Assessing the Impact of Gamification on Self-Directed Learning in Medical Students

TL;DR

This study investigates how gamification influences medical students' self-directed learning, revealing that moderate game use enhances engagement and peer learning, but excessive gaming may diminish enjoyment.

Contribution

It introduces a novel path analysis method to evaluate gamification's impact on anatomy students' learning behavior in a pedagogical setting.

Findings

Moderate gamification increases student engagement.

Excessive gamification reduces enjoyment.

Students favor peer-to-peer learning over traditional methods.

Abstract

Gamification refers to the process of adding game elements to a task. Of late, this process has been introduced in pedagogical settings to capture the attention and interest of students. In our study, we apply the process to Anatomy students and assess the impact on their learning behaviour. We apply a novel path analysis to assess the change in their learning behaviour after a semester of games-enhanced small group sessions. We find that too much games could reduce their enjoyment of the underlying learning. However, we also find that students appreciate a change in the traditional model of instruction - they embraced peer-to-peer learning in the classroom.