher conduct this study to examine the undergraduate students’ perception toward the implementation of gamification in E-Learning. So, the lecture may get some solutions toward these questions.

Methods

This research aims to investigate the perception of 5th semester of Undergraduate students in English Language Education, Ganesha University of Education, toward the implementation of gamification in E-Learning. This research uses both of qualitative and quantitative study. 36 students, who are Fifth semester in English Language Education, Ganesha University of Education, are the subject of this research. The researcher analyzed 36 filled questionnaires by 5th semester of undergraduate students in English Language Education, Ganesha University of Education, concerning the implementation of gamification in E-Learning. In addition, the researcher uses questionnaires as the instruments of this study. The subjects of this research fill the questionnaire which had been shared via Google Forms link.

Responses to the questionnaire were analyzed based on total percentages to each item on every question/point. To visualize the perception of the 5th semester undergraduate students of English Language Education, there are 2 types of points in the questionnaire. They are 5 items of yes/no questions and also 5 items with 3 levels of agreement were categorized into three groups (agree, neutral, and disagree). The percentages of all responses were summarized in a table as well as individual graphical representations. Pie charts were used to support the results. The questionnaire contained 10 points is shared by the researcher (see appendix 1)

Findings and discussion

Findings

From the questionnaire which has been filled by 36 participants who are the 5th semester of English Language Education Students in Ganesha University of Education, the results showed a positive perception toward the implementation of gamification in E-Learning. The whole data can be seen in the appendix 1. As for the data for each question will be shown in a pie chart and some in a diagram below:

Figure 1: Q1

Figure 2 : Q2

Figure 3: Q3

Figure 4: Q4

Figure 5: Q5

Figure 6: Q6

Figure 7: Q7

Figure 8: Q8

Figure 9: Q9

Figure 10: Q10

Discussion

The data shown above displays the participants perceptions toward each question. The first question represented whether the participants are familiar with gamification in E-Learning context or not. The data shows that 66.7 % of the participants are familiar with it and the rest 33.3% are not familiar with it. 24 out of 36 are choose Yes, I have for the 1st question, “have you tried some learning applications using gamification in them? (e.g. Duolingo and Coursera)”, which means they are familiar with the implementation of gamification in E-learning context by using some application or platform which uses gamification.

Based on the 2nd question, there are 25 students choose “Yes, I do” for “If you have, do you think these applications can help and motivate you to learn more? And good thing to do? In percentage, it is 69.4% out of 100%. It means, based on their perception, the implementation of gamification in E-learning via some application is a good thing and make them feel motivated.

As for the 3rd question, 34 students answer “Do you feel motivated if your teacher use point and leaderboard system like in some games for each material of the course?” with “Yes, I do”. It displays that as the effect of gamification (e.g. the use of point and leaderboard system) their motivation can be enhanced. It is 94.4% of 36 participants agree to the 3rd question.

For the 4th question, “Do you think the implementation of gamification in E-Learning can motivate the students to get a good achievement during the course?” 97.2% of the participants answer “Yes, I do” to the 4th question. Only 1 person choose “No, I don’t”. It means, they agree that the implementation of gamification in E-learning can motivate the students to get a good achievement.

There are 21 participants agree, 14 participants neutral, and only 1 participant disagree toward the 5th item, “I feel like to learn if teacher uses some game elements (e.g. mission completion, leaderboards, and badges, instant feedbacks) in the online class”. There are 58.3 % of 36 participants feel like to learn if the teacher applies the gamification in the online class. It indicates gamification can be the solution to increase the students’ interest in using online class. As for the 6th item “I feel excited to join the online class which using gamification” almost has the similar result as the 5th item. 22 participants agree 14 participants neutral and there is no one disagree to the 6th item. In addition, it can be said that the students’ excitement also can be increased by implementing gamification in the online class.

For the 7th item, with statement “I think the using of gamification can help the teacher to make their class more challenging and interesting”, almost all of the participants agree to the statement. The percentage shows 83.3% (30 people) agree, 13.9% (5 people) neutral, and 2.8% (1 person) disagree. It means almost of the students agree that the gamification can help the teacher to make their class more challenging and interesting. As for the 8th item, with the statement “I feel that E-learning using gamification is not challenging and boring”, the percentages of the participants who disagree is higher than the neutral and agree.

Based on the 9th item, with the statement “The implementation of gamification in E- Learning can engage the students to be more active in the class”, the participants agree that gamification in E-learning can engage the students to be more active in the class. There are 20 participants (55.6%) agree with it and the rest are neutral and disagree.

As for the last question, “Do you think implement the gamification in E-Learning will be a success and good thing to do?” there are 33 participants who think that it will be a success if gamification is implemented in E-learning and 3 participants don’t have the same perception. The percentage is 91.7% compare to 8.3%. It means gamification is a good thing to be implemented.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that from the aforementioned findings, the researcher found some aswer related to the questions of this research, (1) Gamification in E-Learning is familiar to the undergraduate students (2) The undergraduate students’ perception toward the implementation of gamification in E-Learning is positive and good (3) It is good to implement gamification in E-Learning based on the results.

According to this research, the researcher suggests to the teacher and lecture to design E- learning with implementing gamification in it. It because based on this research findings, gamification has some advantages toward E-learning.

Furthermore, it is suggested for the other researchers to conduct other research on the teacher/lecture perception and also the solution regarding the problems of implementing the gamification in E-Learning.to investigate more deep about it.

References

1. Carlson, J., Harris, R., Harris, K., (2017) “Coin Counter: Gamification for Classroom Management”. Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ). 15(5), 4-14. doi: http://iscap.info; http://isedj.org
2. Setiana, H., Hansun, S., (2017) “Gamified Android Based Academic Information System”. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE). 6(2). 164-173. doi: http://iaesjournal.com/online/index.php/IJERE
3. Risal, “Development of Gamification (Game Mechanics) Framework,” Thesis, Bandung, Institut Teknologi Bandung, 2013.
4. S. Deterding, et al., “Gamification: Using Game Design Elements in Non-Gaming Contexts,” CHI ’11 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing System (CHI EA ’11), Vancouver, Canada, pp. 2425-2428, 2011.
5. El-Seoud, M.S.A., Taj-Eddin, I.A.T.F., Seddiek, N., El-Khouly, M.M., Nosseir, A. (2014). “E- Learning and Students’ Motivation: A Research Study on the Effect of E-Learning on Higher Education”. iJET. 9(4), 20-26. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v9i4.3465
6. Çeker, E., Özdamlı, F., (2017) “What “Gamification” is and what it’s not”. European Journal of Contemporary Education. 6(2). 221-228. DOI: 10.13187/ejced.2017.2.221