Identifying Student Types in a Gamified Learning Experience

Gamification of education is a recent trend, and early experiments showed promising results. Students seem not only to perform better, but also to participate more and to feel more engaged with gamified learning. However, little is known regarding how different students are affected by gamification and how their learning experience may vary. In this paper the authors present a study in which they analyzed student data from a gamified college course and looked for distinct behavioral patterns. The authors clustered students according to their performance throughout the semester, and carried out a thorough analysis of each cluster, regarding many aspects of their learning experience. They clearly found three types of students, each with very distinctive strategies and approaches towards gamified learning: the Achievers, the Disheartened and the Underachievers. A careful analysis allowed them to extensively describe each student type and derive meaningful guidelines, to help carefully tailoring custom gamified experiences for them.