Game Elements, Motivation and Programming Learning: A Case Study

摘要

The learning of programming is traditionally challenging for students. However, this is also one of the most fundamental skills for any computer scientist, and is becoming an important skill in other areas of knowledge. In this paper we analyze the use of game-elements in a challenging long-term programming task, with students of the 3rd year of a Informatics Engineering degree. We conducted a quantitative study using the AMS scale to assess students' motivation. Results show that with the use of game-elements, students are both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated, and that they consider learning/working fun, which contributes positively to their academic performance.