research into the gamification of higher education through ... · successfully improve student...

Research into the Gamification of Higher Education through the use of an Android

Application

By

Thomas Morley

MOR15561444

BSc (Hons) Games Computing

School of Computer Science

University of Lincoln

2018

Project CMP3060M – Assessment Item 2

1 Thomas Morley – MOR15561444

Abstract

Research into the traditional style of lecture teaching that is standard in higher education courses often

concludes the method is neither engaging nor effective. When not engaged in learning many students

turn to their smartphones for distraction with 60% of the participants in this study saying they would

normally spend a quarter of an hour lecture, on their phone. This project looks to use the gamification of

learning alongside addictive mobile app features, to create an entertaining learning application to

improve engagement in lectures and retention of course content. The study found that using the

application that is developed throughout the project over a week period increased final test scores by

12% compared to the students that did not use the application. It is concluded that the application

provides suitable gamification elements to improve retention of data but to improve in lecture

engagement, further features would be required.



1 Contents 1. Project Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5

1.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 5

1.1.1. Problem statement ....................................................................................................................... 5

1.2. Project Overview ........................................................................................................................... 6

1.2.1. Aim ................................................................................................................................................ 6

1.2.2. Objectives ...................................................................................................................................... 6

1.2.3. Project Document Overview ......................................................................................................... 6

2. Background Research ............................................................................................................................ 7

2.1. Literature Review .......................................................................................................................... 7

2.1.1. Active Learning .............................................................................................................................. 7

2.1.2. Gamification of Learning ............................................................................................................... 8

2.1.3. Addictive features of Mobile Applications/Games ....................................................................... 9

2.2. Existing Solutions ........................................................................................................................ 10

2.2.1. Duolingo ...................................................................................................................................... 11

2.2.2. Quitch .......................................................................................................................................... 12

2.2.3. Habitica ....................................................................................................................................... 12

2.3. Technical Research ...................................................................................................................... 13

2.3.1. Developing for Android ............................................................................................................... 13

2.4. Research Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 15

3. Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 16

3.1. Project Management .................................................................................................................. 16

3.2. Software Development ............................................................................................................... 16

3.2.1. Waterfall ..................................................................................................................................... 17

3.2.2. Agile ............................................................................................................................................ 17

3.3. Toolsets and Machine Environments .......................................................................................... 18

3.3.1. Integrated Development Environment (IDE) .............................................................................. 18

3.3.2. Balsamiq ...................................................................................................................................... 19

3.3.3. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator ................................................................................................ 19

3.3.4. Web Hosting ................................................................................................................................ 19

3.3.5. Slim API Framework .................................................................................................................... 19

3.3.6. Database Management System .................................................................................................. 19

3.3.7. Postman API Testing Tool ........................................................................................................... 20



3.4. Research Methods ...................................................................................................................... 20

4. Requirement Elicitation ...................................................................................................................... 22

4.1. Exsisting Applications .................................................................................................................. 22

4.2. Detailed Analysis of Exsisting Applications ................................................................................. 23

4.3. End User Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 25

4.4. Defining Requirements ............................................................................................................... 25

5. Design .................................................................................................................................................. 29

5.1. User Interface Design .................................................................................................................. 29

5.1.1. Low Fidelity Prototyping ............................................................................................................. 29

5.1.2. Interactive Prototyping and Usability Testing ............................................................................. 33

5.1.3. High Fidelity Design ..................................................................................................................... 33

5.2. Database Design .......................................................................................................................... 34

5.2.1. Student Data ............................................................................................................................... 34

5.2.2. Modules ...................................................................................................................................... 34

5.2.3. Student Modules ......................................................................................................................... 34

5.2.4. Quiz Data ..................................................................................................................................... 34

5.2.5. Questions .................................................................................................................................... 34

5.2.6. Question Choices ........................................................................................................................ 35

5.2.7. Student Question Answer ........................................................................................................... 35

5.2.8. High Scores .................................................................................................................................. 35

5.3. API Design ................................................................................................................................... 35

6. Implementation .................................................................................................................................. 38

6.1. Iteration 1 – Registration and Log in ........................................................................................... 38

6.1.1. User Interface.............................................................................................................................. 38

6.1.2. Data Storage ................................................................................................................................ 39

6.1.3. API Functions............................................................................................................................... 40

6.1.4. Android Development ................................................................................................................. 41

6.1.5. Testing and Improvements ......................................................................................................... 44

6.2. Iteration 2 – Student Modules .................................................................................................... 45

6.2.1. User Interface.............................................................................................................................. 45

6.2.2. Data Storage ................................................................................................................................ 45

6.2.3. API Functions............................................................................................................................... 46





6.3. Iteration 3 – Quiz Implementation ............................................................................................. 50

6.3.1. User Interface.............................................................................................................................. 50

6.3.2. Data Storage ................................................................................................................................ 51

6.3.3. API Functions............................................................................................................................... 51



7. Testing ................................................................................................................................................. 55

7.1. White Box Testing ....................................................................................................................... 55

8. Final Results ........................................................................................................................................ 56

8.1. Setup ........................................................................................................................................... 56

8.2. Results Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 57

9. Project Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 58

10. Reflective Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 59

11. References ...................................................................................................................................... 60

12. Appendix A: Requirements Survey ................................................................................................. 64

12.1. A1 Survey Questions ............................................................................................................... 64

12.2. A2 Full Survey Responses ........................................................................................................ 66

13. Appendix B: Existing Application Analysis ....................................................................................... 69

13.1. B1 – Android Applications used in Requirement Gathering ................................................... 69

13.2. B2 – Duolingo .......................................................................................................................... 70

13.3. B3 – SoloLearn......................................................................................................................... 70

13.4. B4 – Peak ................................................................................................................................. 71

13.5. B5 – Habitica ........................................................................................................................... 72

14. Appendix C – System Usability Scale Results .................................................................................. 73

15. Appendix D – White Box Branch testing results ............................................................................. 74

16. Appendix E – Participant Information Form ................................................................................... 77

17. Appendix F – Final Results .............................................................................................................. 78

17.1. F1 – Final Test on Lecture Content Results ............................................................................. 78

17.2. F2 – Group 1 End user Survey results ..................................................................................... 79



1. Project Introduction This chapter will identify the problem that the project and the software created throughout it, will aim to

solve. The aims and objectives will be defined as well as the proposed project schedule.

1.1. Introduction It has become an undeniable fact that mobile technology has become a large part of almost everyone’s

lives. The fast increase in the technical capabilities of mobile phones has led to the mobile application

market spreading across nearly all areas of day-to-day life. From improving a user’s shopping experience

with apps such as Apple or Google pay, to managing fitness progress and goals with apps like

MyFitnessPal. An area where mobile application seems to have yet made a major entry is in Higher

Education. There are apps to aid a student throughout their university education such as, note taking

application, Evernote or journal organizer, Mendeley. This project however, will look to produce an

application to integrate with a student’s education rather than just be an additional tool.

1.1.1. Problem statement As mentioned above new technology especially that in the form of smart phones, has changed the way

most people accomplish their daily activities. However, the day-to-day learning of higher education

student has mainly been left unchanged. The lecture style of teaching has been the mainstay of

universities from their foundation in Western Europe over 900 years ago (Brockliss L, 1996), despite many

studies suggesting that it is no longer the optimum way to learn. Freeman et al (2014), compared

traditional lecturing against more active learning techniques and found an increase in examination scores

by about 6%. The study also finds that the failure rates with a class taught in traditional methods is 55%

worse than an active method of teaching.

Senior lecturer Nick Gurski (2015) said “Well-delivered lectures can be a good way of passing on

knowledge and they dominate teaching in higher education”. However, he goes on to state there are a

“…myriad of reasons, lapses in concentration or early starts…why students might not get as much from

them as we’d hope”. The University of Sheffield, where Nick Gurski is based, implemented online video

lectures followed by short quizzes and replaced the weekly traditional lecture with a more active class of

“demonstration and peer discussion”. The results were excellent showing an increase in attendance and

they had “…added somewhere between 4 and 12 marks to the average grade of a student.” This implies

that the students were motivated to undertake the lectures but were more engaged with the addition of

quizzes and other active learning tasks.

The lack of engagement in the traditional lecture teaching style is amplified by accessibility of distracting

activities such as games or social media feed, with smart phones. Around 97% of college students use

their phones during class for non-educational purposes (McCoy, 2016), with 20% reporting spending up

to 20% of lecture time of their devices. Professor Scott Campbell at University of Michigan (2016), said

“Young people turn to digital media as an immediate way to relieve boredom, and sadly, the classroom is

one of the environments in which they most commonly experience boredom”.

Students who have grown up in the smart phone age are always surrounded by digital media, they are

constantly multitasking in several engaging activities simultaneously (le Roux and Parry, 2017). This

mindset can hinder a student’s education, as when they are not engaged, as is often the case with current

teaching methods, they will look to their phones for non-educational actives.



Although research into active learning over lecture styles often concludes that a more active method is

superior, the feasibility of teaching large numbers of students this way can be questioned. Both time

constraints of University staff amongst other drawbacks are the most probable reason for the lack of

change so far.

There is a large amount of research into the effectiveness of active learning and, separately, the addictive

design of mobile games and applications, however, little research has combined the two. This combination

will be explored in this project, in an attempt to harness the design that makes mobile games so addictive

while pushing some of the active learning elements that have proved effective before.

1.2. Project Overview

1.2.1. Aim The aim of this project is to create a usable android mobile application, to improve student engagement

in lectures and the retention of lecture content through the implementation of active learning and

gamification elements.

1.2.2. Objectives Identify applicable learning methods that can be implemented into a mobile application and do

so.

Allow lecturers to add quiz questions that they believe are relevant for the modules.

Research elements of current addictive mobile games to gamify the learning process to retain

student’s attention throughout their studies.

Add internet connectivity to the application so that users can check on their progress and compete

with friends

1.2.3. Project Document Overview This project will formally begin with a chapter of background research (Page 8) that will include a

comprehensive review of relevant literature and resources for this project. Past mobile applications that

attempt to implement similar ideas will also be explored in this section. This will ensure the research or

the application will not repeat other pieces of work. The toolsets for both project management and

software development will is be discussed in the document (Page 17). Requirement elicitation (Page 23)

and design decisions (Page 30) will be broken down to then lead into the development of the application

(Page 40). Documentation of the extensive testing and any changes made will also be included (Page 57),

before providing a conclusion to the project and the findings (Page 60).



2. Background Research This chapter will document the research compiled before the development process can begin. This

includes a literature review to contextualise the project with previous research into the gamification of

learning and other topics which are relevant to the project aim. Previous attempts to fulfill similar aims

will be identified and dissected for their successes and failures. Finally, research into the technology to be

used in this project will be analysed.

2.1. Literature Review As stated before, the aim of the project is not only to create a mobile application but to for it to

successfully improve student engagement in lectures using elements of gamification and active learning

methods. Therefore, it is important to not only analyse the work done on a technical side, but also provide

an in-depth review of the research done into the gamification of learning, active learning methods and

the addictive nature of mobile games.

2.1.1. Active Learning The traditional lecture style, in which the lecturer talks and the students listen, has its merits and has

provided a level of success for many years. However, some research into the area says that students do

not learn by simply listening to teachers (Chickering and Gamson, 1987) and they must be engaged in

more active techniques to optimize their learning. Active learning can be implemented in many forms;

class discussions, short written exercises and quizzes are some of the most common.

The aim of active learning is for the students to not just memorise but to understand the process that

they are trying to learn. This may be done through discovery, discussion or practice of skills. Klien’s study

(2003), indicated that two-thirds of the class picked up these skills to apply concepts learnt in class to

many situations. A student involved in Klien’s study said “Thank you for changing my thinking to learning

and not memorizing”.

Adding discussion elements to a large lecture taught course has been seen to add a ‘discernable shift in

attitude and productivity’ (Buckley et al, 2004). The addition of designated time for in-class problem

solving or smaller group discussion was seen in the report as a success, however the transition was not.

Many students were initially not motivated with the new requirements of extra reading to take part in a

group discussion. This, and the financial backing required to change a course from traditional teaching to

more of an active one, is perhaps the reason why these changes have not been put into place before.

Both the studies of Klien and Buckley et al, follow the implementation of active learning methods into

geography courses. Although both see a degree of success, which is the motivation behind this study, the

way to create a more active learning schedule for higher education students must be perfected further.

Klein stated that “use of discovery- and inquiry-oriented active learning strategies reaches some students

better than other” (2003), and learning strategies like these will not be implemented without reaching

and improving a larger majority of students.

Although ideal aspects of more engaging teaching, like field trips or smaller group discussion may not be

feasible, some methods can be applied to higher education.

One of the major problems found, in the studies mentioned above, comes when attempting to introduce

the change in learning techniques to students and motivating them for a higher workload. The use of



online quizzes, in a study on active teaching (Cook & Babon, 2016), were “found to be an effect mechanism

for incentivising student completion of preparatory work, enhancing active learning (such as in-class

discussions)”. The online quizzes in the study, attempted to test each student at a particular cognitive

learning level, first to recall information such a specific principles or theories. The students were then

asked to apply their knowledge in a problem solving or analytical question, and finally evaluation, where

students were asked to exercise informed judgment.

The analytical framework used in Cook and Babon’s study (2016) included a measure of how stimulating

the student’s found the course. However, this was basic, only consisting of a Likert scale that did not ask

specifically about the online quizzes but the course as a whole. Although it was important to gain an idea

of the student opinion when implementing a system like this, the accuracy of this method can be

questioned.

Many of the successful studies that implement these ideas are within Geography courses. Schelew and

Wieman (2011) did show an interactive physics class built around clickers, that produced double the

scores of traditional lectures. Alan Green (2016) also used a clicker based system that “show(ed)

significant benefits in test performance from using clicker questions” with “students in the experimental

sections scor(ing) around 8 percent higher”. Green’s study (2016) also made “little change to the course

structure” when implemented into an economics class. These are all put into action in mostly academic

subjects which provide definitive answers, yet limited research has been done into similar concepts

involved in more creative or opinion based subjects.

Cook and Babon (2015) tested their online quiz system over the course of three years, showing there is a

place for the long term use of such a system in higher education. However, each year of their study

showed varying participating in the quizzes. Highs of 100% in all three years also had participation levels

as low as 85% later in the year. Although quizzes or clickers maybe an effective middle ground to introduce

active learning into a lecture taught course, it may not be enough to ensure the student’s attention

through a full year of study. The gamification of these alternative learning methods maybe one theory to

not only engage students, but to also keep their attention long term.

2.1.2. Gamification of Learning Gamified learning integrates game mechanics, such as scoring points, leveling and achievements, into the

process of learning. Incentivising students to complete learning tasks is not new, but the term

“gamification” did not enter mainstream vocabulary until 2010 (Dichev, Dicheva, 2017). A lot of research

has been done into the effectiveness of the gamification of learning, the research in this project is mainly

concerned with that within higher education, rather than primary or secondary.

Despite the large range of studies in the area, many are considered inconclusive. This is perhaps because

there are a large range of game elements that could be utilized, each element with different levels of

effectiveness in different subjects. For example, two papers from 2015 (Hakulinen et al., 2015; Landers &

Landers, 2015), both conclude positives results in the implementation of single game elements into

learning, one using badges while the others use leaderboards. Which does help to analyse the

effectiveness of each element, but often in a basic way. Many studies into the area often test engagement

or motivation with attendance statistics and test scores which cannot be put down solely to the use of



gamification techniques. Other studies have attempted to add multiple gamified elements to a gamified

learning app (Pechenkinda et al., 2017) with leaderboards and badges alongside mobile specific features

like push notifications, this showed an increase in student marks of 7.03%. Additionally, adding a points

system to a learning system (Attali & Arieli-Attali, 2015) has also shown to create a positive relationship

with accuracy and speed of question answering. With the mix of leaderboards, progress monitoring,

feedback (Long & Aleven, 2015) and avatars, it makes it difficult to conclude which elements are having

the most impact. However, as with any good game, the separate features that add or take-away from an

experience are often overlooked for the overall outcome of enjoyment or effect. When looking at these

studies, disregarding the effectiveness of each individual features, very few find a negative outcome.

Studies into gamification, as mentioned above, are mostly positive when looking for an increase in

engagement. However, some studies consider the long-term risk of gamification on a student’s internal

motivation. The previous paragraph mentioned the various positives behind digital rewards, however,

Nicholson (2012) says that these rewards, designed to add motivation, may have a negative impact.

Adding this external motivation, in the form of badges or leaderboards, may reduce the internal

motivation they naturally have to learn. Lee and Hammer (2011) also point out that students could come

to expect external rewards when studying, therefore dulling their motivation to educate themselves

more, without immediate reward. Although many research papers into the gamification of education do

not take into account the long-term negative effects, work on the subject lacks conclusive data. A study

into the effect of gamification on the users’ intrinsic motivation (Mekler et al., 2013), found no evidence

that it was affected negatively. Gamification within education is in its early years of adoption into a

mainstream crowd and as a result of this, research into both its positive and negative effects are fairly

inconclusive. Any negative studies do not show enough conclusive evidence to stop research into

gamification.

With the many variations of game elements available and the various combinations of which have been

tested, it is important to research the design guidelines that have been proposed. Defining the intended

learning outcomes of the course is the first step in blending game mechanics and learning (Kirman et al.,

2011). The proposed guidelines go on to state, “break complex tasks into simpler component tasks and

ensure that learnings can perform those simpler tasks before requiring performance of the complex skill”.

This also matches up with the work by Cook and Babon (2016), on active learning with quizzes, which

required the student to first complete more simple recall tasks before having to apply the skills learnt.

Design guidelines for the structure of a University or college course are comprehensive as are the

guidelines for game design. However, the integration of game design principles with education are still

limited (Dichev & Dicheva, 2017).

2.1.3. Addictive features of Mobile Applications/Games Compared to console or PC games, mobile games are often defined as casual and less time consuming,

focused on the short term entertainment of their users. The integration of social networking and more

competitive gameplay make for an extremely addictive experience. In order to harness the addictive

nature of many mobile games into a gamified learning application, the reasons why users get addicted

must be understood.

Even a simple game like the Candy Crush saga, released in 2012 by King, has the mechanics to keep their

users hooked. A study into Candy Crush’s addictive features found that 7.3% of their participants were

considered addicts (Chen & Leung, 2015). In 2016 is was found that 67% of digital time is spent on a mobile



platform with nearly 85% of that time spent on the same five apps (Sterling, 2016) indicating a shift

perhaps, from internet addiction to mobile. Young adults have grown up with the rise of smartphone

technology and it has become part of their daily routine, on average spending 2 hours 40 minutes on their

phones a day (Zolfagharifard, 2017). A study by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences found that when

separated from their phones the candidates, aged 18 to 26, were likely to display heartbeat patterns

associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Howarth, 2017).

It is clear that many 18 to 25 year old’s consider the use of their smartphone a necessity in their routine.

However, the obsession behind the applications is not just down to frequency of use, but the addictive

design strategies that they use.

An important aspect in making a video game addictive, especially when focusing on gamification, is the

reward system. A reward is “a thing given in recognition of service, effort or achievement”

(OxfordDictionaries.com, 2018). Rewards are a key part of addictive design as Neyman (2017) states, “the

brain responds positively to rewards”, and when the rewards are produced in a random way, the “rewards

produce more of the neurotransmitter dopamine than regular rewards”. Despite the use of modern

features in mobile apps, much of their reward design is based from the psychological study: the Skinner

box. The Skinner box experiment found, using pigeons, that issuing random rewards for completing an

activity increased the dopamine levels (Skinner, 1938).

Mobile games or applications cannot make use of the reward systems if they fail to get users to return to

their app, this is where user investment comes in. “Human beings irrationally project more value on

objects they’re involved in building or creating” (Neyman, 2017), this phenomena means users are more

invested should they make their own profile or create a digital character of themselves. The addition of a

progression system in an app can keep users coming back, the idea of losing the progress they have built

up makes them less likely to abandon the application. For example, many websites have cloned the style

of twitter, yet twitter still remains the dominant platform. Twitter users have spent time and energy

creating their profile and gaining followers, and therefore are invested enough to not move to another

social media platform.

Mobile games often add a progression system with character leveling or digital items that you can acquire,

this helps attain the user investment that keeps users returning to their games.

The power of progression, rewards and user investment in games and applications is heavily backed by

academic research. From Skinner (1938) examining the basic animal responses to rewards to basic

implementation in the form of slot machines from the late 19th century (Slot Machine Resource, 2006). By

adding some of these features that make applications so addictive, it may be possible to provide external

motivation to keep users returning to an app designed to learn their Higher Education content.

2.2. Existing Solutions Various gamified learning mobile applications are available on the Apple App store or the Google play

store. Each make use of different combinations of different game elements, such as badges, leader boards

and leveling, in an attempt to add extra motivation for their users. From use by independent learners or

full classes of students, various systems have aimed to perfect the gamified education method. This



section will analyse a selection of these applications and attempt to pick the most effective features that

they use to gamify the users experience.

2.2.1. Duolingo Duolingo is a mobile application designed to teach its users new languages, offering 23 language learning

paths for English speakers. It implements various game elements, such as leveling, badges and unlockable

modules, to further motivate the user.

The application provides the user with a sense of progress, similar to

that found in Neyman’s paper (2017). When the user completes a

learning module, for example “Basics 1”, as seen in figure 1, they unlock

the next modules below it. This not only leads the user down a natural

progression to learn a new language, but the unlocking of modules

provides the user with a sense of achievement. The user is also

rewarded with streaks for completing lessons on consecutive days. The

longer the streak goes on for the better the user is rewarded,

encouraging the user to come back to the app the next day to continue

their streak.

Both the unlockable modules and the

streak system attempt to get the

player to stay with Duolingo to keep

their progress. The application also

accommodates new users, allowing

them to “test out”, to skip the earlier

modules if they are already proficient.

Duolingo encourages the user to test

themselves on their weakest works

(Figure 2), this uses a system of spaced repetition learning to retain the

information better.

With 110 million users worldwide (Tech in Asia, 2016), the simple

combination of game elements into a languages course, Duolingo is

proving very popular. However, the outcome of the course and whether

it does make you fluent in a language is unproven. Duolingo is a good

example of a successful application that uses elements of gamification,

to keep its users attention in a subject with a steep learning curve.

Figure.1 – Duolingo Italian

main screen, showing the

different modules available.

Figure.2 – Duolingo

encourages the user to

test their weakest parts of

the course



2.2.2. Quitch Quitch is a gamified learning app that aims to keep university students engaged in their university course

through timed questions, leaderboards and achievement badges (Quitch, 2017). The application won the

Education Technology Award at the 2017 Australian Financial Review

Higher Education Awards (Swinburne, 2017). The application attempts to

capture the student’s addictions to their mobile devices to add further

motivation to learn their course content.

A study using the application found an increase in student retention rate

of 12.23% (Oates et al, 2016). A significant positive correlation of 0.4 was

also found between scoring highly on the application quizzes and

achieving higher academic grades.

However, correlation does not equal causation and Pechenkina (2016), did

say further research would be needed to confirm that it was the addition

of these gamification elements that led to the positive results.

Ekaterina Pechenkina has done a large amount of research into

technology, innovation and teaching excellence, making her a reliable

source of information and opinion on the topic. Pechenkina pointed out

that the initial success of the app may have been the result of a novelty

effect (BMC, 2017).

This application runs very closely with the aims of this project, with the

addition of multiple gamification aspects for an application designed for

use in higher education. However, this project aims to look at the other

aspects of games that not only motivate a player but also allows them to progress in the app when they

invest more time.

2.2.3. Habitica By adding game elements to day to day life, the mobile

application Habitica aims to build positive habits with

the use of digital rewards. Its in-game rewards, in the

form of coins, experience points and gems, encourage

the user to complete self-set tasks in three categories:

Habits, Daily Tasks and To Do activities.

Before starting the app, the user is prompted to create

their own digital avatar, customizing the look and

clothing (See Figure 4). This character creation, although

simple, gives the user a connection with the digital

profile they are building. “Human beings irrationally project more value on objects they’re involved in

building or creating” (Neyman, 2017) and by creating a character in the app, the users will naturally put

Figure 3 – The Quitch

app uses timed quizzes

to test students on their

course content.

Figure 4 – The

Habitica home Screen

with positive habits

and the users avatar.



more value on the profile. The user also builds the character in terms

of level and look, with the use of digital rewards that can be purchased

(See Figure 5).

Although without any reason to build these characters, the system

would hold little weight. However, with over two million users and the

implementation of social aspects, these characters become key. The

app bases its progression on that of a Role-Playing game, and requires

the user to enter a party or guild of friends to take part in quests. The

game builds for the player to fight a “World Boss” which multiple

players can help overcome. Habitica places a lot of focus on social play

to hold players responsible for their goals.

Habitica, despite not featuring a direct correlation to gamifying

education, adds some interesting features that create a more

immersive gameplay experience while achieving external goals.

2.3. Technical Research The previous sections of background research explored the theories behind active teaching techniques

and the gamification of learning. The research also included a brief analysis of some existing solutions,

their features, and how they line up with current research. This section will discuss the Android operating

system and the benefits and draw backs of developing an application for the operating system.

2.3.1. Developing for Android Android was founded in 2003 and then bought out by Google in 2005 to add their name to the growing

smartphone scene. The regular updates of the android operating system from version 1.6, Android Donut,

to current version 8.1, Oreo, led android to capture roughly 85% of the worldwide smartphone market

(See Figure 6) (IDC, 2017).

Google offers Android as an open

source solution, allowing many

companies to change and customize it

to their needs (Ottka, 2015). However,

with these companies, such as

Samsung and HTC, altering the

operating system (OS), it becomes

fragmented. With such a variety of

devices, including different screen

sizes, buttons and hardware features,

a developer must be careful to take

this into account.

Figure 5 – The

Habitica reward page

Figure 6 – Worldwide Smartphone OS Market Share

(Share in Unit Shipments)



As of 2017, 71% of Android devices are running on version 5.0 or higher, this is a major update due to the

change in virtual machine used to execute applications. Up to android version 4.4, the operating system

used the Dalvik Virtual Machine, this was replaced by Android Run Time (ART) virtual machine from

Android Lollipop onward. The ART virtual machine is equipped with an Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compiler,

whereas Dalvik uses Just-in-Time (JIT)

compilation (Intel, 2014). This change

enhanced performance, as no extra

compilation time was required at runtime.

Installing an application with ART does take

slightly longer at time the of installing, but

this is a onetime occurrence.

Android applications are developed

through the Android Software

Development Kit (SDK) and are mostly

written in the Java programming language.

Google recommends the use of Android

studio as a development environment for

android applications, rather than other

options such as Eclipse. Along with Gradle-

based build support, Android studio comes

with a large variety of drag and drop UI

components, such as buttons and text and image view containers. The drag and drop UI elements make

creating XML layouts for the many different screen sizes an Android app may be used on, easy to create.

Android studio also easily accommodates external libraries for both visual elements and more complex

areas of app development, such as internet connections and data parsing. Both OkHttp and Volley are

libraries easily integrated into an android development project that replace the existing HttpConnection

tools that are built into the SDK. Android’s development tools make it easy to access the various hardware

components of the mobile through different API libraries (Kumar, Qadeer & Gupta, 2010).

The main way to distribute Android applications is through the Google Play Store, formerly the Android

Market, where developers can publish their completed applications. Unlike the Apple App Store, the

application does not require the application to be approved before appearing on the store (Gandhewar &

Sheikh, 2010). Although this does sometimes clutter the Play Store with lower quality apps, released

before being fully polished, it allowed developers to gain feedback from a wide audience immediately.

The open source nature, the vast number of external libraries and the ability to get the application on the

Google Play Store immediately, makes Android development accessible for smaller projects. Developing

for android opens up the use of an application on many different phones, from a multitude of companies,

as well as larger tablet computers (Lavin-Mera et al., 2009). The nature of this project and the sample of

research that can be acquired makes Android an ideal choice to develop an application that can reach a

large number of people on whatever devices they choose.

Figure 7 – Android Framework (From Android 5.0)

including ART Virtual Machine



2.4. Research Conclusion The research section of the project discovered a large amount of relevant research of which this project

will be based on. Upon research into active learning, it was clear the methods currently in place in higher

education were not the most effective learning tool. More active methods to enhance or replace typical

lecture styles would improve both the effectiveness of teaching and student engagement, according to

most research. However, the increased workload for both lecturers and students have thus far prevented

such changes. Research into the gamification of learning provided sufficient evidence that it could be used

to improve student engagement. It was clear from the research into addictive mobile application design,

that both reward systems and user investment were valuable elements to keep users returning to the

applications. Many of these reward systems and the ability to get a user invested in an applications

progression can be included in a gamified app, as the examples analysed show. To conclude, the research

shows there is a place for this project to go on and explore the use of different gamification elements

within higher education.



3. Methodology This section will discuss the methodologies used to manage and complete the project. The demands of

this project specifically will be analysed to find the best project management methods to keep the

development and research on target.

3.1. Project Management For any project to be successful undertaking a project management is crucial to ensure the project is

completed within its timescale. Alongside various project management software, the use of Gantt charts

are still one of the most popular techniques for project management, despite its simplicity (White &

Fortune, 2002). By splitting the project down into major milestones, and applying timescales to both these

milestones, and their sub-tasks, a helpful guiding of project timing can be formed.

The Gantt chart provides a basic overview of how to pace the project from late September to mid-April.

The chart includes timescales for much of the research and when the documentation should be completed

by. However, due to the unpredictable nature of software development, a more specific methodology is

required.

3.2. Software Development There is a large list of project management methodologies designed specifically to manage the demands

of software development. Each method has its pros and cons and each have their different focusses, from



efficiency, to quality or working to blend a team together. This section will analyse a variety of software

development methodologies and compare them to the demands of this specific project, in order to find

the best fit.

3.2.1. Waterfall The waterfall method follows a linear approach when completing a project from; requirement analysis to

design, implementation, verification and maintenance. The plan allows the project to be easily separated

into states and allows the quality completion of one section before moving onto the next.

With Android Development however, “backtracking from one

activity to another” (Somerville, 2004) is inevitable. For

example, the design section is near the beginning of the

project plan, and although requirements would have been

gathered, they could have been misunderstood. The

developer would build the entire application on the basis of

data gathered at the beginning of the project and changes to

an earlier section, such as the UI design, may not be flagged

up until far later in the project. This can be costly, in time and

resources, and therefore is not best suited as a framework for

this project.

3.2.2. Agile The Agile is a conceptual framework for software development projects (IT Info, 2018), created in the

early 2000s (Beck et al., 2001). This method attempts to lower the risk in developing software by breaking

each section of the project in one to four week time boxes, called iterations. Each iteration is treated

almost as a mini project, with: planning, requirement analysis, design, implementation, testing and

evaluation, each included within each one.

The main problem with the Agile method is finding how it can be blended with a more linear planned

approach (Dingsoyr et al, 2012). Research into this have led to a host of methods that adhere on varying

degrees to the Agile Manifesto, such as eXtreme programming (XP), scrum or lean software development.

Scrum is a framework that is used to implement agile development. The Scrum framework defines a

Product owner, a person who represents the final user’s best interest, in this project the interests of the

user will come from end user feedback and the main developer. The main developer will have final

authority on what goes into the final product, while taking into account the interests of the user feedback.

The backlog, or the list of task and features that need to be implemented will need to be prioritized within

this framework. The framework also states the development team must have daily meetings, called a

‘Daily Scrum’, to discuss progress. However, with only one developer on this project, these meetings

become redundant in this case. The backlog of features can be created during the requirement gathering

stage and each ‘sprint’ or iteration of the project can begin.

Figure 9 – Waterfall Method



The agile approach with the scrum framework is very well suited to this project. The iterative style of the

framework allows the extra flexibility that will be needed. Although time consuming to go through all

aspects of the iteration for each milestone, it will ensure the production of a quality product. Allowing

time to go through each part of the development process for each section will ensure feedback and testing

is acquired on each major part of the project.

3.3. Toolsets and Machine Environments This section will outline the tools that are best suited to both the management of the project and the

implementation of the artifact. For each required step, there are multiple options that could be used, the

features of each will need to be compared in order to evaluate the ideal choice.

3.3.1. Integrated Development Environment (IDE) There are two main options for the IDE when it comes to developing android applications, Android Studio

and Eclipse. Applications for android can be made with tools for games, such as Unity, the main focus of

this project is on building game elements on top of a learning environment, rather than the other way

around. There is no need for the extra game engine elements of a program like Unity so it makes little

sense to use it.

The debugging tools available with Eclipse make it a valid alternative to Google’s own IDE, fast installation

of apps for debugging would speed up development. Eclipse also has better support for emulators to

quickly test the application on the development machine. Acess to an Android device for testing, as is the

case with this project, makes debugging with Android Studio just as fast.

Upon research into Android development previously, see chapter 2.3, the fragmentation of many

different Android devices with different screen sizes and versions of the OS, can be problem. The

application will be tested on three Android devices, a Google Pixel, running Android 8.1, as well as a

Google Nexus 5 to test on an older version and a Google Nexus 7 for testing on a 7 inch display. Android

studio takes care of the basic app setup and can also provide pre-build activities including maps and side

bars. With Gradle support built into Android studio, which uses a Domain-specific Language (DSL), it makes

app configuration much easier (van Drongelen, 2015). The developer can simply define their target and

minimum SDK and the Android Studio compiles the app for that version, this helps deal with the many

versions of Android currently used. With this project looking to make use of the enhanced performance

that comes with the Android 5.0 and above updates (See 2.3), this is easy to achieve with these tools.

The Gradle build also makes it easier to add external libraries to the android project, with libraries such

as Volley or Picasso, they can be added to the build with one line of code in the Gradle dependencies.

Figure 10 – Agile

Methodology



With the need to connect to a database and parse the returned data, the use of these external libraries

will be key to the project.

With the integration of Gradle making it easier to add external libraries, as well as the support of drag and

drop style UI design, Android Studio makes the complex areas of app design simpler. This is ideal for this

project as it will allow more time to quickly get basic versions of the app available for testing. The inbuilt

support for Git versioning control is also another major bonus as this will make managing the project, and

any changes, especially with an Agile management method, easier to keep track of.

3.3.2. Balsamiq Although hand-drawn designs will be used for some of the low-fidelity prototypes, during the application

design, Balsamiq is a wire framing tool that can be used for interactive designs. “Since Balsamiq requires

little investment in time and effort, you’ll revise your designs more often and refine them sooner”

(Balsamiq, 2018), the speed of Balsamiq toolset makes it ideal to fit with the agile development method

for quick iterations. The ability to add interactive buttons on the wireframes can allow for quick usability

testing as well as interface design.

3.3.3. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator The Adobe software will be used to create professional looking designs for the application. Its ease of use

and vast array of tools will allow the creation of not only high fidelity designs but also icons and UI design

elements for the final application.

3.3.4. Web Hosting GoDaddy will be used to host the database for the project. Although on a shared server, the hosting will

be sufficient for the testing of this app in a small sample, if tested on a larger scale better hosting would

be required for the increased traffic. GoDaddy hosting makes it easy to install a variety of hosting

management applications and comes preinstalled with cPanel to access all hosting features and settings

(GoDaddy, 2018). Support for MySQL database hosting for multiple users and PHP plugins make the

hosting package ideal for this project.

3.3.5. Slim API Framework Slim is a PHP micro framework that helps you quickly write simple yet powerful web APIs (Slim, 2018). In

order to communicate and use request methods with the database, Slim will be used to create a simple

RESTful API. The inclusion of the REST API and API key authentication means the application can easily tell

the difference between developers, students and lecturers when they try and access the database. The

API integrates the traditional HTTP requests into a URL for easier access from the application.

3.3.6. Database Management System In development of the online database, for the application, a relational database management system is

needed to read, update and delete the back-end data. There are many management systems available:

MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server and PostgreSQL are all widely popular and suitable for this project.

PostgreSQL is highly customizable and includes useful features such as custom data types and query

methods. The extra filtering features in MS SQL Server can allow for more precise requests but the higher

prices makes it inaccessible for this project. MySQL provides a secure and simple solution for a simple



database set up, even if scaling the project on the MySQL system may not be as easy, or produce the

results of some of the alternatives. MySQL is widely supported, easy to integrate into the current hosting

system and it’s simple to set up, making it the best choice for the project.

3.3.7. Postman API Testing Tool Rather than testing the API functions within the application, requiring extra code before finding the

problem, Postman is an API testing tool with some powerful features (Value Bound, 2016). The program

allows you to make; GET, HEAD, PUT, DLETE and POST requests and provides valuable responses with its

HTTP status codes to track the errors to its source. To fit with the agile methodology the postman

application will be used to test the API and improve or fix it, before its full implementation.

3.4. Research Methods This section will investigate the research methods that will be used to evaluate the success of the project

and to what degree the project aim has been fulfilled.

In order to be a success, the application created during this project

aims to both better engage students in lectures and improve the

retention of content from these lectures. The research carried out

will mainly follow a deductive theory (See Figure 10). This is, to start

with a theory, in this case the previous research into active learning,

gamification and addictive mobile application to create. The previous

research (See Chapter 2), provides a basis for the hypothesis that

gamified elements, further than in previous artifacts, will improve

engagement and retention of information.

To collect data that either proves or rejects this hypothesis, an

appropriate strategy needs to be defined. The layers of Research

Design (Saunders & Tosey, 2012) states that deciding on a research

philosophy should be the starting point for any research strategy.

Most research in this area has been conducted around positivist

philosophy, seeing society as shaping an individual actions and

opinions. Research done with this philosophy often prefer larger

sampled quantitative research methods that look at statistically analysis from polls or questionnaires.

However, it is important to pay attention to the individuals within the research as this “has specific

meaning and relevance structure for the being living, acting and thinking within it” (Schutz, 2962). In order

to understand whether the application could achieve the aim of this project, it is important to understand

why, on an individual basis, it did or did not work. Interpretivism suggests that a casual explanation should

be formed “with reference to the interpretive understanding of social action” (Bryan, 2012).

With research into gamification done before, with the analysis of test scores alone, little consideration

has been taken into the motives behind using or not using the gamified systems. This project however,

will use a mix of qualitative research, to test the retention of data but also more quantitative approaches

in order to reach an “empathetic understanding” as to what level of success, the project achieves.

Figure 11 – The process of

deduction



Due to the time constraints of the project, a snap-shot of a traditional lecture situation will be used to

observe the results of the application. In order to eliminate bias that a student with prior knowledge on

the subject may have, a lecture of a random subject, that none of the participants study will be selected.

The subject will be added to the app as if it were a

university module, with questions included. The

participant sample, consisting of university students, will

be split into two groups, one which will use the app

(Group 1), while the others will not (Group 2). A short

test on the lecture content shall be taken by all

participants a week later. The participants in group one

will be encouraged to use the app in the lecture and the

week ensuing.

Quantitative data can be gathered from the app usage,

for example, how often the students used the app and

how many questions they got right or wrong. The end of

study test, will also provide data that can be statistically

analysed. “Interpretive work seeks to combine those

data into systems of belief whose manifestations are

specific to a case” (Lin, 20015), group interviews will be

conducted after the final test to understand whether the

participants thought the application worked as

intended. This means that the project can take open

ended feedback and look to improve on it.

The quantitative data gathered from the project hopes to provide some statistical backing to the aim.

However, little attention has previously been paid to the individual’s opinions of a gamified application

and so, the group discussions afterward hope to provide a time for this to be gathered.

The discussions will be recorded and a transcript will be analysed. The key points of the discussion will be

analysed to form coherent pieces of feedback on the project. The use of some words rather than others

can also be of significance (Bryman, 2012), the counting and grouping of key words can be a springboard

for more thematic analysis.

While the qualitative data will look to gather feedback from the group and provide reasoning for their

points, whether positive or negative, the quantitative data will look for correlations that form in the data.

Whether the group who have used the application get better scores on the final test and whether that

has a correlation with the scores achieved on the application, will provide an insight as to the success of

the implementation of a gamified learning application.

To conclude this section, the methods that will be used to gather the final results for the project have

been decided. Although the Quantitative data that has been gathered by other similar studies has

provided suitable evidence for this research to be carried out, there is place to analyse qualitative data

that can be gathered. The group discussions after the study will provide an open area for feedback and

although may not be fully coherent at the time, can be analysed for accurate feedback. The feedback from

the students themselves will not only provide a good basis for whether the project is a success, but also

useful feedback for the further development of the application.

Figure 12 – Project Research Plan



4. Requirement Elicitation In order to design the application, research must be carried out to understand exactly what is needed

from the app to make it a success.

4.1. Exsisting Applications Background research into exsisting gamified educational applications for both solo use and in group

situations will be conducted. The top 25 applications in this field on the android playstore were tested to

gain an understanding of what functionality is considered standard. The apps will be tested aginst a list of

features derrived from the research in section 5. Research into gamification of learning found features

such as badges (Hakulinen et al.,2015) and leaderboards (Landers & Landers, 2015) have been used with

success before. The exploration of popular apps and their use of these academically backed gamification

features will provide a basis for a list of features required for this project.

Table showing the top 25 Android Apps in the Gamified Education field, and the frequency of key

features. (See Appendix B1 for app specifics)

No. Functionality Number of Application % of Applications

1 Login option 22 88%

2 Log in is compulsary 17 68%

3 Sign in with Google/Facebook 15 60%

4 Has Tutorial screen on Start up 14 56%

5 Ability to set personal Goals 7 28%

6 Leveling System 13 52%

7 Badges/Achievements 10 40%

8 Digital Currency 7 28%

9 Catorgories 12 48%

10 Previous Score Tracking 14 56%

11 Immediate Feedback 18 72%

12 Graphs of Progress 6 24%

13 Set reminders to use to app 4 16%

14 See friends progress 10 40%

15 Create a Character 5 20%

16 Online Competitive Play 6 24%

17 Timed Activities 8 32%

18 Game Narrative 7 28%

19 Leaderboard 11 44%

20 Online Friend Groups 10 40%

21 Teacher/Lecturer Login 6 24%

22 Chatroom 7 28%

From the brief analysis of the top apps currently available it is clear that some features, such as Log in, a

tutorial on how to use the app and immediate feedback on in-app activies, are standard in these types of

apps. When it comes to the gamification elements each app implements, some are common, with over

50% of the apps including some form of leveling system. However, applications that include more game

elements like creating a character, a game narrative or digital currencies, are more rare. An initial idea



that was proposed for this project was to use generated QR codes that contained the Quiz information.

This would allow the students to scan them in lectures to directly get the questions when the lecturers

wanted them. After research into the data QR codes can hold, despite being able to hold a maximum of

7089 characters (QR4, 2002), which would be enough to contain a quiz question, accuracy is a common

problem. Scanning large QR codes, can lead to a loss of data and in the context of a quiz, could be fatal to

the functionality. However, QR codes could be used as links to specific quizzes that open through the

application.

4.2. Detailed Analysis of Exsisting Applications The common features of similar apps has been identified, however, how these featuers can be

implemented into an application while retaining ease of use and simplicity is key to it’s success. Therefore,

it is important to analyse the user interface (UI) elements that many of these apps use to keep the user’s

experience fustration free.

Analysis 1 – Duolingo

Duolingo, as mentioned in chapter 2, is a gamified language learning application designed for solo use.

“It’s fun – Learn by playing a game” (Duolingo, 2018). The following is a review of the best and worst

aspects of the Duolingo app design.

Analysis 2 – SoloLearn

SoloLearn is an Android application that has many coding topics from begginer to pro in a variety of

different programming languages.

Pros Cons

The use of white background with primary colours provides a clean design, consistent throughout the application

The use of both an overall level and a level for each module (Appendix B2.1) can be confusing.

The bottom navigation bar provides easy access to the apps key features (See Appendix B2)

The “Join a club” page (Appendix B2.3) could be improved with a search option or filters

The endless scrolling style of the modules list (Appendix B2.1) gives a linear sense of progression down the page.

The store page (Appendix B2.4) does not have much content to encourage users to gain the digital currency.

The star system used on the achievemnets page (Appendix B2.2) provides a visualisation of progression.

Pros Cons

The search bar on the home page (Appendix B3.1) is handy to find a specific course/module

The home page ( Appendix B3.1) can be confusing with basics modules, coding challenges and many different programming language sections being shown on the same screen.

The sections within a module are displayed in a similar way to duolingo and make it easy to follow through the module (Appendix B3.2)

The top navigation bar for all the main features, can be difficult to press on larger displays



Analysis 3 – Peak

Peak is an app for brain training, with games to challenge your Memory, attention, problem solving and

other key cognitive elements.

Analysis 4 – Habitica

Although not a gamified learnuing application, Habtica uses gamification to encourage the user to form

real life habbits and achieve goals (See Chapter 2.2.2 for more details).

The users level and the points needed to progress are clearly displayed (Appendix B3.4)

The activity feed section (Appendix B3.4) can look cluttered.

The percentage of the module completed can be easily seen from the home page (with a percentage circle) so the user knows what they should focus on next (Appendix B3.1)

With 8 icons on the top bar, the apps navigation can be overwhelming for new users.

Pros Cons

The blue and white colour scheme throughout the app is simplistic and clear (Appendix B4.1/4.2)

Although most of the app has a blue and white colour scheme, the “Your performance” section has a black background which looks out of place (Appendix B4.2).

A progress circle (Appendix B4.2) shows clearly the users score.

The “Play” Button on the home page (Appendix B4.1) has a clear universal meaning and allows the user to quickly jump into the app’s main functions.

The main functions of the application are easily accessable along the bottom navigation bar.

Pros Cons

Although including some complex features in the app, the initial UI is not cluttered (Appendix B5.1) with the basic functionality on a bottom navigation bar, while hiding the advanced features in a side menu (Appendix B5.4).

Although the app has an initial tutorial, which can be repalyed, there is not much guidance in the app pages.

The user is initially gudied through the funcationality of the application with a game chat style tutorial (Appendix B5.5).

Achievement notifications provide encouraging feedback for the user (Appendix B5.1)

The rewards section and shop (Appendix B5.2/5.8/5.9) provide the user with incentives to progress.



4.3. End User Analysis To both confirm the research in chapter 2 and gather requirements for the appliation features, a brief

survey was created (Appendix A1) and completed by 20 students at the Univeristy of Lincoln. The student

participants, of which full responces can be found in full in appendix A2, were from a large range of

courses. It was important to have a wide participant sample to avoid a bias in opinion for any one type of

course.

As in the larger sampled research that was mentioned in chapter 2, it is clear that many students spend

long periods of time on their phone in lectures. 60% of the participant in this survey said they would spend

over a quarter of their time in an hour lecture, on their phone. With most of this time being spent on non-

education apps such as messenging applications, mobile games or social media.

In the initial research for this project, some gamified education apps for higher education were found to

have been tested. However, 70% of the participant said their lecturers did not use any technology in their

lectures. When technology was used, it was often through “Quiz controllers” or “a website via a QR code”,

but few made use of the student’s smartphones. Without the use of interactive learning methods, many

courses are taught with the traditional lecture style but 70% of the participants stated that they do not

believe they learn well this way. Many students stated that they “get bored easily” or are “distracted” by

their phones.

After confirming the earlier research is relevent and true, it was important to gain some requirements for

the application. With students in the survey already stating that “Active methods (of teaching) engage me

more” and that “I get distracted by my phone anyway, if that was part of the lecture it may work”. It was

clear there was a demand for this type of application, with 85% of the participants saying they would be

interested in a mobile application that gamified their univeristy content.

The student’s were also asked to rank, between 1 and 5, some basic functionality and design elements in

order of importance that would encourage them to use the app. From this, it is clear the research into the

UI design of other successful apps will be key, with 80% of the participants saying how the app looks and

it’s ease of use would be one of the two most important aspects. An early idea to include a customisable

character actually came out as the least important feature to students in this study. However, with the

research into adictive mobile apps proving that this may be a key aspect to keep users returning to the

app long term, this could still be included.

4.4. Defining Requirements Research into exsisting applications shed light on the functionality that is considered standard in the area.

While getting first hand responces to the intial app idea has provided an order of importance for the key

functionality to be developed.

The 5 W’s can be used to gain an understanding of the problem solution, who will be using it? What will

they use it for? When and where will they be using it? And why would they use it?

Who?

Understanding the end user is a key part of user-centred application design. Preexe, Rogers and Sharp

(2012) defined five principles to stick by in order to design a product around the user.



1. User’s tasks and goals are the driving force behind the development

2. Users’ behaviour and context of use are studied and the system is designed to support them

3. User’s characteristics are captured and designed for

4. Users are consulted throughout development from the earliest phases to the latest and their input

is seriously taken into account

5. All design decisions are taken within the context of the users, their work, and their enviroment

With the agile methodology of developing this application, constant feedback and re-design to the users

needs will be possible. However, user input is not always possible through every development decision.

Personas, similar to a fictional character that fits the target audience of the appliaciton, can be created to

allow design around the user, without their direct involvement.

Persona 1

Peter is a Georgraphy student in his first year at univeristy. He attends most lectures and takes notes. Peter

is often distracted by the social elements of being a first year univeristy student and finds little time to go

to the library to refresh himself on his last lecture before his next one.

Persona 2

Joanna is a second year psychology student, in a course with a lot of students she often finds herself

distracted by her phone in lectures. She always completes her assignments on time but feels she has to re-

learn most of the content before she does them as she did not pay attention. Joanna is always on social

media, communicating with her friends almost all the time.

Persona 3

Mark is a third year Business student, he has achieved 2:1 grades in his previous two years. He spends a

lot of his time video playing games on his PC and his smartphone. Mark and his friends spend a lot of time

playing mobile games online together, they are in the same clan on “Clash of Clans”. Mark thinks if he

spent half as much time studying as he did on leveling his game characters, he would be able to come out

of univeristy with a first class degree.

The application is targetting almost exclusively univerisity students, and lecturers, and that is reflected in

the personas created.

What?

From analysis of exsisting applications and the early feedback from the end users the key functionality of

the application can be defined.

With an endless list of features that could be added to an application of this nature, it is important to

priortise them to keep the project on track to achieve its goals. The MoSCoW method helps understand

these priortise by grouping them in four sections (Agile Business, 2008):

Must have

Should have

Could have

Won’t have this time



Must Have – The project guarantees to deliver

Login/Registration Options

Easy to use interface

Users can complete quizzes based on their course content

Completion of quizzes will gain points to level up the players profile

Visualisation of player leveling

Should Have – Important but not vital

An implementation of a digital currency

A reward “shop” to spend the digital currency

Special access for lecturers to create quizzes based on their lectures

Online leaderboard to compare scores with coursemates

Could Have - Desirable but less important

Users have the ability to create a digital avatar

Digital rewards which change the look of their digital character

Push notifications when new quiz is added

Offline mode to browse and complete quizzes without internet connection

Won’t Have this Time - Could be introduced at a later date but not in this version

Advanced Role-playing game style character leveling (As seen in Habitica, Appendix B5.6)

Full game elements using player’s digital character

The project will be prioritised in this order, with the “Must have” elements taking place in the early

iteractions with feedback and improvements made on them before moving down the lower priotised

features.

Where and When?

The application should be accessible anywhere to maximise the ammount of time students spend learning

through the app. The main use of the application will come in lectures, to make the lecture enviroment

more interactive. However, the students will also be encouraged to use the application throughout their

day-to-day routine. To keep the data on the application up to date an internet connection will be required.

While the addition of an offline mode which allows the users to browse and complete quizzes without

internet would be ideal, the use of mobile data can be used to access the apps full capabilities at all times.

The results of the initial survey (Appendix A2) found that 100% of the participants had access to wifi in

their lectures, making an offline mode redundant in that situation.

Why?

Log in – Allows each user to have a separate profile and track their own results with a password

protected account.



Complete Quizzes – Answer quiz questions to keep them up to date with their course material or

as a refresher between each lecture, aswell as gaining digital rewards.

Leveling up – Completing quizzes will gain points for the user, this should invite a competitive

nature to the application and an extra level of investment.

In-app currency – Completing quiz activities will also gain players a digital currency, used to spend

on rewards.

Reward shop – The users will be able to spend the currency earned through quizzes on various

rewards, such as XP bonusses or cosmetic items for a digital avatar (If the feature is implemented).

Leaderboards – Users will compete to achieve the best score on specific quizzes and will be

rewarded with their name on top spot on the leaderboard for other users to see.

Ease of use – The applications intuitive design will make an easy study time for students rather

than arranging their own study schedule’s that have a well paced progression.



5. Design

This chapter will discuss the user interface design process aswell as the software design and architecture

of the application. The designs will attemp to implement all the essential features that have been defined

above.

5.1. User Interface Design From the results of the initial end user survey (See Section 4.3), it is clear that the user interface design

and the ease of use of the app, is of high importance. Jesse Garret (2002) defined five key elements of

user experience that should be considered when designing software. The planes of design start from an

abstract strategy before more concrete designs are created. These will be defined below and built upon

during the design process of the application.

The Five Planes:

The strategy of this application, to create a gamified application for the use in higher education, has been

defined in detail in section 1. The scope in the form of who will be using the app and the details on the

features it will need can be found in section 4.

5.1.1. Low Fidelity Prototyping Low fidelity prototypes are used initially as a cost and time effective tool to define both the structure and

skeleton of the application. With little time and effort needed to create these low detail mockups, changes

can be made easily if needed.

The surface plane is a series of screen, made up of images, graphics

and text. Some of these are intractable.

Beneath that, the skeleton of the app; the placement of buttons,

tabs, photos and blocks of text, designed to maximize efficiency in

the app.

The structure of the app defines how a use would go from page to

page within the application.

While the structure defines the way different features of the app

fit together, the scope defines exactly what those features are.

The Strategy is an abstract plan of what the users and the

developers of the app want to get out of it.

Figure 13 – The Planes of user

centered design



The structure of the application and how the user can access each of its key functions has been defined

in Figure 14.

Basic Features

Login Page – A page for users to input their email and password to log into the application

Registration page – The user can type in their name, email and desired password to signup if it is

their first time, they will then be prompted to log in with the details they have just created.

Lecturer Login Page – If implemented the lecturers will be able to log into a separate section

where they will be able register modules and create quizzes on their lecture content.

Home Page – The home page will be the hub of the application and should allow easy access to

the other features from here. Details of the player profile, such as their level, name and in-game

currency should be shown here.

Modules

Modules page – This page will show the list of modules that the user is enrolled in

Module Search – To enroll in a module, the user must search for their modules

Module Overview – This screen should show an outline of the selected module, and an option to

enroll or leave the module.

Quiz list – When a module is selected the quizzes in that module will be listed for the user to

choose, the name and point’s value of the quiz should be displayed in the list.

Figure 14 – Application Structure

Diagram



Quiz overview – Once a quiz has been selected this page will show a more detailed explanation

of the quiz, with an option to begin the quiz or return to the list.

Leaderboard – If implemented, the leaderboard page will show the top scores for that quiz, along

with the student’s name.

Quiz Questions – A series of pages displaying the quiz questions and the answer options until the

quiz completion.

Completed Quiz Feedback – Upon completing the quiz, the user should receive immediate

feedback on how they did, including number of questions right or wrong and points earned. The

page should take the user back to the quiz list for that module when they are done.

Rewards Shop

Rewards/Shop page – If implemented, the user should be able to access a list of items that they

can purchase with in-app currency. The list should display an icon for the item and its price.

Item Overview/Purchase Confirmation – If the reward shop is implemented, when the user

selects an item from the list, a detailed description of what the item does and a “confirm

purchase” button should be displayed to complete the transaction.

After designing the structure and the flow of the application and how the user should be able to get from

one feature to another, a basic design of the interface should be completed.

Usability is a major part of providing a good user experience, usability being:

“Extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness,

efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use” (ISO, 2010).

With the variety of different smartphone sizes, especially on the Android OS, the design of UI becomes

very important to make the use of the application efficient and frustration free. In addition to different

screen sizes, different users hold their phones in a variety of different way, making it easier to access

different parts of the screen (See Figure 15).

A report in 2015 (Lella, Lipsman & Martin) found that 92% of young

people, aged 18 to 24, operated their smartphone with one hand.

Using a smartphone with one hand, see the bottom two images of

Figure 15, means the user can easily access the bottom left and

middle of the screen. However, access to the top corners of the

screen are harder to reach.

Making the key features of the application easily accessible for the

user is important to make a frustration free and efficient user

experience. The user interface will be designed with usability rules

and guidelines in mind to provide an effective and efficient

application.

Figure 15 – How Users hold

their phone



Figure 16 shows the paper prototypes that were created to show how the basic functionality of the

application will be laid out. After the earlier research into usability, a bottom navigation bar was chosen

to transition between the main features. This is an easy area of the screen for the user to get to, as seen

in figure 15.

Figure 16 – Low-Fidelity UI

designs (Hand drawn)



5.1.2. Interactive Prototyping and Usability Testing To build upon the paper prototypes, an interactive mockup of the application was made on Balsamiq. This

mockup was used to test the

usability of the app and the flow

between each function. The System

Usability Scale (SUS) was used to

measure the ease of use of the

application (Brooke, 1986).

The system, defined by Brooke

(1986), provides a score out of 100

which helps evaluate the usability

of a system.

The three participants that used the

interactive mockups and scored the

system using the System Usability

Scale questions provided useful

feedback. Scores of 65, 70 and 90

suggest that the system was clear

and obvious when in use and the flow of the app through its main features made for a satisfactory user

experience (Full results can be seen in Appendix C).

5.1.3. High Fidelity Design High fidelity prototypes were created to show a realistic representation of how the final app UI will look

(Figure 18). From the paper

designs, page names were

added alongside their icons

on the bottom bar. This is as

with the use of a book for

“Quests” or modules, it may

be unclear to new users what

the icon stands for. Although

the use of a house for a home

page button and an ellipses

for settings are more

common, the addition of page

titles reduces the learning

curve when a new uses starts

the application.

Figure 17 – Balsamiq

Iterative Mock-ups



5.2. Database Design A database is needed to store a variety of information from the app that can be accessed anywhere via

the internet. When outlining the tools to be used during this project, an SQL database, hosted via a shared

server, was defined as essential to the project. An understanding of what needs to be stored and how to

separate them in tables is needed. Not only that but the relationships between the tables. It is possible

within an iterative process that the database design may need to be reconsidered. However, eight tables

were designed, with SQLDbm, to begin the project.

5.2.1. Student Data As main table within the database,

it holds all the data relating to the

student’s profile. This includes

information that will be taken upon

registration, such as name and

email, as well as an encrypted hash

of the use’s password. Upon

registration an API key will also be

created to allow them access to

other calls in the REST API that

require authentication. The level,

points and currency columns will all

contain data for the gamification

elements in the application.

5.2.2. Modules The modules table will contain an ID

which can be used to identify it

throughout the database and the name of the module.

5.2.3. Student Modules As one student can sign up to many modules and each module will contain many students, a many-to-

many table relationship was required. The Student modules table contains the ID of a student and the ID

of a module. From this information lists of students in a module or modules that a student is signed up to

can be found.

5.2.4. Quiz Data The quiz data table contains the name of the quiz and also assigns an ID to each quiz created. The table

could be expanded to add a description or perhaps a point’s value to each quiz.

5.2.5. Questions Each quiz contains multiple questions and therefore a one-to-many relationship between these two tables

was required. The questions table contains an ID for the question as well as the ID of the quiz and module

it belongs to, and finally, the text of the question.

Figure 20 – Database

Structure and

Relationship design



5.2.6. Question Choices The question choices table will represent each choice (E.g. A, B or C), for a question. A foreign key of the

question ID assigns each choice to the right question. The table contains the choice text as well as a

Boolean value for whether the choice is correct or not

5.2.7. Student Question Answer This table will log the ID of the student and the id of the choice they picked, this information can be called

upon to see a previous attempted of a specific quiz.

5.2.8. High Scores The high scores table will store a set number of scores within it to be displayed on a leaderboard or similar

feature in the app. If the score achieved at the time is higher than one of the scores in the table, it will

replace the lower score. The table contains both the score and the time it was achieved as well as a

reference to the student id to associate a score with a student.

5.3. API Design To make retrieving and sending information from the application to the database easier an API should be

created. The main advantage for using REST over HTTP calls is its open standards to be used with any

language such as ASP.NET or SQL (Microsoft, 2018). REST APIs require a URI, “Uniform Resource Locator”,

to access specific data. The URI addresses for the REST API should be designed to correctly facilitate the

required features of the API.

When updating an API, to include different function calls or update the effects of existing ones, there is

debate whether to include within the HTTP request headers or within the URI itself (Stack Overflow, 2008).

Although some API chose to include their versioning in the headers, leaving a permanent URI that would

not require change within the application should an update occur, only within the headers being passed

to the API. However, including the version in the URI is often helpful for debugging and smaller projects

where the developer of both the API and the software using it would be aware of changes.

With that in mind, a series of URI addresses were created for use within the application:

Student Data Table

Modules Table

URL* Method Parameters Description

/v1/modules POST module_name Creates a module

/v1/modules GET Returns module information for


/v1/register POST username, password, email

User registration

/v1/login POST email, password User login



modules the logged in user is associated with

/v1/modules/:id PUT module_name Updates module information

/v1/modules/:id DEL Deletes module

Quiz Data Table


/v1/quiz POST quiz_name, module_id Creates a quiz within specified module

/v1/quiz/:id GET Returns all quiz information for a specified module

/v1/quiz/:id PUT quiz_name Updates Quiz information

/v1/quiz/:id DEL Delete specified quiz

Student Modules Table


/v1/studentmodules POST module_id Sign user up to module

/v1/studentmodules/:id DEL Removes user from specified module

Question Table


/v1/question POST question_text, quiz_id Adds a new question to specified quiz

/v1/question/:id GET Gets all questions for specific quiz

Question Choice Table


/v1/questionchoice POST question_id, is_right_choice, choice_text

Adds a choice to the specified question

/v1/questionchoice/:id GET Gets all choices, and defines the correct one, for a specific question id



User Answer Table


/v1/useranswer POST choice_id, question_id, is_right

Stores the answer from the user

/v1/useranswer/:id GET Get all of current logged in users answers for a specific question.

*all URLs begin with ‘thomasmorley.co.uk/lecture_quest’



6. Implementation This chapter will discuss the development process used to create the gamified education app over the

course of this project. As outlined in section 3 the development will be completed using an iterative

approach.

6.1. Iteration 1 – Registration and Log in The first iteration is focused on allowing the user to register an account and sign into the application. This

involves building the database tables associated with holding the user’s data, implementing functions to

the API to add and retrieve data from the database and provide an easy user interface for this to be

achieved within the application.

6.1.1. User Interface The user interface for the registration and logging in page can be created with a simple linear layout.

Within Android studio creating an activity for both the login page, “LoginActivity”, and the registration

page, “RegisterActivity”, creates

corresponding XML layout files. As

seen in figure 21, an initial view group

is defined, with each different option

providing different structure. A linear

layout aligns all children in a single

direction one after another (Android

Developer, 2018).

The linear layout used for the log in

design includes two ImageView

objects, for the title text and logo this is followed

by two EditText elements for email and password

text input. Buttons to login or register a new

profile are at the bottom (Figure 22).

As can be seen in figure 23, the layout for the

registration activity is created with similar

elements. Each view element is given an ID:

This allow the widget to be initialized at runtime

to manipulate their properties and retrieve

input, such as password text.

Figure 21 – View

hierarchy

illustration

EditText

Button

Button

EditText

Figure 22 – Login

Activity Layout



6.1.2. Data Storage This iteration requires the user’s data to be securely stored,

the table designed in section 5.2.1, “student_data” is used to

save the users information such as their name, email and

password. Other key information that is key to the further

functionality of the application, such as level, points and coins,

is generated by the API (See 6.1.3) upon registration and also

stored within the database.

Figure 23 – Registration

activity layout breakdown

Figure 24 – Student data table

structure



6.1.3. API Functions To communicate with the database an API is created using the Slim PHP framework. Before the API

functions can be defined, a connection to the database must be defined within a PHP file. The database

connection file takes admin and host

information for the database and returns

the connection resource to be used

throughout the API.

The Slim framework allows parameters to

be passed in the body of a HTTP request.

The post request for registration,

“/register”, requires a name, email and

password. The register methods reads the

parameters and sends them to the

database handler file to create a user.

The ‘createUser’ method first checks if the

users email is already registered. A hashing

algorithm is applied to the user’s

password to ensure the security of the

data is not compromised. A unique API

key is generated, to identify the user and

provide them with authorization for

further functions. The function then

binds the parameters and performs the

insert query to the database.

DbConnect.php

index.php



When logging in, the users email and password

is checked against the database entries and

returns a JSON object in response. All the key

information from the database is returned to

be parsed and used throughout the

application.

6.1.4. Android Development The android application needs to communication with the API to access the database, the Volley HTTP

library is used to perform the API requests. One of the key reasons for using Android Studio during this

project, over other available IDEs, was the easy integration of external libraries, such as volley, with a

single line in the applications gradle build file.

The diagram below shows the route of the application, and its communication with the database, when

registering or logging in.

DbHandler.php



A separate class, ‘AppController.java’, handles the Volley requests queue, for adding or stopping a

request. Upon clicking the register button, the user is prompted to enter their details, via a Toast message,

if they haven’t already, or sends to the user’s information to the ‘registerUser’ function. The ‘registerUser’

function uses Volley to create a string

request and converts the response to a

JSON object for parsing. Providing the user

with feedback throughout every process in

the application is important. A dialog

message is shown while the request takes

places and Toast message is displayed with

either confirmation of the user’s

registration, or the error that was faced.

RegisterActivity.java

(onCreate)



The API always returns am error

Boolean that is parsed and

checked for server side errors.

To reduce the amount of calls

the database, a local SQLite

database is used to save the key

user information. A separate

class, ‘SQLiteHandler’ is used to

create the database and provide

functions for retrieving, deleting

and updating data within it.

SQLiteHandler.java (addUser)

RegisterActivity.java

(registerUser)

LoginActivity.java

(checkLogin)



6.1.5. Testing and Improvements With an agile software development approach, it is important for testing and improvement or fixes to be

performed within each iteration. The application was tested on an Android Device to ensure the user

interface was appropriately designed and the login and register functions worked as intended.

As can be seen in the screenshots below, a test user name, email and password was registered and was

correctly created within the database. Upon logging in the details were checked against those in the

database to provide access to the application. The API requests receive the parameters and store and

retrieve data as intended.

The users name, as shown at the top of the main screen, is taken from the SQLite database along with the

level and coin count.

The first iteration implementing a registration and log on functionality using an online database, works as

intended. To further improve the functionality, the users email should be verified to ensure it is a real

address. However, with the email being of little importance to the functionality of the application, this

will not be implemented within this iteration.



6.2. Iteration 2 – Student Modules The second iteration of this design process is focused on creating a list of modules for the user to view.

This will consist of one list of modules that the user is currently signed up to, as well as another list of all

modules with an option for the user to sign up to any module on the list.

6.2.1. User Interface The ‘Quests’ page, will contain a list of the modules to user has signed up for, in the form of a RecycleView

element, the page will also contain a button to find more modules.

From Android version 5.0, known as Lollipop, the RecyclerView has been available as an element to display

a scrolling list of elements (Android, 2018). Although more complex to implement, the RecylerView has

many advantages over its predecessor, the Listview.

Rather than loading and populating the list with a full

dataset at all times, the RecylerView creates the view

holders for the visible elements and a few elements

above and below. The Recycler view creates new view

holders as the user scrolls and saves those off screen

to be used again (See Figure 25).

The large amount of modules available to students

mean large datasets will need to be loaded into the

applications module list. Using a RecylcerView instead

of a Listview, will improve the optimisation of the app.

A basic row layout with a TextView elements for the

module name and module id will be used to display

both the user’s modules and the list of all modules.

The ‘onClickListeners’ that RecyclyerViews support will also allow for an application response to a short

or long click on a module within the list.

6.2.2. Data Storage To allow many students to sign up to a module as well as each student to sign up to many modules, two

tables were created to store the information on the modules themselves and also which modules each

students is signed up to.

The ‘modules’ table includes an ID as its primary key and the module name. The student data table (See

section 6.1.2), contains all the users information. The ‘student_modules’ table provides a relationship

between the two tables, storing the student’s ID with the ID of the module they are signed up for.

Figure 25 – ListView

vs RecyclerView



6.2.3. API Functions To handle the modules table; POST, GET, PUT and DELETE request functions are required within the API.

The API has functions to create a new module with the module name as a parameter, as well as deleting

and updating module information.

Sending a GET request to the API with the

‘/modules’ URI, retrieves all the modules

that the user is signed up to, returning the

module name and id. The user ID is stored

as a global variable within the API to access

the correct dataset for that user’s profile.

Requests to the ‘/studentmodules’ URI

with a module ID as a parameter, either

sign a user up to a module, POST request,

or remove them, DELETE request.

6.2.4. Android Development To render the data within a RecyclerView, an adapter class must be created to assign values from the

database to the TextView elements defined in the row layout in section 6.2.1. The custom view holder

‘MyViewHolder’ defines the view elements

while the module data is set to the view in

‘onBindViewHolder’.

UserModulesListActivity.java

(prepareModuleData)

Index.php



The option to include both onClick and onLongClick listeners to the RecyclerView meant multiple

functionality could be provided within the same list. Within the list of the user’s modules, a normal click

takes the user to a list of quizzes within that module. A long click provides the user with an alert dialog to

confirm whether they want to leave the modules, calling a DELETE request to the ‘/students’ URL if they

confirm.



6.2.5. Testing and Improvements A test of loading the module data into the recycler view for both the user’s modules and all modules

successfully had the desired functionality. The click listeners also worked correctly for joining and leaving

the modules.

Although the basic functionality of this iteration worked as intended, the list of all modules also included

the modules that the user has already signed up to. This meant the user could join a module twice, which

was not intended as it cluttered both the ‘student_modules’ table and the users module list in the app,

with repeated data.

To fix this an integer array of the module IDs for the modules that the user was already signed up to was

passed from the ‘UserModuleListActivity’ to the ‘AllModulesActivity’.

Long

Press



In the ‘prepareModuleData’ the only modules that are added to the moduleList, which will be displayed

in the list, are those that are not currently in the users modules.



6.3. Iteration 3 – Quiz Implementation This iteration aims to implement the main gamification elements of the application, allowing the users to

view and select quizzes for a modules. Each quiz earns the player in-game currency as well as experience

points that go toward leveling up their character.

6.3.1. User Interface The list of quizzes for a module is yet again created with a RecyclerView, as the modules list was in the

previous iteration. The same view adapter and row layout is used, replacing the module name, with the

quiz name and module ID with the quiz ID.

When a quiz is selected, an alert dialog displaying the coin and experience points rewards for completing

the quiz. Displaying the rewards for the quiz before they enter it is designed to encourage the player to

complete it.



6.3.2. Data Storage The data for each quiz is stored across three different tables, ‘quiz_data’, ‘questions’ and

‘question_choices’. The ‘quiz_data’ table contains a quiz ID, the quiz name and a timestamp of when it

was created. Each quiz is linked to a module with the module ID as a foreign key in the quiz table.

Each question can contain many questions, from the ‘questions’ table, and each question can contain

many choices from the ‘question_choices’ table. The question choices table contains a ‘tinyint(1)’ that

acts as a Boolean value, 1 is stored for a correct answer and 0 for incorrect options.

6.3.3. API Functions For this iteration three GET requests are called, first, ‘/quiz’ to retrieve all the quiz data for a particular

module. Then a request to retrieve all questions with the quiz ID as a parameter and finally the choice text

and which answer option is correct is retrieved from the ‘question_choices’ table.

quiz_data question_choices questions



Upon completing the quiz, a PUT request updates the user’s information with their new coins, points and

level values.

6.3.4. Android Development Upon starting a quiz, the ‘QuizActivity’ performs a Json Object request to retrieve the question

information for the first question. The prepareQuizQuestion function takes an integer that represents the

current question the user is on, this is incremented when the user pressed the button to continue in the

quiz. The number of questions in the quiz is defined by the length of the questions Json array that is

returned. When the current question number is higher than the number of questions in the quiz, the quiz

is ended and the ‘QuizCompleteActivity’ is launched.

The number of the correct answer, is assigned to the ‘rightChoice’ variable and is compared to the radio

button that the user checked.



In the ‘QuizCompleteActivity’ the user’s details are updated. The user’s current level, coins and experience

points are retrieved from the SQLite database. The coin and points rewards from completing the quiz are

added to their current values and updated within both the SQLite and the online Database.



6.3.5. Testing and Improvements Test runs on multiple different quizzes and modules were completed to ensure the implementation of the

quiz system works as it would. All aspects of this iteration worked correctly, including increasing the

player’s level when they reached 500 experience points. To improve this section each quiz could be able

to have more than three options which

would need the run time generation of

radio buttons. The addition of basic

animations when the user levels up or gains

rewards would improve the user

experience and make the app feel more

dynamic. However, neither the animation

nor adding more than three options are

essential to the application and will not be

implemented during this iteration.



7. Testing Functional testing was carried out within the iterative development of the application. Each of the main

features were tested with various inputs to check the desired outputs in both the database and in-app,

were achieved. This section will cover the additional white box and end user testing that has been carried

out.

7.1. White Box Testing White box testing is designed to test the software through inspection of the internal structure of the

program. White box testing is a technique often used by developers, it requires the tester to be well versed

with the internal workings of the system. With this project being designed, developed and tested by one

developer, white box testing is an ideal method to test the final application.

Branch coverage is a system of white box testing that ensures all “Branching” sections of code, such as an

if statement, can be reached.

The main features of the application; Registration, Login and quiz activities, will be tested to ensure all of

the branches in the code can be reached in the appropriate circumstances.

For example, in the registration activity an if statement checks if the edit text fields are empty and creates

a toast message if they are. If the fields are completed the user should be registered.

In this instance, with all fields empty, the correct toast is shown and

the ‘else’ section of the ‘if’ statement can be reached.

Conclusive results on the white box branch testing can be seen in

Appendix D.



8. Final Results As discussed in further detail in section 3.4, a snapshot of a lecture scenario will be used to test how well

the app improves retention of lecture content. 20 participants were included in the study, split in to two

groups, 10 participants who would use the app (Group 1) and 10 participants who would not use the app

(Group 2). A video lecture would be shown to all participants and they would also take part in a short test

on the lecture content at the end of the week. The study aimed to see whether completing quizzes, on

the app, based on the lecture content improved the students’ performance in the final test.

Before taking part in any research in this project, each participant was given a participant information

sheet (See Appendix E).

8.1. Setup To reduce any advantage students might have if they have studied the subject before, a random subject

was chosen. Due to the time constraints of the participants, a short educational video was selected from

the TED talks archive. The six minute video by Julian Treasure explored the four ways that sound affects

us.

https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_the_4_ways_sound_affects_us/discussion#t-297479

(Treasure, 2009)

For use by the ten participants in group 1 a module for “The 4 ways sound affects us” was created. Seven

quizzes with varying coin rewards were also created that include key points from the online lecture.

https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_the_4_ways_sound_affects_us/discussion#t-297479



8.2. Results Analysis The ten participants in group 1, who used the application were also asked to fill out an additional survey

to document their thoughts on the application. The results from both the final test on the lecture content

and the end user’s opinion on the application will be discussed, full results can be found in appendix F.

The group that used the app throughout the week, consistently scored higher in the final test than those

who did not have the application (See Figure 26). Group 1 participants achieved an average grade of 68%

whereas group 2 participants achieved only 56% on average. All the participants completed at least one

quiz during the week leading up to the test, with 80% of the sample completing four to ten quizzes.

The results of the final

test indicate that

using the app did help

the students retain

the information from

the lecture, and 80%

of the participants

agreed with this when

asked their opinion.

However, despite the

increase in retained

information from a

lecture over the

course of a week,

many students did not

believe they were

more engaged in the

lecture. 30% of the

participants said they weren’t more actively engaged in the lecture, many of them finding the in-lecture

quizzes more of a distraction than a tool to increase engagement.

50% of the participants said their overall reaction to the app was very good, with all participants saying

the app was easy or very easy to use. As mentioned when designing the user interface, see section 5, the

ease of use to navigate between the key functions of the app is key to user satisfaction.

Other gamification of education studies, such as Oates et al (2016), found an increase in retention of

12.13% and Pechenkinda et al. (2017) found a 7.03%, with a similar system. The results of this study show

an average increase of test score of 12%, which is similar to the previous studies in the area.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

% of Right Answers in Final Test

Group 1 Group 2

Figure 26 – Final Test

results table



9. Project Conclusion The projected aimed to create a gamified android mobile application to be used in and after lectures, with

the goal of increasing student engagement and the retention of lecture content. The mobile application

was created successfully, including game elements in the form of quizzes and character leveling. Alongside

the implementation of these game elements, it was key for the project that the application was easy to

use as 80% of the study participants putting it as an important factor during requirement elicitation,

section 4.3. With 60% of the participants saying the final app was ‘very easy’ to use, and the other 40%

saying it was ‘easy’ to use, the application managed to implement some key game elements while

retaining usability.

The students who used the app to practice lecture content in the form of quizzes scored 12% higher on

average, than the participants who did not use the application. 80% of the student sample that had access

to the application during the study completed at least 4 quizzes within the week period between the

lecture and the final test. The use of features that make many mobile games so addictive were also a key

part of the project. The implementation of a random reward system for completing the quizzes, as

mentioned in section 2.1.3, added an addictive nature to the application. A quote from one of the end

user participants suggests that the reward system created the desired effect.

“Gaining coins and levels was rewarding”

While the application can claim to have improved the retention of information from the lecture to a similar

level as other studies, its impact as a learning tool within lectures was more limited. 60% of the participant

stated that they didn’t feel more engaged by answering in-app questions during the lecture. Some

students felt the app was more of a distraction than a tool to provide an active learning environment.

“Felt slightly distracted using the app and not listening to the lecture”

“(The Quizzes) distracted me from listening”

Although the app did not provide a platform for active learning in lectures, it did provide a base for the

use of gamified and addictive mobile app elements to encourage students with outside learning. As one

user stated, “The quizzes felt like I was practicing for the test, while having fun”, which, on a basic level,

is the aim of gamification. Even with the implementation of only basic game elements the study saw a

valuable return in increased lecture content retention.



10. Reflective Analysis A reflective analysis is important upon the completion of the project to define which parts of the project

I did well, what went badly and how these mistakes can be avoided in future projects. Considering your

own actions and thoughts over the course of a project can become a tool for continuous learning and

improvement (Helyer, 2015). Gibbs (2016) defines a cycle for personal reflection with six stages to

describe, evaluate and analyse a personal reflection to provide an action plan for future improvement.

I have completed the research into the effects of a gamified learning app to improve engagement in

lectures and retention of course content. I began with a detailed review of the current problems that exist

within the traditional style of lecturing and the benefits of more active learning approaches. From the

initial research, it was clear further research was needed into an app that combines gamified education

and additive mobile app elements.

I believe the implementation of the android application went well. By doing extensive research into

usability and user experience I was able to create an app that was simple to use while implementing some

basic game elements. Previous use of android studio provided a useful platform to begin development

while my knowledge of how to correctly form XML layouts grew throughout the project. This allowed me

to not only implement the most basic way of solving a problem but more complex methods that suited

my problem better. For example, the implementation of a list view rather than a recycler view would have

been much easier, however, I was able to implement the recycler view and make use of the performance

enhancements and click listeners that the more complex view object provides.

In hindsight, attempting to conduct group interviews as part of the research was a bad decision. The end

users for this project, university students, often do not have the time to spend both using an app for a full

week and then taking more time out to take part in the interviews. This is why more open ended survey

questions were used as a time saving alternative.

The most challenging part of the implementation was creating the REST API to communicate with the

database. Lack of experience with PHP or MySQL made this a difficult task.

If the development of this project was to continue, more gamification elements should be added. Many

of the final participants suggested the implementation of leaderboards to compare their quiz scores with

friends. Character creation is also an element that I think would add an extra level of player investment

that would ensure the long term use of the application.

To conclude, I believe on the whole the project went well, a thorough period of research was performed

to define clear aims to the application to fulfill. With a lack of experience going into the project with both

PHP and MySQL, a longer time for research could have been accounted for.



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12. Appendix A: Requirements Survey

12.1. A1 Survey Questions Requirement Gathering Survey hosted by SurveyMonkey.com



12.2. A2 Full Survey Responses Q1 What course do you study at University?

Psychology 4

Adult Nursing 1

Criminology 1

Sports and Exercise Science 1

Accounting and Finance 1

History 3

Politics 1

Maths 1

Business Studies 1

Fine Art 1

Economics 1

Chemistry 1

Chemical Engineering 1

English 1

Computer Science 1

Q2 What Type of Smartphone do you own?

Iphone 14



Android 6

Windows Phone 0

I don’t own a smart phone 0

Q3 On average, how long in a 1 hour lecture would you normally spend on your phone?

I don’t use my phone during lectures

0

Up to 15 Minutes 8

15-30 Minutes 9

30+ Minutes 3

Q4 What mobile apps are you likely to be using in lectures?

Evernote (or any other note making application)

0

Blackboard (Or any other Learning Management App)

9

Mobile Games 8

Messaging Application (iMessage, WhatsApp, Text etc)

19

Instagram 15

Snapchat 16

Twitter 18

Facebook 13

Any other apps (Please list) 1

Q5 Do your lectures incorporate the use of technology, such as your phones or quiz controllers? (Pop Quiz's, Lecture feedback, reading material etc)

Yes 6

No 14

Q6 Would you be interested in a mobile application that aimed to make learning your university content more like a game?

Yes 17

No 3

Q7 Do you think you learn well from being taught in a lecture style, as opposed to more active methods? (E.g. Workshops, Mock Exams, Quizzes etc.)

Yes 3

No 14

I don’t know 3

Q8 In the proposed application, what would be most important to you? (Please order, 1 most important - 5 least important)

How easy the app is to use/How it looks

Score : 4.35

How fast the app runs Score: 3.45

Being able to connect/compete with friends

Score: 2.55



Knowing the material in the quizzes is based on your lecture content

Score: 3.55

Being able to customise your own digital character

Score: 1.10

Q9 Do you regularly have access to the internet in your lectures?

Yes 20

No 0

Additional Responses

Q4 What mobile app are you likely to be using in lectures?

“BBC Sport”

Q5 Do your lectures incorporate the use of technology, such as your phones or quiz controllers? (Pop Quiz's, Lecture feedback, reading material etc)

“Quiz controllers”

“Able to text in your ideas or answers to quizzes in lectures. We also have online lectures which is done through blackboard”

“Can text in questions in some lectures”

“Occasionally use interactive quiz/test”

“Some ask us to go to a website via QR code to answer quick questions”

Q7 Do you think you learn well from being taught in a lecture style, as opposed to more active methods? (E.g. Workshops, Mock Exams, Quizzes etc.)

“Get bored easily in lectures as all the content can be accessed from home. Hard to concentrate on one person talking for an hour”

“It’s easier to grasp our learning material through practice and our clinical sessions. However a combination of the two does work well, as not all our work can be done through practical sessions.”

“Lose concentration in lectures and have to reread over things myself.”

“I find lectures hard to concentrate on, and as i get distracted by my phone anyway if that was part of the lecture it may work”

“I prefer using more interactive methods rather then just question and answer style.”

“The current lecture style seems old fashioned and does not keep my attention”

“I prefer being active, lectures get me easily distracted”

“Lectures need more interaction, rather than just lecturers reading out slides”

“Active methods engage me more which helps me to learn.”



“I find that i learn better through physical activities rather than just being spoke at”

“Getting the content across through slides if often most effective”

“Lectures don't tend to hold my attention and I seldom find that I can assimilate the material from them alone, extra practice often being required to that end.”

“Some lectures can be engaging and others not. I think it depends on the lecturer.”

“I prefer to be taught by doing or demonstrations, rather than being talked at”

13. Appendix B: Existing Application Analysis

13.1. B1 – Android Applications used in Requirement Gathering 1. Memrise

2. Lumosity

3. Kahoot

4. peak

5. Duolingo

6. Socrative

7. Play Brigher

8. Classcraft

9. Goose Chase

10. Class Dojo

11. Minecraft Education Edition

12. Ribon Hero 2 (Microsoft Office Teaching)

13. Goalbook

14. Coursera

15. Temple

16. Learn Digital

17. Enki: learn btter code, daily

18. Blackboard

19. Khan Academy

20. Learn Code

21. Habitica

22. NeuroNation – Focus and Brain Training

23. Lingvist: learn Lanuage fast

24. Babbel – learn Spanish

25. Mathletics Student



13.2. B2 – Duolingo

13.3. B3 – SoloLearn



13.4. B4 – Peak



13.5. B5 – Habitica



14. Appendix C – System Usability Scale Results



15. Appendix D – White Box Branch testing results

Registration Activity

Test # Function Branch Name Branch Tested Pass/Fail

1 onCreate If(session.isLoggedIn) Logged In

2 onCreate If(session.isLoggedIn) Not Logged in

3 onClick (RegisterBtn)

if (!name.isEmpty() && !email.isEmpty() && !password.isEmpty())

All Empty



Name Empty



Email Empty



Password Empty



All completed

Login Activity




3 onClick (LoginBtn)

if (!email.isEmpty() && !password.isEmpty()

All empty



Email Empty



Password Empty



All Completed



Main Activity




All Modules Activity


1 Contains if(item==n) Item = n

2 Contains if(item==n) Item != n

3 preparemoduleData if(!contains(moduleIDs, moduleId))

Contains moduleID

4 preparemoduleData if(!contains(moduleIDs, moduleId))

Does not Contain moduleID

Create Choice Activity


1 onClick (quizDoneBtn)

Btn1.isChecked() Is Checked


Btn1.isChecked() Is not Checked









Quiz Activity

Test #

Function Branch Name Branch Tested Pass/Fail

1 checkAnswer !option1.isChecked() && !option2.isChecked() && !option3.isChecked()

Non Checked


Option 1 Checked


Option 2 Checked




Option 3 Checked

5 checkAnswer rightChoice == 0 && option1.isChecked()

rightChoice is 0 & option 1 not checked


rightChoice is 0 & option 1 checked









11 checkAnswer rightChoice == 0 && option2.isChecked() || option3.isChecked()

rightChoice is 0 & option2 is checked











17 prepareQuizQuestion if(questionNum<numQuestions)

Question Num Smaller

18 prepareQuizQuestion if(numQuestions<=questionNum)

Question Num Higher

Quiz Complete Activity


1 calculateNewUserUserValues if(newPoints >= 200)

True

2 calculateNewUserUserValues if(newPoints >= 200)

False



16. Appendix E – Participant Information Form



17. Appendix F – Final Results

17.1. F1 – Final Test on Lecture Content Results Q1 - How many cycles per minute is the sound of a sleeping human?

Group % Right % Wrong

1 (with app) 70% 30%

2 (without app) 50% 50%

Q2 - Test it and Test again" was one of the golden rules for commercial sound?


1 (with app) 90% 10%


Q3 - Sounds can affect your breathing?


1 (with app) 90% 10%


Q4 - How much can listening to bird song while working can improve productivity?


1 (with app) 60% 40%


Q5 - A dripping tap noise has a similar cycles per minute to a human sleeping?


1 (with app) 30% 70%




17.2. F2 – Group 1 End user Survey results

research into the gamification of higher education through ... · successfully improve student...

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