The programming committee for the 78th Annual SAM International Business Conference is pleased to announce the acceptance of the presentation Gamification Trends and Potential Application in Business Education by Bibhu Bhatta, Prashant Shah, Tina Nosrati, and Fariba Nosrati of Ramapo College of New Jersey.
Presentation Abstract: One of the challenges in traditional pedagogical methods is to capture the attention of all students – for some students, the pace of the class is too fast, for some it is too slow, and some students are bored to pay any attention. Educators try to fix this problem by encouraging student participation and making their content as enjoyable as possible, but this solution only addresses a handful of students. Furthermore, there is no metric at the end of the class to review its efficacy. To mitigate these crucial issues, educators are now looking into gamification – the use of game elements such as competition, interaction, and reward in non-entertaining contexts (Deterding et al., 2011; Oliveira et al., 2022). With technological solutions that incorporate game elements into classrooms, assignments, and assessments, educators are not only seeking to increase student engagement but are also hoping to garner insights into student learning as it happens and adapt the class to the unique needs of each student while keeping it relevant to everyone.
However, current literature on the subject does not provide a definitive conclusion on gamification’s impacts on student learning and success (Dichev & Dicheva, 2017; Ofosu-Ampong, 2020; Wang, 2021; Zainuddin et al., 2020). Even though it can be reasonably speculated that gamification increases student motivation and engagement and, in turn, bolsters their performance, most studies conclude that gamification increases student engagement but tend to shed doubt on its efficacy in achieving learning outcomes (Kulhanek et al., 2021; Watson-Huggins & Trotman, 2019). Furthermore, studies also indicate that students, especially those in higher education who have been exposed to the traditional form of education, may not receive gamified curriculum in a positive light and consider it superfluous (Berkling & Thomas, 2013; Cózar-Gutiérrez & Sáez-López, 2016). Some authors attribute inconsistent and contradictory results to the vast scope and application of gamification.
Therefore, to realize the promising potential of gamification in business education, it is critical to understand the current trends in gamification research. This paper analyzes and classifies existing literature on gamification in education through various criteria such as game elements, student level, course subject, effect on motivation, impact on learning achievement, application methods, and tools deployed. It also looks closely at studies specifically using business courses for gamification and reports their differences from other subject areas. Moreover, it also focuses on the larger picture by analyzing the evolution of gamification over the last two decades and identifying the most important insights and innovations in gamification that is relevant to business education. And lastly, it examines the use of gamification in the professional sector and suggests pedagogical strategies to prepare business students for a gamified workplace.
Join us online to see this great paper and many more March 13 – March 18, 2023. For registration information visit www.samnational.org/conference.