Social isolation and loneliness are associated with increased mortality (Steptoe etal. 2013). Postgraduate research students are more likely to feel isolated as they study their own research topic. Chronic isolation can cause lack of progression in study and a lack of social interaction with students and in the worst case dropping out (Vekkaila et al.2013). Motivation is viewed as an important element for student engagement (Saeed and Zyngier, 2012) e.g. daily progress to reach a weekly goal in research study. Technology can be used to support learning behaviour change e.g., using a gamified application to write 300-words every day for a weekly 1500-words goal. Gamification (using game elements in non-gaming environments (Deterding et al. 2011)) is a promising solution which has shown to help students improving their learning performance (Geelan et al. 2015). Game elements such as points, progress-graphs have been used for social interaction and uploading research papers e.g. Researchgate (Researchgate, 2018). The objective of this study is to guide the journey of the research students using gamification techniques. We developed a theory-driven gamified application that allows users to upload daily tasks for peer-reviewing. Self-Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan, 2000) was used to develop the application in promoting students’ progression in their weekly goal and socialise with colleagues using a game element. Game elements can improve task completion and promote performance improvements (Mekler et al. 2017). To explore the effect of other game elements, individual elements need to be examined (Mekler et al. 2017).The “end screen” game element seemed to be promising since it can add a dramatic element (Fullerton, 2014) that is not normally present. Research has shown methodological limitations on gamified systems, e.g. the absence of motivational affordance and behavioural outcomes (Hamari et al. 2014). To be effective, gamified systems need to be designed to meet the intended audience needs and preferences explicitly. User-centered design (UCD) is a process involving end-users early in all stages of technology design and development (Smáradóttir, 2016). This study is designed to answer the research questions:
What is the effect of an individual game element on (i) increasing the effort put into complete a student’s weekly goal? And (ii) increasing social interaction among the research students?
To answer the questions, we applied an “endscreen” game element (i.e., a running cat as an avatar that shows students’ daily progress to reach weekly goal) into the gamified application guided by the UCD process. We conducted a week-long evaluation of our application, comparing using this application to the usual activities of the students. Students used the application for uploading and reviewing their daily writing to reach their weekly goal.
The results of the study demonstrated that students showed their interest in using the application. Compared to the control condition, the game element was not more motivating on the effort among students to complete their weekly goal, and social interaction. The initial study was designed for short-term weekly goal and future studies will consider the long-term milestones e.g. literature review complete, journal paper accepted, etc. The study needs to be rerun over a more substantial time, e.g. four-weeks evaluation with a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) approach.
