Practices, purposes and challenges in integrating gamification using technology: A mixed-methods study on university academics.

Literature emphasizes that gamification significantly enhances students' engagement in learning and their motivation level. Studies have also examined the benefits of gamification in learning across different levels of education. However, the focus on academics' pedagogical understanding, knowledge, and skills and how they utilize these in planning and carrying out their gamified lessons particularly in the context of higher education, are not well researched. A mixed-methods study was conducted at a Malaysian public university with the aim of uncovering the practices, purposes, and challenges of integrating gamification via technology from the academics' perspective. Findings show the academics' practices of gamification could be further enhanced and their pedagogical considerations revolve around five main themes: (i) motivating students' learning; (ii) facilitating thinking skills and solving problems; (ii) engaging students' learning; (iv) facilitating interactions and (v) achieving specific teaching and learning goals. Based on the findings, the researchers proposed two models that would be able to facilitate and enhance academics' pedagogical knowledge and skills in integrating gamification for students' learning. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10639-023-11723-7.

Using social media as e-Portfolios to support learning in higher education: a literature analysis.

Although e-Portfolio is acknowledged as one of the powerful pedagogical practices that enhance learning in higher education (HE), not much is known about the types of social media (SM) utilized as e-Portfolios and the benefits for students. This literature analysis, using directed content analysis, aims to explore the above vacuum. The research questions in this study are: (1) In what ways do the SM as e-Portfolios benefit students in HE? (2) To what extent are the benefits of SM as e-Portfolios comparable to those of conventional e-Portfolios? and (3) What are the drawbacks that practitioners and researchers need to be concerned with? Findings indicate that blogs are the most popular SM used as e-Portfolios to support learning, followed by social networking sites and collaborative projects. The study yields 13 advantages and 12 drawbacks when SM is manipulated as e-Portfolios. These findings conclude that the use of SM as e-Portfolios has a great potential in supporting students' learning and development by providing an environment for them to learn meaningfully from their experiences and engage in critical reflections and dialogues that allow them to gain new knowledge and valuable insights and thus, improve their skills. A pedagogical framework for the planning and implementation of SM as e-Portfolios is suggested based on the findings and aims of the papers that were reviewed. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12528-022-09344-z.