CHARACTERISTIC AND EFFECTIVENESS OF GAMIFICATION

Some characteristics every game shares:

 • fun: the activity is chosen for its light-hearted character
 • separate: it is circumscribed in time and place
 • uncertain: the outcome of the activity is unforeseeable
 • non-productive: participation does not accomplish anything useful

Effectiveness of Gamification

There have also been a number of studies to determine empirically and conceptual if gamification is actually effective in education.

In “Does Gamification Work? – A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Gamification” Juho Hamari, Jonna Koivisto, and Harri Sarsa take a structured approach to determining the effectiveness of gamification by considering:

1. What motivational affordances the reviewed studies have implemented as dependent variables 
2. What psychological outcomes have been measured as possibly both independent and dependent variable.
3. What behavioral outcomes have been measured as dependent variables.

Their research shows that a majority of the current studies on the effectiveness of gamification do indicate that gamification in education produces positive effects and benefits. However, they also found that most of even the quantitative papers they reviewed were descriptive in nature and focused on the learners expressed response to the implementation of gamification and not demonstrated change in performance.

           
JACKSON, Michael. Gamification in education: A literature Review. [en línea]. [Fecha de consulta: 8 de enero de 2017]. Disponible en internet: http://www.usma.edu/cfe/Literature/MJackson_16.pdf