Enhancing Chinese International Students’ Motivation and Engagement in a STEM Subject in UK Higher Education: A Case of Gamification in Programming

Programming courses, the entry of the digital world, can be overwhelming to freshers, especially for international students experiencing academic transition. To better understand and improve international students’ programming learning experience, we conducted two studies. The first study identified international students’ lack of intrinsic motivation and low engagement. The second study implemented a gamification approach to motivate and engage international students in programming learning and smooth their academic transition. The study showed positive results regarding the impacts of gamification on students’ learning performance and intrinsic motivation.