Gamifying mobile micro-learning for continuing education in a corporate IT environment

Gamification is the use of game mechanics in a non-gaming environment in order to solve problems and engage users. One of the problems that face corporate IT departments is the ongoing training and education of their employees such as programmers. The industry is changing so fast that it is difficult to find the time to keep everybody up-to-date with latest trends and techniques. This paper describes research into the use of gamification in mobile micro-learning in a corporate IT department. The IT department under research did most of its programming development in Java. The employees in the department ranged in education and training levels from some tertiary education up through two employees having PhDs. In an effort to keep all employees abreast of latest programming techniques and trends in addition to providing new training for some junior employees, a gamified approach to mobile micro-learning was implemented. The micro-learning was instantiated as Friday treasure hunts with clues and lessons being provided to the participants using QR codes.