Gamification of Midterm Examinations Using a Dynamic 3D Multiuser Game: What's the Impact?

• Published in: European conference on games based learning Vol. 1; p. 372
• Main Authors: Mavridis, Apostolos, Tsiatsos, Thrasyvoulos, Chatzakis, Michalis, Kitsikoudis, Konstantinos, Lazarou, Efthymios
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Academic Conferences International Limited 01.10.2014
• Subjects: Collaboration; Collaborative learning; Cooperative learning; Education; Games; Gamification; Interactive learning; Studies
• ISSN: 2049-0992; 2049-100X

This study investigates the efficiency of using a dynamic 3D multiuser game as a midterm evaluation tool that replaces the traditional paper-based examination procedure. The participants of the study were 89 students in tertiary education consisting of 73 male students and 16 female students and their ages ranged from 18 to 20. The intervention lasted 5 weeks and took place in the context of a computer science course in collaboration with a professor. The research design that was implemented in this study was based on the "One-Shot" model. The game that was used as a treatment belonged to the category of the treasure hunt quiz games. The game was dynamic and therefore the educator was able to customize parameters and content using an administration panel. The goal of the game for students was to find hidden objects that contain multiple choice questions and then answer them correctly. The results from the data analysis showed that there was a statistically significant correlation between the performance of the students on the game and their performance on the final paper-based examination.