Ready Player One: Gamification of a Criminal Justice Course

In 2021, the global video game industry was estimated to be worth more than $178 billion. That year, there were more than 2.9 billion active gamers in the world who spent an average of 12 hours a week playing video games. What if we could get our students as invested in their coursework as they are in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare? The purpose of this study was to examine whether gamification techniques could be employed in a criminal justice course and to assess student engagement and attitudes towards the gamified course structure. Class observations and survey data suggested that the gamified structure of the course was received favorably by the students and increased student engagement with the course material. The findings indicate that gamification made the learning experience unique and resulted in a layer of meaning and engagement to the students' classroom experience.