Abstract:

Context:
Within the framework of the Energy Reform in Mexico, several massive, open, and online courses (MOOCs) were designed to promote education on energy and sustainability issues in Spanish-speaking countries. These courses included, among others, the use of the pedagogical method of gamification, particularly based on a mechanic of challenges and rewards. This scenario was an opportunity to study the behavior of men and women with respect to gamification. The course in which this study was developed was “Clean, Conventional Energy and its Technology”. Gamification consisted of a challenge at the end of the course about selecting the best energy to use in a risky situation. Students were recognized on a leadership dashboard based on how quickly they selected the correct answer.

Purpose or Goal:
Based on the growing concern about the underrepresentation of women in engineering, it is very important to determine motivations of women versus men when using gamification, since the findings can contribute positively to understand to how to use this teaching method to motivate women to venture into the study of engineering and to learn in a more enjoyable way. Some studies have found that men prefer games more than women [1]. However, in recent years the statement has become just a myth [2], that is something that will be shown in this study.

Approach:
A mixed research method was used in this research [3]. The quantitative information was obtained from a questionnaire with a four-point Likert-type scale, which was designed based on three dimensions: cognitive, social, and emotional. These dimensions are the essential elements in gamification. Qualitative information was obtained through open questions included in the questionnaire. The questionnaire yielded 0.812 Cronbach's alpha and was answered by 764 participants of which 489 were men and 275 women.

Actual or Anticipated Outcomes:
Men expressed having more sense of achievement when having carried out the challenge correctly, while women felt positively motivated by having several opportunities to solve it correctly. Men were more in favor than women of seeing their results and those of their peers on a board, that is, their competitive nature was evidenced. While women were motivated to solve the challenge in the best way when they knew that the results would be displayed on the board.

Conclusions/Recommendations/Summary:
Results show that both men and women enjoy gamification, although their motivations are different. Therefore, it is important to direct gamification towards a constructive competition in which users of any gender have the same opportunity to win and be recognized.

References:
[1] A. Lenhart, J. Kahne, E. Middaugh, A. Rankin Macgill, C. Evans, and J. Vitak, “Teens, Video Games, and Civics: Teens’ gaming experiences are diverse and include significant social interaction and civic engagement,” Pew Internet Am. Life Proj., pp. 1–64, 2008.
[2] S. Tettegah, M. McCreery, F. Blumberg, “Toward a Framework for Learning and Digital Games Research,” Educ. Psychol., vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 253–257, 2015.
[3] B. Johnson, A. Onwuegbuzie, A. Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come. Educational Researcher, 33(14), 14–26. 2004

Keywords:

Different genders, gamification, higher education, innovative education.