Does gamification engage students while learning JavaScript?

Abstract

Gamification has become a staple concept in designing various systems, but its effects are not entirely agreed on. Gamification in online learning platforms has become increasingly common in the 2020s, but there is still the danger of not using proper gamification frameworks in system design phase and leaving gamification as an afterthought. In such cases gamification may not function as intended and could have unintended consequences on the learning behavior of students. To promote gamification that makes students feel engaged, motivated and entertained, this thesis presents popular frameworks for designing gamification and inspects how individual elements of gamification affect the behavior of students with the help of the theory of gamified learning. To inspect how gamification affects the behavior of students in practice, a user test and an interview was organized using a gamified prototype platform for learning JavaScript that was developed for this thesis. The platform was developed using the 6D model and MDE framework and included a programming workspace where code was formed using connectable blocks. The results showed that the levels were clearly the most engaging element to the testers, and the points were the most fun element to the testers. Notably, the levels element was the most immersive element that provided the user with an environment and control over it, which may have made it the most engaging element. All elements aside from points were clearly motivating to the testers. The thesis could not find clear evidence for gamification increasing engagement, or fun, but clear evidence was found for gamification increasing motivation in the prototype platform. Some differences in preference were also found between first year and older students, which suggests different levels of gamification could be utilized in different years of study. Most of the first year students enjoyed programming using blocks, while older students found it less enjoyable.