Majuri, J., Koivisto, J., & Hamari, J. (2018). Gamification of education and learning: A review of empirical literature. The 2nd International GamiFIN conference.
Paper’s Abstract
Gamification has become one of the most notable technological developments for human engagement. Therefore, it is not surprising that gamification has especially been addressed and implemented in the realm of education where supporting and retaining engagement is a constant challenge. However, while the volume of research on the topic has increased, synthesizing the consequent knowledge has remained modest and narrow. Therefore, in this literature review we catalogue 128 empirical research papers in the field of gamification of education and learning. The results indicate that gamification in education and learning most commonly utilizes affordances signaling achievement and progression, while social and immersion-oriented affordances are much less common; the outcomes examined in the studies are mainly focused on quantifiable performance metrics; and the results reported in the reviewed studies are strongly positively oriented. The findings imply that future research on gamification in education should increasingly put emphasis on varying the affordances in the implementations and the pursued goals of the gamification solutions. We encourage also increased attention on contextual factors of the solutions as well as on study designs in future research endeavors.