Increasing student engagement through gamification

Abstract

Despite the fact that much literature heralds student engagement as an essential component to improve learning and increase course completion rates, confusion persists on how to accomplish this in an e-learning environment. In recent years, gamification has emerged as a potential strategy to achieve these goals, yet its application in educational contexts, to date, has remained limited. This paper seeks to examine how gamification principles could be incorporated into online contexts to engage learners, build independence and increase student academic success. This was done through the creation of a French gamified learning environment (GLE) at the A1 level as outlined in the Common European Framework Reference. The GLE consisted of a series of learning activities presented as quests woven together by a single narrative and was presented to peer reviewers for feedback. This project was intended as a practical application of educational theory rather than as a formal research project. Peer review feedback was largely positive and supported the notion that this was a successful application of gamification principles and would increase engagement. Gamification should be considered as a serious strategy to increase engagement and student success.