2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WIP: Gamification as an Engagement Tool in ECE Courses

Presented at Enhancing Student Engagement and Support in ECE Education

The current cohort of college students, growing up with digital games and short videos, shows different learning preference compared to previous generations. They tend to prefer interactive learning environments [1] and enjoy frequent educational stimuli. As a result, educators are exploring the integration of gamification principles into classrooms [2] [3] [4]. Particularly in engineering courses, abstract concepts often pose challenges for students’ understanding. Gamification offers an approach to turn traditional, passive learning style into a more interactive and dynamic learning experience.
The objective of this study is to explore the impact of gamification on student engagement and performance in undergraduate engineering courses. Game-like elements such as points, leaderboard, badges, in-class quizzes with instant feedback, individual and team competition [1] were selectively integrated into five undergraduate courses. Each course uses a combination of these features depending on the course structure and needs.
In order to compare students’ preference with and without gamification, for the first third of the semester, the instructors use traditional methods (without gamification) in teaching, while for the remaining two-thirds, gamification techniques will be incorporated. Students can not only earn points from in-class quiz and get prizes, but also improve their final grades through their achievements. We have collected student surveys at the end of semester to assess their motivation, engagement, and overall experience. Additionally, student performance is compared between the two phases of the semester with and without gamification.

Authors

Dr. Victoria Victoria Shao University of Illinois Urbana Champaign [biography]

Yang V. Shao is a Teaching Associate Professor in electrical and computer engineering department at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). She earned her Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. She has worked with University of New Mexico before joining UIUC where she developed some graduate courses on Electromagnetics. Dr. Shao has research interests in curriculum development, assessment, student retention and student success in engineering, developing innovative ways of merging engineering fundamentals and research applications.
Juan Alvarez University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Juan Alvarez joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Illinois faculty in Spring 2011 and is currently a Teaching Assistant Professor. Prior to that, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at York University, Canada, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Chemical Physics Theory Group at the University of Toronto, Canada, and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Saskatchewan. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.S. from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois in 2004 and 2002, respectively. He teaches courses in communications, signal processing and probability.
Prof. Olga Mironenko http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1239-185X University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Dr. Olga Mironenko is a Teaching Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She received a specialist degree in Physics from Omsk F.M. Dostoevsky State University, Russia in 2009, and she received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Delaware in 2020. Her current interests include improvement of introductory analog signal processing and power systems courses, training for graduate teaching assistants, and mentoring of under-represented students in ECE.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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