Gamification in a Social Learning Environment

Introduction The definition of gamification that is most widely accepted across the industry, as described by Deterding et al. (2011), defines gamification as "the use of game design elements in non-game contexts." The word Gamification, as pointed out by Fabian Groh (2012), while first being coined earlier in the 2000's, did not gain recognition from a wider audience until late 2010. User-Engagement is the key goal of all gamification; therefore, it is also important to examine what user engagement is, and what positive effects that increasing engagement can have. O'Brien and Toms (2008), explained this idea by offering a definition of engagement as consisting of users' activities, attitudes, goals, mental models, and motor skills. This definition encompasses not only the physical aspects of a user's interaction with a system, but the mental aspects, as well. They go on to explain how engagement manifests itself in the form of attention, intrinsic interest, curiosity, and motivation. One area where all of these qualities are clearly beneficial is the area of education. QizBox is a social learning environment designed to increase active learning in a lecture or discussion classroom setting. Developed over several years at Bowling Green State University, the system allows students attending a face-to-face lecture to log in, using any web browser, and participate in the lecture through an interactive online setting (see Figure 1). The in-lecture design consists of a live slideshow of the lecturers' presentation slides synced across all browsers. Next to the slides, multiple tabs provide a textual chat room, an area for questions and threaded answers (posted anonymously if chosen), and an area to take notes directly related to each slide. Another feature allows the presenter to pop up quiz questions that are recorded, stored, and presentable in real-time graphs. The system also archives all activity that takes place in the lecture and allows users to review it later at their convenience. To further engage users of this system, we have designed and implemented an award system based on achieving the most well-rounded and complete user engagement possible while not affecting the usability of the system. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] To do this, we first took a look at gamification itself, what methods are being used, and how these methods are being implemented. We then examined QizBox as a system and how the design of the system itself will affect what methods of gamification we use. Finally, we discuss the implementation of our new system, the current state of our research, and what is planned for the future. Through the use of gamification techniques, our goal is to increase user engagement in the system, and by association, increase a student's engagement in their learning. Motivation It is widely accepted that if a student is engaged in his or her learning and demonstrates the qualities that engagement manifests, he or she will be a successful student. Edwin Locke's comparison of goal-setting theory and control theory adds a very important notion to this idea (Locke, 1991), that goal oriented approaches to work are historically found to encourage human engagement in what tasks would otherwise be considered by many to be unpleasant and undesirable to perform, and that there are decades worth of evidence to support this fact (Locke, 1991). Gamification strives to utilize this goal-oriented approach to achieve engagement. It is also clear that engagement in education is a desirable result to strive for, and one that can provide a number of benefits. As Lee and Hammer point out (2010), the education system today faces major problems around student motivation and engagement. It is unquestionable that games have amazing motivational power. During a 2010 TED talk, Jane McGonigal, author of "Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World," pointed out that from the time of its creation through 2010, players of the popular online game World of Warcraft have spent a total of 5. …