Embarking on a Gamified Journey in Higher Education: A Meta-synthesis

Abstract

This meta-synthesis study delved around the role of teachers and their experiences with their students in gamified learning environment in higher education. Twenty—two (22) out of 2875 research studies from the three open access academic data bases in Publish or Perish software were subjected to a systematic review through an inclusion and exclusion criteria. The reviewed academic qualitative research papers were organized using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) 2020 flow diagram and were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six-step thematic analysis which generated 10 themes and three meta-themes. The meta-themes include: (1) Teacher’s roles in gamified learning environment; (2) Gains of using gamification in higher education; and (3) Pitfalls of gamification in higher education. This meta-synthesis revealed that teachers have the ability to develop gamified learning environments that inspire students and encourage in-depth learning. Moreover, while gamification has a great potential to empower both teachers and students in higher education, there are limitations that need to be addressed to ensure success in learning. Higher education institutions must establish a viable ICT infrastructure to maximally support gamification requirements, and for teachers to ensure that gamified activities are directly aligned with the targeted outcomes.