Query: gamification in learning improvement

title: Optimizing activity data collection with gamification points using uncertainty based active learning
abstract: A big challenge for activity data collection is unavoidable to rely on users and to keep them motivated to provide labels. In this paper, we propose the idea of exploiting gamification points to motivate the users for activity data collection by using an uncertainty based active learning approach to evaluate those points. The novel idea behind this is that we approximate the score of the unlabeled examples according to the current model's uncertainty in its prediction of the corresponding activity labels, and using that score as gamification points. Thus, the users are motivated by getting gamification points as feedback based on their data annotation quality. 1,236 activity labels with smartphone sensors that we collected help to validate our proposed method. By evaluating with the dataset, the results show our proposed method has improvements in data quality, data quantity, and user engagement that reflect the improvement in activity data collection.

title: Measurement of the effects of e learning courses gamification on motivation and satisfaction of students
abstract: In this paper, we present the results of a study which was conducted in two stages. The first part of the paper contains literature search findings and analyzes the existing self assessment scales for measuring motivation and satisfaction of students that were developed by other authors. In the second part of our study we created a battery of self assessment measures for collecting data for an overarching set of gamification related constructs/variables selected in accordance to those that are reported in literature) These scales were constructed by (a) adaptation and improvement of items from existing measures and (b) creation of novel items for measures of constructs that were found to be important in research articles on gamification and educational games. The initial empirical evaluation of this new questionnaire (battery of assessment scales) was performed on a large convenience sample of students (N=201) who attended a hybrid course on computer programming. These respondents were divided into an experimental group, which used gamified e learning course material, and a control group, which used a parallel (non gamified) version of the e learning course with equal theoretical content/For each self assessment scale of the questionnaire Cronbach alpha coefficients were calculated and the scales were slightly corrected to improve their internal consistency. We report the results concerning the effects of gamification on motivation and satisfaction, which were measured by respective assessment scales.

title: Gamification experience of an educational environment in software engineening: Gamifying a course of agility for software process improvement
abstract: In the last decade gamification has become as a useful strategy for make work environments more dynamic, specifically because it supports initiatives associated with the increase of performance characteristics of work teams such as motivation and commitment. In addition, in work areas such as education, gamification has spread as a useful strategy for make the classroom more dynamic. On the other hand, in the area of software engineering, the performance and productivity of the work team have been identified as key success factors, with motivation being an essential factor in achieving this success. Therefore, there is an important growth of gamification strategies in the classroom as alternatives to increase the motivation and commitment of the work teams. However, the existing teaching strategies in software engineering omit certain details about how to structure a possible learning environment, such as the classroom. In this work a methodological structure is proposed to gamify an educational environment of software engineering. The objective of this proposal is to contribute to the decrease of causes of failure of software development projects within which is the lack of motivation and commitment as well as social and human factors that affect processes related to software engineering. An example of activities developed in a course of agility for software process improvement of the Universidad de Medellin is presented. The methodological structure proposed was designed using technological tools and web 2.0 tools that managed to accompany the teaching learning process taking into account defined gamification principles.

title: Improving argumentative writing Effects of a blended learning approach and gamification
abstract: This study investigated the effectiveness of a blended learning approach involving the thesis, analysis, and synthesis key (TASK) procedural strategy; online Edmodo discussions; online message labels; and writing models on student argumentative writing in a Hong Kong secondary school. It also examined whether the application of digital game mechanics increased student online contribution and writing performance. Three classes of Secondary 4 students (16to 17 year olds) participated in the 7 week study. The first experimental group (n 22) utilized the blended learning gamification approach. The second experimental group (n 30) utilized only the blended learning approach. In the control group (n 20) a teacher led direct instruction approach on the components of argumentation was employed. Data sources included students' preand post test written essays, students' online Edmodo postings, and student and teacher interviews. We found a significant improvement in students' writing using the blended learning approach. On topic online contributions were significantly higher when gamification was adopted. Student and teacher opinions on the blended learning approach were also examined.

title: Gamification in teaching maintenance engineering: a Dutch experience in the rolling stock management learning
abstract: The aim of this study is to evaluate the application of an innovative serious game, based on the asset management of rolling stock, in the training of future maintenance engineers within the master course in mechanical engineering at the University of Twente. The Logistic Support Game (LSG) is a serious game developed together with Netherlands Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS) and Invocate (design firm) as a tool to simulate the maintenance operations of a fleet of trains. The simulation shows four perspectives: the operations manager, the asset manager, the maintenance manager and the financial manager. The three goals of this innovative training are the improvement of student engagement in the learning process, the increas of active cooperation between students with different roles in a group, and the opportunity to receive feedback on decision making. To indicate achievement of these goals, they are linked to the basic needs of learning: competence, relatedness and autonomy. A total of thirty six students played the serious game in two different sessions. At the end of each session, a survey is collected for game based learning assessment. Results suggest that the serious game has a positive impact on student engagement, cooperation, and helps transfer course contents.

title: Gamification of peer assessment in learning management system
abstract: Teachers today spend a lot of time grading students' work. Yet many times students feel under appreciated and they lack understanding of the grading criteria, which leads to no improvement of their learning through time. This paper presents a perspective on automatic evaluations of students' work with the use of gamified peer assessment. Using peer assessment, students not only learn what was correct and what was incorrect in their work, they also develop assessment skills important in their future. The paper also contains a proposal for a learning management system plug in, which can be used for this purpose.

title: Increasing students' motivation by using virtual learning environments based on gamification mechanics: Implementation and evaluation of gamified assignments for students
abstract: Increasing students' motivation is an essential task during the educational process. One of the possible ways how to achieve this is to use innovative educational mechanics, such as gamification. Gamification provides an opportunity to extend regular learning management systems and virtual learning environments with game like elements, such as points, levels, and meaningful narrative. This paper describes the implementation and usage of gamified assignments in Web Development. Firstly, we analyzed gamification possibilities in higher educational institutions. After each assignment, we gathered feedback from students to study their involvement, motivation, and influence of gamification on how the information was perceived. Based on the results, several suggestions for the improvement are discussed, such as adaptive variable difficulty or making the achievements public in order to increase social motivational drive influence.

title: An Empirical Investigation on the Benefits of Gamification in Programming Courses
abstract: Programming courses are compulsory for most engineering degrees, but students' performance on these courses is often not as good as expected. Programming is difficult for students to learn, given that it includes a lot of new, complex, and abstract topics. All of this has led experts to the conclusion that new teaching techniques are required if students are to be motivated and engaged in learning on programming courses. Gamification has come to be an effective technique in education in general, and is especially useful in programming courses. This motivated us to develop an open source gamified platform, called UDPiler, for use in a programming course.  The main goal of this article is to obtain empirical evidence on the improvement of students' learning performance when using UDPiler in comparison to a non gamified compiler.  A quasi experiment was performed with two groups of first year engineering students at Diego Portales University in Chile, using a non gamified compiler and a gamified platform, respectively.  The results reveal that the students obtained better marks when the gamified platform was used to learn C programming. In addition, there is statistical significance in favor of there being a positive effect on the learning performance of those students who used the gamified platform.  The results allow us to conclude that gamification is an encouraging approach with which to teach C programming, a finding that is aligned with previous empirical studies concerning gamification on programming courses, carried out in academic contexts. Nonetheless, we are aware that further validation is also required to corroborate and strengthen the findings obtained and to investigate whether the kind of gamified elements (mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics) used have any influence on students' performance, among other issues that deserve further investigation and that are explained throughout this article.

title: Gamification educational process as a tool of efficiency improvement Of learning

title: FOR GAMIFICATION BASED E LEARNING SYSTEMS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN EGYPT
abstract: With gamification, design elements known from games can be used in several ways; Businesses have begun to use gamification to enhance profitability, staff have turned work into a game in order to reduce the monotony, serious applications like work and education are being started using mechanisms borrowed from game design, by adding elements from games into non game e learning applications. This study aims to identi how the elements of gamification affect user experience and increase their engagement with registered subjects. Through a dynamic question selection approach based on'the gamification tactics, the real exams of a number of students showed the improvement of their knowledge acquisition by 55% over the traditional examination approaches.