Can gamification improve student engagement and learning?

Management education has traditionally been delivered in tedious and disengaging manner. Students manifest their disengagement in five dimensions - values, motivation, behavioural, interactional and competing involvements. This research targets motivation, behavioural and interactional disengagement using gamification. This project aims to investigate the impact of implementing gamification elements in an undergraduate managerial communication course on the students’ engagement and academic performance. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, this project develops an online and in-class gamified learning intervention by aligning game attributes to desired behaviours and learning outcomes. Using a pre- and post-test survey, the researchers will examine student perceptions of the gamification intervention. Students’ written reflections on their gamification experience will also be subject to a thematic analysis. The researchers anticipate an improvement in student engagement and learning outcomes. Based on the findings, a set of design principles to guide future gamification interventions will be developed.