“I Was More Wanting to Stay First”: Competition- and Cooperation-Based Gamification as a Computing Education Pedagogy

Abstract Gamification is increasingly recognized as an effective pedagogical tool. Among its dimensions, social dynamics, especially competition and cooperation, are widely discussed. However, while prior research often examines these separately, there is limited understanding of how combined competition- and cooperation-based gamification is experienced by computing students. The present study examines how computing students react to and make sense of their experiences when engaging with competition- and cooperation-based gamification dynamics in the context of computing education tasks. We conducted a four-week qualitative case study in which undergraduate computing students engaged with a gamified learning management system. The system incorporated a typical gamification design, consisting of a set of competition- and cooperation-based game elements that created a meta-game interaction around the learning activity (as opposed to, for instance, serious games or game-based learning). Students’ gamification user types were gathered, and their perceptions were recorded through weekly individual semi-structured interviews. The data were then analyzed and triangulated using inductive thematic analysis. The findings reveal diverse perceptions, particularly regarding students’ experiences with the gamification elements integrated into the platform, the evolution of these perceptions over the four weeks, and the varied ways in which competition and cooperation were experienced according to students’ gamification user types. This study carries implications for both gamified education and computing education. It underscores the need to account for individual student differences when designing gamification strategies and demonstrates that students’ perceptions of gamification can shift within a relatively short period.