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Abstract: Courses on research methods are usually part of every university curriculum. In most cases research methods are taught in the traditional way - through lectures and presentations. Even if the more active format of seminars is used, students still perceive the content of the course as dry and boring. Can gamification make studying research methods more engaging? Does the use of game elements make the students immerse themselves in learning activities and experience a state of "flow" as described by Csikszentmihalyi? To answer these questions three courses on Research Methods were designed in a gamified fashion - one for Educational Technology and IT management master students and two for ICT bachelor level students. Several game elements were used for course management and for learning activities in order to create the atmosphere of a game. In the end of each course feedback was collected and aspects of flow were measured. The quantitative estimations and qualitative comments show that flow was achieved in most of the cases. The majority of the students were happy with the format of the course but some of them did not enjoy the game-like aspects at all.
Keywords: flow, gamification, game elements, research methods
1. Introduction
The subject of research methods belongs to every curriculum in higher education. It provides important instructions how to plan smaller research projects, collect empirical data and write research papers. Unfortunately many students experience research methods as dry and boring (Winn 1995). Students often see it as something abstract and not related with everyday life. They understand that this is important for their final thesis but most of them think about writing the research paper as late as possible.
It is not so well investigated how students learn and perceive research methods. Some researchers agree that this topic is complicated but they focus on issues like selecting the content for the course (Hammersley 2012) or how to make research reports more interesting (Caulley 2008). Some authors suggest that for increasing the students' engagement research methods should not be taught as a theoretical course but rather through learning by doing (Aguado 2009). Winn (1995) recommends, for example, to teach research methods through institutional research projects. What other approaches can be used for making the course...