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Leadership and Team Building (LTB) is a core module offered as part of the business program in the Singapore Management University (SMU).
To solve the problem of low classroom engagement, SMU used the Gametize platform to produce GameLead, a gamified experience to make learning much more fun, exciting and easy for LTB students.
GameLead was made available on both web and mobile to be played by students wherever, whenever!
Overview
Games Games were segregated according to LTB classes
Quests
Challenges were posed to the
students through weekly
quests
Quests
Challenges were posed to the
students through weekly
quests
Challenges
A series of simple challenges
prompted students to reflect on and
apply what they’ve learnt in class
Challenges
Challenges
Student Feedback
Gamification was also used to
collect student feedback on the
GameLead experience
Student Feedback
Student Feedback
Our results
177 players completed 9,262 challenges in 9 weeks, at an average rate of 52 challenges per player.
Student engagement 61.9% of students felt much more engaged in LTB due to GameLead. (Based on feedback ratings of 4< on a scale of 1-5, where “5” indicated the highest level of engagement).
Usefulness of app 64% of students felt GameLead was greatly useful in learning about LTB. (Based on feedback ratings of 4< on a scale of 1- 5, where “5” indicated great usefulness)
93.7% of students recommended the use of GameLead for LTB in the future
What worked? GameLead empowered students • Game structure and content of app was designed by four Teaching
Assistants (TAs) who were previously students of the same course, and were currently still enrolled in SMU
• Students were given the option not to participate (though impact of grades was left unclear)
Classroom integration created an immersive experience: • Class participation was weaved into the product • Activities such as photo challenges with group mates, and group discussions
were introduced to bolster social interactions • A TA was actively involved in the promotion of the app during class
What worked? The emphasis on visuals boosted engagement: • Students felt that content introduced through videos was interactive,
interesting, and relevant to the theories learnt in class • They also enjoyed offline activities such as photo challenges
Game elements: Competition, and rewards • For some, the earning of points acted as a strong motivator to complete
the challenges • Students could affect the scores of others, through voting • The top groups were rewarded with the ability to choose prime
presentation slots
App features facilitated a collaborative learning environment: • The commenting and newsfeed features allowed students to understand key
points from different perspectives, enriching their learning experience • App also allowed students to refer back to answers at a later time for deeper
reflection, and to review learning points
What didn’t work? A baseline on engagement was not properly established: • We did not introduce a control group. Furthermore, we discovered that some classes were more motivated by their TAs than others. This made it difficult for us to truly determine changes in student engagement levels. • Player types differ group to group. This made it difficult to predict and mould the game towards their behaviors
Mixed responses on game mechanics and elements • Some students resulted in the fatalistic behavior of not completing the game, upon seeing that they weren’t at the top of the leaderboard • The top prize of choosing group presentation slots was not a good enough motivator for some • For some, GameLead still felt like “additional homework”; wherein its impact on their grades was left obscure
Mobile app was not optimal platform for access: • Use and access of GameLead on mobile was lower than expected. Students still preferred completing challenges through their desktop (using the web version). This undermined the ease of accessibility of GameLead through mobile.
Appendix: Feedback data
Table 1.1 : Poll questions
Appendix: Feedback data
Table 1.2 : Poll questions
Appendix: Feedback data
Open-ended question (1):
“What did you find (or not find) most engaging about the app in helping you learn about leadership and team-building?”
Table 2.1 : Group 1 responses to open-ended question (1)
Table 2.2 : Group 2 responses to open-ended question (1)
Table 2.3 : Group 3 responses to open-ended question (1)
Table 2.4 : Group 4 responses to open-ended question (1)
Appendix: Feedback data
Open-ended question (2):
“What did you find (or not find) useful about the app in helping you learn about LTB?”
Table 3.1 : Group 1 responses to open-ended question (2)
Table 3.2 : Group 2 responses to open-ended question (2)
Table 3.3 : Group 3 responses to open-ended question (2)
Table 3.3.1 : Group 3 responses to open-ended question (2)
Table 3.4 : Group 4 responses to open-ended question (2)
Appendix: Feedback data
Open-ended question (3):
“Do you have any other feedback for us? Share it here!”
Table 4.1 : Group 1 responses to open-ended question (3)
Table 4.2 : Group 2 responses to open-ended question (3)
Table 4.3 : Group 3 responses to open-ended question (3)
Table 4.3.1 : Group 3 responses to open-ended question (3)
Table 4.4 : Group 4 responses to open-ended question (3)
Appendix: Feedback data Graph 1.1 : Student submissions over 9 weeks
