Gamifying an ICT course: Influences on engagement and academic performance

Hypothesizing that gamification may have a positive effect on engagement; this study hopes to contribute to the implementation of gamification by presenting evidence from a real classroom. This study intended to reveal the effect of gamified instructional process to student engagement and the relationship between engagement and academic performances in a real classroom. The study includes reflections from the design of a one-term ICT course in which the participants were pre-service primary school teachers enrolled at a school of education. An engagement scale, activity evaluation rubrics, a gamification evaluation form were used to collect data. Clinical interviews were used to address the relationships among gamification, engagement and achievement. The results revealed that using the combination of elements provided quite a positive motivational impact on engagement. Also the use of gamification elements indirectly affected the academic achievement due to their positive effects on engagement in the classroom. Suggestions for using gamification elements in a real classroom environment were also included. •Combination of five gamification elements were used together to stimulate students.•Qualitative and quantitative reflections from a gamified course were examined.•Leaderboard and points worked on university students well but real gifts did not.•Gamification played significant role on engagement-academic performance relation.•Suggestions were made for the use of each gamification elements in real ICT class.