An experimental study: Personalized gamifed learning based on learning style

Abstract

Numerous game related elements such as points, badges, leaderboard, and ranking are utilized in educational context when motivation and engagement need to be boosted. Undoubtedly, influencing students’ engagement has been reported as one of the gamification’s pros. However, study the effects of certain game elements on dissimilar types of students is recommended by several researchers. Accordingly, a learning style is a vital factor in human learning process which is considered as an important personalization parameter in several eLearning tools. This research has used Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM) as personalization parameter along with 10 game elements to propose a personalized gamified learning model. A Design Science Research Approach (DSRA) has been undertaken to examine the proposed model in improving the students’ scores in Data Flow Diagram (DFD) lesson during class learning process. For validating the proposed model, 50 Multiple Choice Questions for DFD web-based gamified application has been developed. An experimental study using the application has been conducted with 71 undergraduate students from School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Participants were divided into two groups: experimental and control. Additionally, the gamification application has two different modes: personalized mode (for experimental group) and non-personalized mode (for control group). Data was collected from the application database and perceived usefulness questionnaire. An independent t-test has been used to compare means of scores between the groups. Result shows that personalized gamified learning is an effective method in learning process, as well as in boosting student perceived usefulness of the application.