Game-Based Student Response System: The Effectiveness of Kahoot! on Junior and Senior Information Science Students' Learning

Aim/Purpose: We aimed to investigate the circumstances under which Kahoot! (a Game-based Student Response System (GSRS)) increases junior and senior Information Science university students' learning and knowledge retention beyond that of traditional teaching methods. We also explored whether the positive learning impacts of Kahoot! vary as a function of student subject knowledge (i.e., junior vs senior students). Background: The effectiveness of game-based student response systems (GSRSs) as learning tools in the classroom remains unclear, given inconsistent findings across educational research. Kahoot! enhances secondary and tertiary students' attention and motivation during class, but its effectiveness on learning and retention of course knowledge may vary depending on situational and individual factors. In New Zealand universities, students spend three years studying towards a Bachelor's degree, majoring in subject(s) of their choice. By the end of their third year of study, students are eligible to graduate with a sound knowledge of their chosen major. Thus, first-year students (referred to as "junior students") and third-year students ("senior students") may differ in terms of their learning styles and their ability and willingness to integrate Kahoot! use into their course work and revision. It is hypothesised that differences in subject knowledge between junior versus senior students will influence the perceived effectiveness of Kahoot!. Methodology: Thirteen first-year ("junior") and fourteen third-year ("senior") Information Science students (total n = 27), who used Kahoot! in seven lectures (for 30 minutes per lecture) were interviewed about their perception of Kahoot!'s effectiveness. We conducted a mixed-methods case study of students' interview transcripts, demographic records and student scores, where thematic (content) analysis was used to analyse interview responses. Then, we quantified themes for a one-way ANCOVA, with student subject knowledge predicting Kahoot!'s effectiveness, when controlling for students' duration of tertiary study and study habits (i.e., hours dedicated to course work per week) as potential confounders. Contribution: This study addresses the conflict in existing literature around whether GSRSs improve student learning beyond traditional teaching methods. To our knowledge, this is the first study that shows GSRSs (namely Kahoot!) use improves, or at least, supplements tertiary students' learning and knowledge retentio