Meta-synthesis study of key factors of success in education and professional development through gamification based on Roberts model

The present study was conducted to identify the key factors of success in teacher training and professional development through gamification. The approach of the present study was qualitative and its method was meta-synthesis. The research population consisted of the entire valid research documents on education and professional development through gamification which were collected from the nationwide and international academic research databases from 2011 to 2019. Initially, 325 scientific documents were identified using the keyword of gamification, and based on inclusion criteria. Then 288 articles were excluded according to the exclusion criteria and finally 37 documents were selected for the final analysis. Data was collected through the qualitative analysis of the studied documents. The six-step pattern of Roberts' research synthesis was used. MAXQDA 10 software was used for open and axial coding. Based on the identified codes, 5 themes (factors), 13 categories and 39 open codes were extracted. The 5 factors included: 1) Personal, 2) Interpersonal, 3) Structural, 4) Gamification design, and 5) educational. The results indicated that in order to be successful in designing teacher training and their professional development courses based on gamification, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the users and also there should be a good strategic planning.