A qualitative investigation of student experience in a gamified course at the Open University of Mauritius

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a paradigm shift from traditional on-campus presence learning to online learning. While the transition to digital education and online learning has been embraced worldwide, the biggest challenge remains the lack of motivation and engagement of the online student. Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts and in an online learning context; it is an innovative strategy to encourage motivation and engagement. This study shows the findings of qualitative research that aims to examine students’ experience in an online gamified course. The gamified online course, Music and Movement, was offered to Bachelor in Education (Honours) Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) students at the Open University of Mauritius in the semester August to December 2021. The course was redesigned using a gamification theoretical framework called D6. Out of 46 ECEC students, 15 volunteered to further contribute through semi-structured interviews. The collected data was transcribed and analysed using open coding. The findings reveal that the perception and experience of students about the gamified online course can be categorised into five main themes, namely gamified course elements, general feelings and experience of students, personality of the tutor, traits of the students and collaborative work.