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The Inclusion of Gamification Elements in the Educational Process

Conference Paper · May 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3026.7766

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 The Inclusion of Gamification Elements
in the Educational Process

Petr Škuta, Kateřina Kostolányová

University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic
D15477@student.osu.cz, katerina.kostolanyova@osu.cz

Abstract
Recently the concept of gamification started to gain attention. It has crossed its common
ground and found its way into the sphere of education from marketing and business. The
increasing number of scientific papers suggests that gamification might be more than just a
modern buzzword. Some researches argue about its position as a new learning theory. It can be
compared with others and enhance the current perspective of learning. However, the
terminology and theory has not been yet fully established. As the research in the field
progresses, some common definitions appear. But the basic two categories are already
frequently distinguished: The gamification design principles and game design mechanics. The
design principles are means for increasing motivation to learn, while game mechanics are the
tools through principles are implemented. Interesting is the fact that some of the game
mechanics help to achieve more than a single game principle, whereas others are strictly for
one purpose. To demonstrate the real use of the gamification, the paper will analyze a learning
environment heavily drawing on the concept of gamification and utilizing it to motivational
ends, the internet website Duolingo was chosen for an analysis. The gamification design and
game mechanics are elaborated on the examples from the application. The conclusion offers
the learning mechanics that draw on the concept of gamification to aid students in their
learning process, based on the students' own intuitive use of gamification in learning
applications.

Keywords
Analysis. Application. Education. Gamification. Game principles. Game mechanics. Motivation.

INTRODUCTION

In the 21st century traditional education faces new challenges. The so called
“generation Z” has entered the education process. Its members are able to use
technology, social media and internet with ease. On the other hand, they face difficulties
staying focused and keeping attention (Bíró, 2014). In the search how to address this issue
a lot has been written. One of the possibilities is the gamification which might be
considered new in the education field but definitely not new as a theory itself.
According to studies a plenty of research has been recently published on the topic of
gamification. However, until 2008 it was mainly used by other branches, especially in
business and marketing. Marketers were studying how to attract the customers to spent

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Petr Škuta, Kateřina Kostolányová
The Inclusion of Gamification Elements in the Educational Process

more. It was found out that motivated customers return more frequently and gamification
approach has helped to achieve this goal (Dicheva, Dichev, Agre and Angelova, 2015).
Since 2008 it can be seen increased number of scientific papers dealing with gamification
in education. The topic has become widely popular and studied recently.
This paper tries to capture the information needed to understand the gamification
presented in current state of research, mainly based on the works of Karl Kapp (2012) and
Gábor István Bíró (2013, 2014). Those are the studies frequently quoted by the other
researchers in the field of education. The next aim of the paper is to reveal problematic
areas such as unestablished terminology and differences in researchers’ approach to the
gamification theory. In the last part a gamified application example is chosen as a form of
demonstration and analyzed based on from the theoretical perspective.
The reader should gain awareness of the topic of gamification after reading the paper.
Based on the knowledge and analysis he should be be able to recognize gamified
application or environment from the non-gamified one. The reader will see the
implementation of the gamification mechanics and principles including their positive and
negative impact on motivation driven by the way of implementation.

LEARNING THEORIES AND GAMIFICATION

Some researches asked themselves a question: if gamification can successfully work in

the other studied fields how to apply it in the field of education. One of the approaches
presented by Bíró (2014) puts forth the gamification as a theory compared side by side
with Behaviorist, Cognitivist, Constructivist and Connectivist learning theories (see Table
7). It is argued that gamification works with intrinsic motivation (Ollson, Mozelius and
Collin, 2015). Based on the discoveries of Karl Kapp (2012) individual components can be
fully compared with other theories and gamification can be seen as a new perspective.

Table 7: The Comparison of Learning Theories (Bíró, 2014)

Behaviorist Cognitivist Connectivist
Components Constructivist
learning learning learning Gamifi-
of learning learning theory
theory theory theory cation
instinct-driven conscious conscious conscious conscious
The learner
individual individual individual individual individual
Motivation extrinsic intrinsic intrinsic extrinsic intrinsic
internal
Knowledge external internal internal external
/external
ad hoc systematic ad hoc systematic
The learning environment-
personal personal network personal
process driven
processing processing processing processing
the dynamics the
the the cognitive
of networks environment
The environment the cognitive process of
with a special and the
teaching and the process of learners with a
view to cognitive
focuses on behavior of learners special view to
knowledge- process of
learners prior knowledge
allocation learners
network-
Engagement individual individual individual group-based
based
The learning teacher teacher teacher learner teacher

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Petr Škuta, Kateřina Kostolányová
The Inclusion of Gamification Elements in the Educational Process

path is (discover (establish

guided by different different
the paths), and paths), and
the teacher the learner
(choose one (choose one
path) path)
The attitude
active active reactive reactive proactive
of teacher
The attitude
reactive reactive active proactive proactive
of learner
network-
Feedback individual individual individual group-based
based

The unclear part of gamification is its terminology and definition. There is an

agreement that the terms “game” and “gamification” must be distinguished from each
other (Urh, Vukovic and Jereb, 2015). Gamification is often interpreted as “using game-
based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, increase engagement,
promote learning and solve problems” (Kapp, 2012). Thus the gamified learning
environment uses some of the game aspects but it does not use the game itself as a tool,
which can be referred to as Game based learning. The use of games in education is
common and supported by psychologist Peter Gray (2015).
A mapping study of gamification in education discovered most frequently used terms
and categories (Dicheva, Dichev, Agre and Angelova, 2015). The game elements have been
divided into “Gamification design principles” and “Game mechanics.” Some authors use
different terms (Bíró, 2013) but brackets are usually the same like “Game design methods
and processes.” Gamification design principles are aspects which define features of the
environment. On the other hand, Game mechanics are tools which help realize those
design principles (Ollson, Mozelius and Collin, 2015).
The underneath are the principles ordered by the highest occurrence (Dicheva,
Dichev, Agre and Angelova, 2015):
Visible Status
Social Engagement
Freedom of Choice
Rapid Feedback
Freedom to Fail
Goals and Challenges
Storyline
Some minor principles which are still used includes: Unlocking Content,
Personalization, Onboarding and Time Restriction.
The most occurring game mechanics are:
Badges
Leaderboard
Points
Levels

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Petr Škuta, Kateřina Kostolányová
The Inclusion of Gamification Elements in the Educational Process

The achievement of the aforementioned rewards is displayed by use of Virtual Goods

and Avatars, however, the first four mechanics are the most present in gamified learning
environments (Dicheva, Dichev, Agre and Angelova, 2015).
Meanwhile game mechanics can be usually self-explanatory (the badges are
frequently implemented as a badges and can be collected), the gamification design
principles can be sometimes vague. Even the sources from Kapp (2012) describe slightly
different view on some design principles.
To give a better idea, the second part of this paper focuses on the analysis of the real
learning environment, which uses all the aspects described previously. Each gamification
design principle and game mechanics will be described on the example of a single the
application.

ANALYSIS OF GAMIFIED APPLICATION

For the analysis of gamified application Duolingo was chosen, which, together with
Khan Academy (and many others like Code Combat, Read Theory, etc.) belong to popular
gamified learning environments. While Duolingo focuses on the language acquisition, Khan
Academy’s focus is mainly on mathematics. Duolingo is completely free and users can help
with further development. It comes as a web application and mobile application for each
major platform on the market (iOS, Android and Windows). Both share similar user
experience which is based on heavy use of gamification principles and mechanics.
It would be more appropriate to compare two or three applications or environments.
However, the paper length is limited and the gamification elements tend to be similar.
Previously mentioned representatives such as Khan Academy, Duolingo or Code Combat
share the main idea and approach. Also, they are all open to community and their goal is
not to be commercially focused. The development and use of these environments lies
heavily on their user base. This is a big advantage in education environment, because we
do not bear the burden of paid access. On the other hand, these applications are as good
as the community makes them.
Due to its popularity, the gamification is also used in the paid education applications.
They use different variety of game design principles and their analysis can be covered in
the future work.
The analysis presented in the next paragraphs covers both game design principles and
mechanics. It tries to capture the functionality explained on the Duolingo application. The
reader should be able to understand the implementation of the gamification aspects
based real usage of them. In the analysis there is often positive and negative impact
explained according to how Duolingo succeeded in the implementation itself.

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Petr Škuta, Kateřina Kostolányová
The Inclusion of Gamification Elements in the Educational Process

Figure 8: The interface of Duolingo web application

The user interface of Duolingo web application is shown in the Figure 8. Developers
have decided to use two column design. The menu of the application is on the top
together with status icons and access to a profile. In the left column we can see the
content of the application – the lessons realized by colored icons. In the right column we
can see other parts like badge of completion, daily goal, leader board and social
networking field.
The content itself represents “Unlocking content” game design principle. From the
start there are not many possibilities how to pass through. The student has to follow the
already prescribed order. But later on he or she can actually choose which lesson he or she
desires to do next or even often more lessons in the same row can be done at once. The
icons of the lessons are colored. The gold color means the lesson has been successfully
done and student knows all the vocabulary. If the lesson is started the color varies but it is
always in the light tones and after passing individual parts of the lessons the tone of the
color changes to the dark spectrum. Once it is completed it can be redone anytime student
wants.
The developers of this application have also implemented so called “Streaks” and
“Lingots.” These are representatives of “Virtual goods” game mechanics. They help to set
“Goals” game design principle. Streak is achieved when the student successfully has
passed his or her daily goal and is increased incrementally by one. But if student fails to
achieve a daily goal, the streak is restored to zero. After every successive ten days of
achieved streak the student is rewarded by Lingots. Lingot is the form of virtual money in
Duolingo. They can be only obtained by active streaks or through completing lessons.
Lingots can be spent for e.g. extra lessons like “Flirting phrases” or “Proverbs” and other
extra material. The problematic aspect can be seen in the lack of extra material. Keen
students can easily collect everything possible and run out of the motivation.

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Petr Škuta, Kateřina Kostolányová
The Inclusion of Gamification Elements in the Educational Process

Figure 9: Active lesson

The next part of the analysis is the lesson itself. Each lesson consists of a number of
sub-lessons. They can be done only in the set order. Active lesson is showed in the Figure
9. We can see a number of game design principles. The first of them and the most obvious
is “Visible status” realized by “Progress bar.” The student can easily track the progress of
the current lesson by seeing the color of the bar. The more colored the bar, the closer the
student is to completing the lesson. This variant of progress bar is interesting because of
another functionality: It was designed to be also a meter to show “Freedom to Fail” game
design principle. If student makes a mistake the colored bar regresses, but if he
successfully passes the color goes forward. Bellow the task and student’s answer there is
another field placed. In this case it is “Rapid feedback” game design principle. It reacts to
both student’s attempts either failure or success. If the student is successful, the
background of the field changes it’s color to green and the big tick icon is displayed. Also, if
there is another possible solution for the task it is shown in white field. But if the attempt
was failure field’s color goes red and student can see a cross. The application then shows
the correct solution. If the student thinks that his or her solution was correct he or she can
use “Discuss sentence” button. This action shows discussion dialog where you the student
can directly communicate with translators and other users and report mistakes or another
possible solution for the task.
It should be stimulating that there is no penalty for failure. On the other hand, the
progress forces the student to repeat the content until he passes some set line. It can
happen, that this approach generates about forty or fifty attempts before the limit is
successfully passed. This might lead instead of motivation to frustration. The only
possibility how to pass the active lesson is to fulfill the goal or to quit. An improvement on
this aspect would be appropriate.

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Petr Škuta, Kateřina Kostolányová
The Inclusion of Gamification Elements in the Educational Process

Figure 10: Daily Goal

Very important part of each learning environment is the motivation to keep going.
While using the application, there is no real teacher, so the is expected to find the inner
drive to keep studying on their own initiative. Duolingo provides a “Daily Goal”
mechanism. It is a set of objectives describing how much the students desires to learn
transformed into experience points (abbr. XP). Each lessons successfully passed adds ten
XP points. After some milestone and obtaining enough XP points student’s level increases
and he or she is rewarded by the same number of Lingots. Higher levels have slightly
increased the cap of XP points needed to reach those levels; reaching them thus becomes
more challenging. The panel also shows statistics so the student can track the progress. If
he or she is about to lose the “Streak,” the system sends an email notification, or in the
case of mobile application displays the notification right on the screen.
Social aspect is fulfilled by game mechanics “Leaderboards” through “Social
Engagement” game design principle. The small table in the Figure 3 shows the record of
the student and all other learners, which were added by him or her as a friend. The
summary can be switched into weekly, monthly and all time. The leaderboard is more
passive and informative rather than active aspect. It does not affect the learning process
but for competitive persons can be stimulating if they see how they are doing in
comparison with others.
The Duolingo contains even some other game design principles and mechanics like
“Personalization” principle and “Avatar” mechanics. But they actually play a minor role in
the use of presented learning environment.

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Petr Škuta, Kateřina Kostolányová
The Inclusion of Gamification Elements in the Educational Process

DISCUSSION

As it has been shown, the Duolingo developers have used almost all gamification
design principles and game mechanics at once. Therefore, not all of them are used by each
student. It can happen that e.g. “Personalization” here presented by avatar Duo and its
changeable clothes are completely omitted by some students. Others might not be
interested in competing through Leaderboards etc.
An example of not finished concept in the Duolingo might be the principle “Virtual
Goods.” As mentioned previously student for reaching his or her goals the student is
rewarded by Lingots. They can be spent for extra lessons, outfits for avatar (transferring it
“Personalization” principle) and active boost which can help to earn even more Lingots.
For keen and interested students, it is easy to obtain hundreds of Lingots, but the Duolingo
fails to offer more stimulating stuff once the extra lessons and outfits are all unlocked.
While the positive aspects prevail, there are often the negative ones present. A
problem is, how to minimalize their impact in the implementation. Because the motivation
is worked with and there is no real teacher to guide a student, the loss of motivation might
have a big impact on the learning. As all the gamification principles and mechanics are
used at once, the student can easily lose interest being overwhelmed by the heavily
gamified environment itself. Maybe the gradual or sequential approach would be more
appropriate.
It would be interesting if there was used some of adaptive mechanism (Kostolányová,
2012) known from adaptive forms of education. The learning environment the could
suggest to student only some of the game mechanics based on the data of how they use
the application and to which gamification design principle they are respond to. It would
allow students to focus on game mechanics which stimulate them most and skip the
others. However, completely removing the mechanics would not be recommended,
because what is stimulating for the student at any given time is affected by many
variables.
The suggestion of the authors is to implement the gamification together with adaptive
approach. It could be the answer how to present the gamified principles and mechanics
that student will respond to. The motivation could be stimulated only by the mechanics
and principles suitable for each individual student. The paper’s authors want to focus in
this direction in their future work.

CONCLUSION

The paper presents the Gamification theory in education. It strives to trace the origin
of the theory and current state of use. Then the idea of the Gamification theory as the fifth
learning theory is proposed. Due to the non-existence of an established official
terminology the paper choses one of the variants for the analysis. In the second part the
analysis of gamified application Duolingo is presented. It is described from both
gamification design principles and game mechanics. Their implementation is discussed in
the form of the examples from application. In the last part paper suggests further research
for the combination of adaptive methods and gamification methods.

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 Petr Škuta, Kateřina Kostolányová
The Inclusion of Gamification Elements in the Educational Process

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