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Title: Work in Progress: Gamification of education: Using Bartle’s Taxonomy for inclusive educational practices

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Technological and Engineering Literacy - Philosophy of Engineering Division Technical Session 1

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--41161

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/41161

Download Count

462

Paper Authors

biography

Lizabeth Thompson California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Dr. Lizabeth Thompson is the Director of General Engineering and a professor in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. She holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly, SLO, a MS in Industrial and Systems Engineering and an MBA from University of Southern California, and a PhD in Education from University of California, Santa Barbara. She has been at Cal Poly for nearly 30 years and has held various positions on campus including Co-Director of LAES, Director of Women’s Engineering Programs, and CENG Interim Associate Dean. Although she has taught over 25 different courses she current teaches Financial decision making, First year engineering, Senior project, and Change management. Her research is in Engineering Education where she has received $9.8 million of funding from NSF as either PI or Co-PI. She researches equitable classroom practices, integrated learning, and institutional change. She spent the 2019-2020 academic year at Cal State LA where she taught and collaborated on research related to equity and social justice. With her colleagues at Cal State LA she recently received an NSF grant called Eco-STEM which aims to transform STEM education using an asset-based ecosystem model. She is also a Co-PI on an NSF S-STEM grant called ENGAGE which is working to make a more robust transfer pathway for local Community college students. Dr. Thompson is a Co-PI on an NSF ADVANCE grant called KIND with other universities within the CSU. She is a co-advisor to Engineers without Borders, Critical Global Engagement, and oSTEM at Cal Poly.

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Tessa Luzuriaga

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Bridget Benson California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Abstract

According to an online source (Sidhwani, 2021) in 2021 “the average player plays video games for five hours a day, a 14 percent increase from last year.” As participants in the educational system, we might ask how we can make the learning process more like a game? This question leads us to a critical examination of the processes of information transfer prevalent in engineering education. We came to believe that engineering curricula seek a perpetuation of archaic teaching models where professors are the gatekeepers of knowledge in an age where information is much more readily available than ever before. Game designers have recognized a need to understand how those outside their initial audiences seek pleasure from their game to avoid staleness in an age where information and media is available and consumed in gross quantities. They need to entertain their initial user base and expand beyond it. With a growing desire to make engineering more accessible to a diverse set of individuals, this paper will look into strategies found in the video gaming industry which have captured the minds of millions of 16 to 26 year olds. We are using Bartle Player Taxonomy and other reward structures to understand the engagement found in video games with hope that this can be applied to the engineering classrooms to increase student’s intrinsic motivation for learning. Because Bartle’s Taxonomy does not show up in academic publications, we are also challenging the traditional source of knowledge in academic publications by encouraging innovative approaches found on blogs and video sharing sites. We are not only making educational systems more inclusive, but aim to challenge the paradigms about who creates knowledge. To bring this theory based paper to practice we will include some concrete applications we have experimented with in a virtual reality electrical engineering lab experience at University X. We seek input from the community about the theory and practice.

Thompson, L., & Luzuriaga, T., & Benson, B. (2022, August), Title: Work in Progress: Gamification of education: Using Bartle’s Taxonomy for inclusive educational practices Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41161

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