Effects of Gamification on the Benefits of Student Response Systems in Learning of Human Anatomy: Three Experimental Studies

Juan J. López-Jiménez, José L. Fernández-Alemán, José A. García-Berná, Laura López González, Ofelia González Sequeros, Joaquín Nicolás Ros, Juan M. Carrillo de Gea, Ali Idri and Ambrosio Toval
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Juan J. López-Jiménez: Department of Informatics and System, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
José L. Fernández-Alemán: Department of Informatics and System, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
José A. García-Berná: Department of Informatics and System, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Laura López González: Department of Human Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Ofelia González Sequeros: Department of Human Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Joaquín Nicolás Ros: Department of Informatics and System, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Juan M. Carrillo de Gea: Department of Informatics and System, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Ali Idri: Software Project Management Research Team, ENSIAS, Mohammed V University in Rabat, Rabat 10000, Morocco
Ambrosio Toval: Department of Informatics and System, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-18

Abstract: This paper presents three experiments to assess the impact of gamifying an audience response system on the perceptions and educational performance of students. An audience response system called SIDRA (Immediate Audience Response System in Spanish) and two audience response systems with gamification features, R-G-SIDRA (gamified SIDRA with ranking) and RB-G-SIDRA (gamified SIDRA with ranking and badges), were used in a General and Descriptive Human Anatomy course. Students participated in an empirical study. In the academic year 2019–2020, a total of 90 students used RB-G-SIDRA, 90 students employed R-G-SIDRA in the academic year 2018–2019, and 92 students used SIDRA in the academic year 2017–2018. Statistically significant differences were found between final exam grades obtained by using RB-G-SIDRA and SIDRA, U = 39.211 adjusted p = 0.001 and RB-G-SIDRA and R-G-SIDRA U = 31.157 adjusted p = 0.015, thus finding strong evidence with respect to the benefit of the badges used in RB-G-SIDRA. Moreover, in the students’ SIDRA systems scores, statistically significant differences were found between RB-G-SIDRA and SIDRA, U = −90.521 adjusted p < 0.001, and between R-G-SIDRA and SIDRA, U = −87.998 adjusted p < 0.001. Significant correlations between individual and team scores were also found in all of the tests in RB-G-SIDRA and G-SIDRA. The students expressed satisfaction, engagement, and motivation with SIDRA, R-G-SIDRA, and RB-G-SIDRA, thus obtaining a final average assessment of 4.28, 4.61, and 4.47 out of 5, respectively. Students perform better academically with gamified versus non-gamified audience response systems. Findings can be used to build a gamified adaptive learning system.

Keywords: gamified audience response system; E-learning; human anatomy; experiment; badges (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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