Leveling Up by Gamifying Freshman Engineering Clinic

Joseph Anthony Gulotta; Nicholas Steven Parisi; Cheryl A. Bodnar

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Conference: 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Publication Date: June 26, 2016
Start Date: June 26, 2016
End Date: June 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-68565-5
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 5B: Work-In-Progress: 5 Minute Postcard Session II
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs
Page Count: 8
DOI: 10.18260/p.26207
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/26207
Download Count: 827

Paper Authors

biography

Joseph Anthony Gulotta Rowan University

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Joseph Gulotta is a member of Rowan University's Class of 2016, graduating with a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering. His first job will be at DataStream Technologies Inc. as an Applications Engineer, working primarily on HVAC controls. The interest to work on this research and conference paper came out of a desire to help create course content that is a new and innovative take on engineering course design.

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Nicholas Steven Parisi Rowan University

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My name is Nicholas Parisi, and I studied electrical and computer engineering at Rowan University. I am very interested in wearable devices, sensors, app development, and writing code to integrate software and hardware. In terms of ASEE, I had the unique experience of helping develop the platform that would be presented to freshmen engineers, in order to see how a complete drastic change in homework would affect student's motivation and desire to complete the work.

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Cheryl A. Bodnar Rowan University

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Cheryl A. Bodnar, Ph.D., CTDP is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Rowan University. Dr. Bodnar’s research interests relate to the incorporation of active learning techniques in undergraduate classes as well as integration of innovation and entrepreneurship into the engineering curriculum. In particular, she is interested in the impact that these tools can have on student perception of the classroom environment, motivation and learning outcomes. She obtained her certification as a Training and Development Professional (CTDP) from the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD) in 2010, providing her with a solid background in instructional design, facilitation and evaluation. She was selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium in 2013 and awarded the American Society for Engineering Education Educational Research Methods Faculty Apprentice Award in 2014.

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Abstract

Leveling Up by Gamifying Freshman Engineering Clinic

This Work-In-Progress paper describes the development of a gamification platform for the Freshman Engineering Clinic II course at a North Eastern university and its proposed assessment strategy. Freshman Engineering Clinic II is a course designed to teach engineering students about multidisciplinary project design, with special focus on developing skills associated with teamwork, software application, and ethics. An important part of learning is receiving feedback as part of the learning cycle and studies have shown that increased feedback can be helpful in supporting student reflection and developing the intrinsic motivation necessary for mastering a task. One method of encouraging students to master material is by providing students with immediate feedback through gamification platforms. The gamification platform being employed in this implementation uses interactive learning techniques to provide students with clear cut goals as well as immediate feedback as an indicator of the student’s performance.

Gamification transforms the traditional homework layout into an entirely new entity. Students can work to earn badges by completing assignments that interest them within the platform. Students also have the power to learn at their own pace and mechanics such as experience points, badges, leaderboards, and achievements can be used as motivating factors to encourage student completion of activities. In addition, the system acts as a scaffold for the students starting with activities that are easier and become progressively more challenging as their knowledge increases, while allowing them to repeat tasks as necessary to encourage mastery of course material.

The effectiveness of this platform will be assessed by a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures. Student activity completion, accrual of badges and achievements, and the process through which students select the activities to pursue will all be monitored. Students will also complete the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) to measure their perception of the classroom environment with the addition of the gamification platform. Qualitative feedback from students will be collected through open ended survey questions to gain a better appreciation for how the gamification platform impacted their course experience.

Citation
Format

Gulotta, J. A., & Parisi, N. S., & Bodnar, C. A. (2016, June), Leveling Up by Gamifying Freshman Engineering Clinic Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26207

TY - CPAPER
AB - Leveling Up by Gamifying Freshman Engineering Clinic

This Work-In-Progress paper describes the development of a gamification platform for the Freshman Engineering Clinic II course at a North Eastern university and its proposed assessment strategy. Freshman Engineering Clinic II is a course designed to teach engineering students about multidisciplinary project design, with special focus on developing skills associated with teamwork, software application, and ethics. An important part of learning is receiving feedback as part of the learning cycle and studies have shown that increased feedback can be helpful in supporting student reflection and developing the intrinsic motivation necessary for mastering a task. One method of encouraging students to master material is by providing students with immediate feedback through gamification platforms. The gamification platform being employed in this implementation uses interactive learning techniques to provide students with clear cut goals as well as immediate feedback as an indicator of the student’s performance.

Gamification transforms the traditional homework layout into an entirely new entity. Students can work to earn badges by completing assignments that interest them within the platform. Students also have the power to learn at their own pace and mechanics such as experience points, badges, leaderboards, and achievements can be used as motivating factors to encourage student completion of activities. In addition, the system acts as a scaffold for the students starting with activities that are easier and become progressively more challenging as their knowledge increases, while allowing them to repeat tasks as necessary to encourage mastery of course material.

The effectiveness of this platform will be assessed by a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures. Student activity completion, accrual of badges and achievements, and the process through which students select the activities to pursue will all be monitored. Students will also complete the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) to measure their perception of the classroom environment with the addition of the gamification platform. Qualitative feedback from students will be collected through open ended survey questions to gain a better appreciation for how the gamification platform impacted their course experience.

AU - Joseph Anthony Gulotta
AU - Nicholas Steven Parisi
AU - Cheryl A. Bodnar
CY - New Orleans, Louisiana
DA - 2016/06/26
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Leveling Up by Gamifying Freshman Engineering Clinic
UR - https://peer.asee.org/26207
DO - 10.18260/p.26207
ER -