Game Based Learning vs.

Gamification From the

Higher Education Students’ Perspective
Udeni Jayasinghe
Anuja Dharmaratne
University of Colombo School of Computing
University of Colombo School of Computing
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
[email protected]
[email protected]
Abstract— The term Edutainment, has been fabricated by secondary or higher education, we can apply this concept for
combing the two words “Education” and “Entertainment”, and any educational system to enhance it.
as this term expresses, this concept provides educational Nowadays various types of computer games such as action
entertainment or entertainment-education. That means this let games, adventure and role playing games, strategy games,
the student to learn subject matters with entertainment, so that
simulation games etc. are available. There are various kinds of
the students get attracted to learning rather than getting used to
learning through the teacher centered learning concept. Under online games that can be used to improve the subject
this novel concept called “Edutainment” there comes a couple of knowledge of the students. Such games are not only limited to
new ways of teaching like Game Based Learning and Computer Science subjects, but also to subjects related
Gamification. These concepts can be applied to enhance the to psychology, youth, media and cultural studies. In addition to
learning procedure of students in various age levels. these games, there are some particular games especially for
kids to improve their mathematical knowledge, awareness of
This paper gives you an analysis of Game Based Learning vs. the spellings, team playing, and strategy planning as well [8].
Gamification in higher education from Computer Science There are various types of simulations to teach some
students’ perspective.
practical subjects. For example, we can show the simulations
Keywords; GBL, Game Based Learning, Gamification, that have been implemented to give the training to military
Edutainment, Sorting Algorithms staffs [9]. By using such games, the soldiers can get an idea as
to how they could face unexpected sudden attacks from the
I. INTRODUCTION enemies. Likewise it is better to give a game to be played by
Today, it is found that the old teacher centered teaching the students relevant to their subject matters, before their
mechanism is no longer beneficial to the students because of teacher starts that lesson. Hence the students can ascertain the
some reasons. Some of the reasons are as follows, the students basic idea of the lesson and it would be a great help for them to
will not be able to think out of the box because they tend to understand the theory very clearly.
cram what the teacher says and the other thing is that the In addition to the Game Based Learning concept, now there
students will not be able to do some kind of practical is another concept called “Gamification”. This means the usage
assessments under the old mechanism, where edutainment of gaming rules to non-gaming environments. Here the basic
gives the opportunity to do some practical exercises and to thing is the offering of some kind of rewards to the students to
acquire experience by using some software. For example some motivate them. For example when someone has scored marks
of the chemical reactions which we cannot perform in the class above a particular level, we can give them a sticker, ribbon etc.
rooms, can be shown with the aid of a computer. to indicate that he has been able to pass a particular level in a
In old teaching mechanism the students focus only on the particular subject domain.
exams rather than trying to understand the underlying concepts When it comes to the Tertiary education, there are subject
of the subject matters. So there arises a need to let the students matters that are difficult to understand. In Computer Science
to learn in their own ways, rather than focusing on the exams stream, Sorting Algorithms is considered as an important
without understanding the subject matters. In order to give section and somewhat difficult to understand. The main
opportunities for the students to learn by experience, the objective of this research is to analyze the two concepts called
researchers have been persuaded to create virtual learning Game Based Learning and Gamification with Computer
environments. This concept is called “Edutainment” and most Science students’ perspective.
of the time they use Game Based learning and Gamification The rest of the paper is structured as follows. First, a brief
applications. Because it is a well known fact that, learning by literature review on the related work in this area is presented.
experience is more efficient than learning by studying. The Next, the design and the implementation of this research are
students get the opportunity to make observations depending outlined. After that the evaluation of the presented object and
on the experiments in an imaginary world through such finally, the paper will be winded up with a brief discussion.
approaches, rather than studying the theory and imagining what
would happen. This innovative education paradigm called
“Game based learning” helps the students of various age levels
to enhance their learning process. No matter it is primary,

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2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE)
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 II. RELATED WORK height of the targeted ship from its waterline to its highest
There are projects that have been carried out in “Game visible point).
Based Learning” area. Some of those projects are described In addition to this BOTTOM GUN game there are number
under this section. of games for Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy and joint forces.
Pivec M. et al [1] have introduced a game platform where These games have been developed by the Department of
different instructors can introduce different knowledge and Defense games developers’ community.
contexts to apply game-based learning for their particular Connolly T M et al [4] have explored the use of interactive
topics and specific goals. visualization and computer games to provide a web-based
They have followed these steps to create a successful game- collaborative learning environment to supplement traditional
based learning platform. methods of teaching database analysis and design.

• Determine Pedagogical Approach (how you believe They have illustrated the influences of the online games-
learning takes place) based collaborative learning environment that they have
developed to teach database analysis.
• Situate the Task in a Model World
• Elaborate Details The following three main components have formed their
• Incorporate Underlying Pedagogical Support learning environment.
• Map Learning Activities to Interface Actions The online learning units/topics introduce the concepts to
• Map Learning Concepts to Interface Objects be explored; these units are structured in a hierarchical manner
It can be classified as a role-play game, that fosters allowing students to ‘drill down’ to obtain further details.
participation in problem solving, effective communication, Topics are hyperlinked to allow non-sequential browsing.
teamwork, project management, as well as other soft skills The visualizations enhance learning by providing animated
such as responsibility, creativity, micro-entrepreneurship, walkthroughs of specific examples (e.g. construction of an ER
corporate culture, etc. The game is based on constructivist diagram or the process of normalization).
learning approach and collaborative learning. It should be able
to be used in regular face-to-face or online classes. The simulation game provides a real-world simulated
environment within which to apply skills and techniques.
Their game themes (i.e. assignments and subjects to be
discussed) are defined by the teacher. Play time can fluctuate Finally they have come to a conclusion that there was a
from few days to few weeks and it depends on the difficulty of higher rate of the number of students who faced online exam
the theme and basic skills of the students. In the game, basic got the highest marks when compared with the students who
stages can be distinguished as follows: team work and team had a written paper exam.
preparation time, general discussion, student feedback, Connolly T M et al [5] have described a computer game to
discussion of the game in the seminar. teach Software Engineering concepts. Here, the whole life
Kirriemuir J et al [2] have done a survey on how and why cycle of the software development has been animated. In this
online games are used as an integrated part of formal classroom system the responsible person for each and every phase in the
learning. They have presented a number of examples of the use software development life cycle should take the correct
of such games, and have tried to determine likely trends in their decisions to carry out the project. The team members have to
use in such an environment. They have found that an do the project better than the other teams, because the teacher
increasing number of schools are using computer and video gives the marks for all the projects.
games in variety of situations, many of which are imaginative, III. DESIGN
or support the learning process within a range of other tools
and resources. However, on the negative side, they have Here we describe two situations where we have used
pointed out that there is a lack of games being used for relevant gamification techniques and game based learning for Data
subject-based learning and the schools provide games for Structures and Algorithms course module comes under
recreation or as rewards for good behavior (thus recognizing Computer Science stream.
that children like to play them), but fail to use them for Our intention is to get to know what sorts of learning
learning-oriented purposes even where this potential is materials are expected by the tertiary students, i.e. whether they
recognized. are more towards to gaming components or to the gamified
Garris R. et al [3] have developed a game called BOTTOM materials which let them to grab the underlying theory at a
GUN which is a game-based submarine periscope trainer for glance without any unnecessary decorations.
the U.S. Navy. BOTTOM GUN was developed to enhance Here we compared a simple game [13], which has been
submarine technical skills and to examine the effects of the implemented to give the idea of sorting algorithms with a
game-based training approach on student motivation. It has gamified material which gives the idea of each and every
been designed to provide an entertaining way to practice sorting algorithm along with an animation according to the
making estimates of critical visual variables, including angle- pseudo code and this has a simple quiz after each and every
on-the-bow (AOB) (i.e., angle at which the observed ship is sorting algorithm.
visually presented to the periscope observer) and divisions (the
number of tick marks on the periscope reticle representing the

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2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE)
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 This is the methodology of our comparison. We selected • Selection sort
group of 60 students who are not familiar with the Algorithms • Insertion sort
and who had been able to score a grade higher than an “A” for
• Shell sort
Mathematics course, so that we can make an assumption that
all the students are in the same level of knowledge. First we • Merge sort
divided them into two groups and again we divided both • Bucket sort
groups into two sub groups. We allow the student to look at the pseudo code for a
First Group: particular sorting algorithm. There, a given data set is being
sorted and the part of the pseudo code is being highlighted
Sub Group 1.1: gave the Gaming Component to learn Bubble according to the execution of the algorithm so that the student
Sort will be able to capture the fundamental idea for a particular
Sub Group 1.2: gave the gamified material to learn Bucket Sort sorting algorithm.

Second Group: After the demonstrations for sorting algorithms, there are
quizzes to be followed by the students and they will be able to
Sub Group 2.1: gave the Gaming Component to learn Bucket get to know their standards. Based on the marks that the
Sort student has obtained, he will get a ribbon so that he can be
satisfied with his knowledge.
Sub Group 2.2: gave the gamified material to learn Bubble Sort
At the end of the practice, the students were given a quiz IV. IMPLEMENTATION
and we analyzed the performance of the students belong to the A. The Game Implementation
two sets mentioned before.
As we have mentioned earlier, this game has been
After that we compared the results of group 1.1 with group implemented by Vella R[13] and he says that this game has
2.2 and group 1.2 with group 2.1, so that we can get an idea been developed using Microsoft XNA and can be installed
about which has been able to give the idea correctly to the freely on any PC that is running Windows. Figure1 and 2 are
students i.e. whether it is the gamified material or the gaming
screenshots from this game and Figure 1 shows how the
component.
Bucket short happens and the Figure 2 shows how the Bubble
In addition to the quiz the students were given a sort happens.
questionnaire to gather their own ideas about the two learning
components.
By analyzing the details we get from the questionnaires, we
were able to get an idea about what the favorable medium of
the students who are being engaged in higher education is.
We measured the average time they spent to learn the
theory as well as the average time they took to finish the quiz.
By analyzing these two durations we thought of measuring the
effectiveness of these two mechanisms.
A. The Game Design
The gaming component is developed as an undergraduate
project by Roderick Vella [13], and the intention of this game
is to help the students to understand the fundamental Figure 1. Bucket Sort
principles of Bubble and Bucket Sorting algorithms. It is said
that this game is based on the famous game ‘Frogger’, where
the student has to collect boxes and sort them according their
values by using sorting algorithms rules.
B. The Design of the Gamified component
This is to teach five of the sorting algorithms come under
Data Structures and Algorithms course module.
Here we use the concept called Gamification, and we try to
give the basic idea of the each and every sorting algorithm at a
glance.
The following sorting algorithms have been implemented
under this section.
• Bubble sort
Figure 2. Bubble Sort

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 B. The Implementaionof the Gamified component
To implement this we used java applets [14] and online
quiz generating tool called “ProProfs”[11]. After that we used
“Reload Editor” [12] to create a SCORM object of the
implementation in order to upload that in the moodle so that
the students can access that.
A screen shot from the SCORM object that has been
implemented is shown in the Figure 3.

Figure 6. Quiz page for Bubble Sort

V. EVALUATION
The intention of this evaluation was to gather the ideas of
the students about the Game based learning and the gamified
learning as well as to get to know which medium really helps
the students to grab the idea of the underlying theory. As these
components are made for the students who are following their
tertiary education, we have to have an idea about their desires,
and what they expect from this GBL concept.
Figure 3. Sorting Algorithms SCORM object First we thought of evaluating the marks of the two groups
which we have mentioned earlier in the design section, so that
Here are more screen shots from the SCORM object to we can compare the marks of them.
illustrate the steps of this gamified component. We drew two graphs according to the marks that the
students have obtained. Graph 1 has been drawn taking into
account the results of the students who have done the quiz for
Bubble Sort and Graph 2 for the students who have done the
quiz for Bucket sort.
ϴ

ϲ
'ĂŵŝŶŐ
ϰ ŽŵƉŽŶĞŶƚ

Ϯ 'ĂŵŝĨŝĞĚ

Ϭ
Figure 4. Sorting Algorithms page of the SCORM object
ϮϬ ϰϬ ϲϬ ϴϬ ϭϬϬ

Graph 1. Marks for the “Bubble Sort” quiz

ϲ
'ĂŵŝŶŐ
ϰ ŽŵƉŽŶĞŶƚ
'ĂŵŝĨŝĞĚ
Ϯ

Ϭ
ϮϬ ϰϬ ϲϬ ϴϬ ϭϬϬ
Figure 5. Bubble Sort demonstration
Graph 2. Marks for the “Bucket Sort” quiz

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 8. Which methodology explains
By looking at the two graphs it can be said that higher the underline theory clearly?
marks have been obtained by the students who have studied • Gaming Component?
the gamified component. • Gamified Component?
Students from sub group 1.1 have scored 50.667% of 9. Which one motivates you to
average marks where sub group 1.2 has scored a 72% average refer repeatedly?
mark. Students from sub group 2.1 have scored 40% of • Gaming Component?
average marks where sub group 1.2 has scored a 65.333% • Gamified Component?
average mark.
10. Give an overall rating for the
When we look at the average marks for both sub groups it
learning out come.
can be said that, the students who followed the gamified
• Gaming Component?
component have been able to score a higher average than the
• Gamified Component?
other group.
We gave only five questions in the quiz and 3 of them were Table 1. Questionnaire
based on the underlying theory and the other 2 were based on
VI. DISCUSIION
the code. We analyzed the questions against marks and got to
know that 33% of the students from group 1.1 and 2.1 were Based on these questions on the questionnaire, we made a
unable to answer the two questions based on the code. That hypothesis that the gamified components are preferred by the
means they were able to understand the underlying theory, but students who are having a tertiary education; in addition to
not the code. that, they are capable of understanding the underlying theories
The average time that they have spent to learn the theory are easily with the gamified component. That means they want to
40.5 mins and 20.667mins for sub group 1.1 and 1.2 grab the theory of particular subject matter immediately, rather
respectively. And 48.667 mins and 26.333 mins were taken by than wasting their time to enjoy it with a simple game full of
the students from the sub groups 2.1 and 2.2 respectively. graphics.
By looking at the average times taken to grab the According to a revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy in
underlying theory of the both algorithms, it can be said that 2001 we can simplify the learning process as follows.
gamified component is the effective one for these students. • Before we can understand a concept we have
To get to know, what sort of learning materials are expected to remember it
by the students, out of these two types, we distributed a • Before we can apply the concept we
questionnaire among the students who followed both course must understand it
materials in the university. The questions we asked from them • Before we analyze it we must be able to apply it
are shown in the table 1. • Before we can evaluate its impact we must
Rating have analyzed it
1 2 3 4 5 Comments • Before we can create we must have remembered,
1. Do you like to play this game? understood, applied, analyzed, and evaluated.
2. Can the “Game Based By letting the students to use gamified learning materials,
Learning” scenario enhance they will automatically follow the above learning processes.
your motivation? But when they use game based learning materials,
3. Can the gaming phenomena be sometimes the students will not get the chance only to follow
used in other complex topics in all the processes mentioned above.
Computer Science? Finally we came to a conclusion that “Gamified” type of
4. Which methodology do you teaching approach paves the way for the students to follow
suggest to teach the other their tertiary education, even in difficult academic matters in
subjects?
an efficient way.
• Gaming Component?
• Gamified Component?
5. Is this gaming environment REFERENCES
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