How Fun Overcame Fear: The Gamification of a Graduate-Level Statistics Course

Abstract

Innovative instructional methods can help improve student engagement and learning outcomes when teaching difficult subjects, such as statistics. This instructional innovation article illustrates how gamification can be applied in management education to improve students’ learning experience, engagement, and acquisition of knowledge. Our purpose is to demonstrate how gamification is not only a powerful way to build on the use of games and game thinking in our field, but also a versatile application of education technology that could potentially enhance the way management knowledge is taught. Furthermore, it is a low-risk way for management educators to join and contribute to the larger virtual revolution. We document the process of combining the Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) competency framework and the Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) design framework to create both theoretically and practically motivated gamification designs in a graduate-level statistics class. With student data and feedback, we demonstrate that gamification helped create a positive learning experience, facilitated interactions in the course, and assisted the learning of statistical knowledge. We offer suggestions and concrete examples for interested educators to implement gamification in their courses.