Studies of student engagement in gamified online discussions

This article presents two trial studies using the gamification approach in online discussions to increase student engagement. A gamified online discussion tool, gEchoLu, was designed and implemented. The first trial focused on examining student engagement in online discussions. The results indicated that gEchoLu had positive influences on student behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, and cognitive engagement. The second trial aimed to investigate the effect of specific game elements implemented in gEchoLu on student motivation and engagement in online discussions. Findings from the second trial suggested that badges, thumps-ups, progress bars, and avatars in gEchoLu promoted student engagement in online discussions. The limitations and implications are discussed.