Gamification through leaderboards : an empirical study in engineering education

Abstract

Universities are looking for solutions to engage more students in STEMdomains and enhance their learning performance (LP). In this context,gamification is put forward as a solution to achieve this aim. The presentstudy examined the effect of gamification – building on leaderboards ‐ on LP.Furthermore, mediating variables, such as intrinsic motivation, self‐efficacy,engagement, and background variables, such as sex, previous gamingexperience, and undergraduate major, were considered. A pretest‐posttestquasi‐experimental design with an experimental and a control condition was setup (n = 89) in an Introductory Computer Programming course. We observed asignificant improvement in the LP of students in the gamified condition.However, no interaction effect was detected, due to mediating and backgroundvariables. The high learning gain is a favorable indicator that gamificationmight be a promising approach to promote STEM programs.Universities are looking for solutions to engage more students in STEMdomains and enhance their learning performance (LP). In this context,gamification is put forward as a solution to achieve this aim. The presentstudy examined the effect of gamification – building on leaderboards ‐ on LP.Furthermore, mediating variables, such as intrinsic motivation, self‐efficacy,engagement, and background variables, such as sex, previous gamingexperience, and undergraduate major, were considered. A pretest‐posttestquasi‐experimental design with an experimental and a control condition was setup (n = 89) in an Introductory Computer Programming course. We observed asignificant improvement in the LP of students in the gamified condition.However, no interaction effect was detected, due to mediating and backgroundvariables. The high learning gain is a favorable indicator that gamificationmight be a promising approach to promote STEM programs.A