Empowering Students to Engage in the Design of COVID-19 Related Gamified Applications
Date Issued
October 27, 2022
Author(s)
Abstract
COVID-19 related games have recently been developed to combat misinformation and raise awareness of COVID19 protocols. COVID-19 related games or gamified apps were designed using top-down approaches (from company to players). The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted challenges in their uptake and usage. Strategies such as co-design may be leveraged to address these challenges, particularly for developing new technologies. This in-progress, exploratory mixedmethods study aimed to engage university students in designing gamified applications to address their needs amidst and post-pandemic. Its first step was to empower students to think of design ideas. The study's research questions were: What are students’ goals for designing pandemic-related gamified apps? To what extent do students make use of gamification techniques in their design? A convenience sample of 20 third/fourth-year undergraduates expressed their ideas individually, in an online class, at a time of university closures (May 2021). A second sample of 37 first-year undergraduates
engaged in the same activity in a face-to-face class (December 2021). The data were analyzed using a qualitative data analysis software. Thematic analysis was used, data were coded, and themes and sub-themes emerged. Qualitative analysis of all 57 students’ responses revealed two main themes expressed by students as a goal for their app: a) increasing pandemic awareness and following hygiene protocols (24/57, 42.1%) and b) building resilience through different ways to cope with the pandemic, including physical exercise, social interaction, entertainment and education (31/57, 54.4%). Students maintained similar design goals for proposed apps despite increasingly less strict public-health measures from May to December 2021. The majority of students (52.6%, 30/57) used one to three gamification techniques, while 38.6% of
them (22/57) did not use any. Third/fourth-year students used significantly more (t55=4.65, p=0.000) gamification techniques (M=2.35, SD=1.31) compared to first-year students (M=0.81, SD=1.13). The first stage of this study showed value in involving students in the design of interventions that targeted themselves and revealed the need for training students who lack a design background in identifying relevant gamification techniques. Future research will aim to materialize students’ suggested design ideas into design prototypes by involving them in the process through interdisciplinary collaborations.
engaged in the same activity in a face-to-face class (December 2021). The data were analyzed using a qualitative data analysis software. Thematic analysis was used, data were coded, and themes and sub-themes emerged. Qualitative analysis of all 57 students’ responses revealed two main themes expressed by students as a goal for their app: a) increasing pandemic awareness and following hygiene protocols (24/57, 42.1%) and b) building resilience through different ways to cope with the pandemic, including physical exercise, social interaction, entertainment and education (31/57, 54.4%). Students maintained similar design goals for proposed apps despite increasingly less strict public-health measures from May to December 2021. The majority of students (52.6%, 30/57) used one to three gamification techniques, while 38.6% of
them (22/57) did not use any. Third/fourth-year students used significantly more (t55=4.65, p=0.000) gamification techniques (M=2.35, SD=1.31) compared to first-year students (M=0.81, SD=1.13). The first stage of this study showed value in involving students in the design of interventions that targeted themselves and revealed the need for training students who lack a design background in identifying relevant gamification techniques. Future research will aim to materialize students’ suggested design ideas into design prototypes by involving them in the process through interdisciplinary collaborations.
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