Characterizing gamification strategies in educational mobile applications: a case study of duolingo

Abstract

The increasing use of mobile devices has favored the use of mobile apps as a learning tool. With this popularity, one of the concerns of Human Computer Interaction area (HCI) is how to motivate users through the interface and interaction model, to make the continued use of these applications. Consequently, new design strategies have been explored to meet the needs of these users. In this sense, the adoption of gamification strategies has contributed positively to the continued use of mobile applications in the educational domain. Motivated by this scenario, this study aims to evaluate and characterize as Duolingo application, considered one of the best applications for teaching languages, has adopted the gamification strategies and, in fact, these strategies contribute as a motivational factor for application use. The results obtained allowed to observe how the strategies adopted by the designer interface have helped to motivate the continued use of this application and, complementarily, may assist in developing and evaluation of applications that make use of gamification as a motivational factor.