All Computer Science majors are required to take introductory programming (CS1) as a fundamental course which has a high dropout rate. Researchers report that CS1 students lack motivation and need constant resource support. Motivated by these factors, we developed a cyberlearning environment embedded with learning engagement strategies such as Collaborative Learning, Social Interaction and Gamification. The purpose of research is to investigate the impact the cyberlearning environment had on student acquisition of programming concepts. I conducted a series of studies to empirically validate these learning engagement strategies in the context of student learning outcomes. The results of my dissertation have shown that Gamification and Social Interaction when combined or used individually had more positive impact on student learning when compared to that of other learning engagement strategies. / This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grants DUE-1225742 and DUE-1525112. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Over the last decade, Gamification has been identified as one of the most prominent marketing initiatives to engage customers in the creation of more desirable and unique offerings. Adding Gamification into offerings allows customers to socially interact, share information and co-create experiences. Previous literature have focused on examining existing customers in the post first experience phase, thus leaving non-customers' willingness to engage in Gamification initiatives as an unexplored phenomena. As the ability to attract non-customers is identified to be a major source of business growth, the insights of what drives engagement of non-customers to eventually become new customers through the application of Gamification is vital for furthering the understanding in the research field.  Drawing on three types of gamified settings, (Personal, Competitive and Collaborative) this thesis aims to contribute with a better understanding on the relationship between Customer Engagement and Gamification. A quantitative research approach with a quasi-experimental design was applied, generating data from 379 respondents on a fictitious gamified app. The empirical findings contribute to existing literature by providing guidance on how to engage non-customers through Gamification offerings. Results indicated that non-customers are more likely to engage in Competitive and Collaborative Gamifications rather than Personal Gamification. Therefore, this thesis implies that engagement of non-customers differs based on what kind of Gamification is being offered.

In the survey Unga &amp; Medier initiated by Statens medieråd 2017, 3000 teenagers were asked about their gaming habits. The survey was made in collaboration with SCB (Statistiska Centralbyrån) and it is the most extensive examination of its kind ever produced in Sweden. It showed that 50% of the participating boys played more than three hours per day at the age of 16. At the same time, students’ results in school are sinking in general, especially the writing ability. Skolverket (2015) deems that the combination of inner and outer motivation has the biggest effect on students’ ability to successfully solve a task. The study presents the difficulties of altering the precieved motivation of the students’ and the complexity of using self-report questionnaires as a messurement tool. The aim of this study is to investigate how D’Angelos model of progymnasmata in combination with gamification can affect students’ motivation to produce written texts. Two methods were used. First; self assessment and second; a material based on one step of the antique instrument progymnasmata, the fable, which was created and tested with two groups of students, where one of the groups had a thematic based on gamification. The results proved, although the participation was low, that the quantity of written data was improved while the motivation was unaffected. In conclusion, the study did not have an effect the way it was expected to do, although this has been taken in consideration while potraying the complexity of motivation as a concept. / <p>Svenska</p>

Thesis (MTech (Business Information Systems))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019 / The recent generation of students, often referred to as ‘Millennials’, are generally familiar with computer games and therefore learn mostly through virtual experiences from game playing. A high failure rate due to the lack of critical thinking (CT) skills among tertiary students still persists, despite the implementation of CT enhancing programmes and frameworks. The aim of this research was to explore the effect of gamification on the critical thinking skills of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) students. A single pre-and post-quasi-experimental research strategy with a pragmatic perspective research approach was followed. Mixed methods research with self-administered semi-structured questionnaires and interviews was employed. In total, 182 questionnaires distributed to students were analysed pre- and post-intervention, and five (5) interviews were conducted with the relevant lecturers post-intervention. The data were summarised and categorised by applying thematic analysis. All participants volunteered to be part of the study, and they were informed of the confidentiality and anonymity of the research before partaking in the study. From the inductive study results, it was found that CT is already an integral part of the subject content being taught to the students. The experimental learning environment did not result in significant domain-general CT compared to the control environment. Judgement was the only CT skills element showing a significant improvement from pre- to post-results on the respondents’ overall CT. Gamification can be an effectual instrument to enhance CT skills, as it enables the retention of knowledge through play by motivating and stimulating inquisitiveness among students.

Orientador: Vânia Cristina Pires Nogueira Valente / Resumo: O acesso às novas tecnologias e ao mundo digital se faz cada dia mais necessário, visto que a informática se encontra nas diferentes atividades cotidianas do mundo moderno. O uso das tecnologias associadas a projetos educacionais propicia aos educandos uma aquisição de conhecimentos de forma mais ágil e criativa bem como a otimização dos estudos. Esta dissertação objetivou uma análise e sistematização de estratégias de gamificação em aplicativos destinados à educação. Foi abordado o uso da gamificação como ferramenta de ensino, e foram elencados os aplicativos educacionais que possuem estratégias de gamificação e como estes aplicativos podem contribuir para o processo ensino-aprendizagem. A metodologia de investigação utilizada foi o uso de aplicativos de interação educacional como o Kahoot, GoConqr, Socratic e o Duolingo, apresentando as estratégias com o intuito de facilitar a aplicação da gamificação. Fundamentado nos elementos encontrados e na teoria do Flow, foram elencadas estratégias gerais para que possam ser aplicadas nestes aplicativos, e a intenção é que esta sistematização contribua para os projetistas de aplicativos educacionais, adotando as estratégias consideradas relevantes para promover um ambiente de ensino que mantém o aluno motivado a interagir continuamente, facilitando a vida dos educadores e retendo a atenção e interesse dos educandos ao mundo tecnológico. / Abstract: Access to new technologies and the digital world is becoming more and more necessary, since information technology is found in the different daily activities of the modern world. The use of technologies associated with educational projects allows students to acquire knowledge in a more agile and creative way, as well as the optimization of studies. This dissertation aimed at an analysis and systematization of gamification strategies in applications intended for education. The use of gamification as a teaching tool was addressed, and educational applications that have gamification strategies were listed and how these applications can contribute to the teaching-learning process. The research methodology used was the use of educational interaction applications such as Kahoot, GoConqr, Socratic and Duolingo, presenting the strategies in order to facilitate the application of gamification. Based on the elements found and the theory of Flow, general strategies were listed so that they can be applied in these applications, and the intention is that this systematization contributes to the designers of educational applications, adopting the strategies considered relevant to promote a teaching environment that maintains the student motivated to interact continuously, making life easier for educators and retaining the students' attention and interest in the technological world. / Mestre

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Kunskapsöversikten presenterar vad aktuell forskning kommit fram till gällande gamificationsom metod och verktyg i skolan, med fokus på matematik. Syftet med översikten är att synliggöra vad som kännetecknar gamification inom grundskolenivå i forskningen, samt huruvida metoderna som använts i undervisningen är motivationshöjande. Vi har utgått från specifikt utvalda nyckelord i vår sökning för att gallra bort artiklar som inte stämde överens med vårt syfte. Urvalet av artiklarna baserades sedan på studiernas innehåll, med utgångspunkt av gamifierade metoder i skolan. Efter första urvalsprocessen, som resulterade till 58 artiklar, började vi läsa artiklarnas abstract för att urskilja irrelevanta artiklar, vilket resulterade i 14 artiklar. Dessa artiklar lästes sedan i sin helhet för att se om det kunde kopplas till syftet, vilket resulterade till sju utvalda artiklar. De valda artiklarna innehöll olika studier med både kvalitativ och kvantitativa resultat, studier med inriktning mot elev, samt studier med fokus på metod. Resultatet av studierna tyder på att gamification ökar elevernas motivation och då framförallt motivationen hos pojkar. Däremot visar också resultatet att gamification i större utsträckning motiverar högpresterande elever mer än lågpresterande.

Children with intellectual disabilities often struggle with reading, and traditional ways of learning can be frustrating and difficult. This thesis investigates the ability to adapt gaming as a more creative and engaging way for these children to practice sentence structure and reading comprehension. The result is a prototype that makes use of reading scenes mixed with interactive scenes where the user gets to build sentences through different game mechanics such as drag &amp; drop, marking of words and point &amp; click. Depending on what sentence is built, the story changes. The overall evaluation feedback of this prototype is positive and that it has potential but would require further work since reading is a complex activity and the reading levels of children with special needs are very individual.

Användandet av tekniska verktyg förutspås vara en viktig del av hur camping- och hotellverksamheter utvecklar sina kundrelationer. Existerande forskning fokuserar mestadels på Augmented Reality och gamification som separata koncept. Tidigare forskning visar att Augmented Reality såväl som Gamification kan nyttjas av serviceverksamheter för att skapa värde för sina kunder i form av stärkt kundengagemang, sociala fördelar och en stärkt marknadsposition för företaget. Det blir allt vanligare för företag att använda digitala marknadsföringsverktyg för att styra sina kunders beteende och skapa kundlojalitet. En avsaknad av att tillämpa tekniken som ett förenat koncept, AR-Gamification, inom camping- och hotellverksamheter har noterats. Denna studie ämnar öka förståelsen för vilket intresse och acceptans det finns för AR-Gamification inom camping- och hotellverksamheter. För att undersöka detta har en marknadsundersöknings gjorts. Som verktyg för undersökningen har TAM använts. I tidigare forskning används denna modell för att studera hur ny teknik tas emot och accepteras, vilket ligger i linje med denna studies syfte. Påverkande faktorer i hur teknik tas emot och accepteras identifieras i TAM i variabler kring externa faktorer, uppfattad användbarhet samt uppfattad användarvänlighet. Start up-företaget JIVVIS produkt, en AR-Gamifierad Skattjakt har använts för att konkretisera tekniken som studeras. Utifrån det har slutsatser dragits gällande AR-Gamification i stort för hela camping- och hotellbranschen. Marknadsundersökningen resulterar i en modifierad TAM för studiens kontext. Denna slutgiltiga TAM genereras utifrån tidigare forskning och modifierats utifrån resultatet som presenteras utifrån studiens insamlade empiri. Studiens empiri bekräftar vissa aspekter av tidigare forskning men har även resulterat i oanade teman vilket ses som studiens teoretiska bidrag. Av de externa faktorer som identifierats i tidigare forskning kunde variabeln målgrupp bekräftas vara en påverkande faktor utifrån studiens insamlade data. Utöver detta uppkom oanade teman i användbarhet såväl som användarvänlighet av AR-Gamification inom camping- och hotellkontext. Användbarhet av AR-Gamification inom verksamheterna sågs inte bara i den AR-Gamifierade Skattjakt som presenteras utan även som verktyg för att effektivisera och underlätta gästernas hotellvistelse i form av en AR-Gamifierad Karta. Respondenterna i studien betonade, precis som tidigare forskning, den tekniska komplexitetens inverkan på acceptansen med tillskottet att den bör beaktas både ur slutanvändarperspektiv samt verksamhetsperspektiv. Studiens resultat kan stå till grund för om och hur JIVVI såväl som andra bolag med ARGamificationrelaterade tjänster/produkter ska närma sig camping- och hotellbranschen. Studien ger även ökad förståelse för intresset och acceptansen för AR-Gamification och kan därigenom ge företag insikter om hur de bör anpassa sin produkt/tjänst utifrån branschens önskemål.

In a time where child obesity is reaching an alarming level it is important to provide tools for weight loss that are accessible to many children. Furthermore, it is important for these tools to be easy and fun to use to keep the users engaged in the tool over a long period of time, since losing weight is nothing that can be done in a day. By designing and implementing a mobile application for logging food intake and the incorporation of gamification elements, this study seeks to address the problem of users losing interest in the tool and rebounding to unhealthy eating. Gamification is a concept of making applications that traditionally has nothing to do with games into a more game-like experience to enhance user engagement. After the development of the application was complete, the participants of the study used the application as a part of their daily routine to log all the food they consumed. When interviewing the participants after testing the application the overall response for the gamification elements was positive. However, the general design and implementation of the application seemed to affect the user engagement more than the additional gamification elements.