Gamification in Higher Education Database Courses

Universities are trying to adapt the education process for students, who may benefit from different approaches to learning. Gamification is an example; it may provide an opportunity for practical testing of the acquired knowledge and valuable feedback on their weaknesses and strengths. With an element of competition, it may further boost students’ enthusiasm for learning and their self-confidence. Researchers proposed many ways to implement gamification in the education process. This paper proposes a newly developed information system and gamification model combined with the previously developed Automated Programming Assessment System (APAS) for evaluating SQL solutions at Algebra University. During learning, APAS contributes by providing rich and immediate feedback to students. The first goal is to enhance student engagement during the academic year, and the second goal is to help students who need to reenroll in the course due to their previous failure. To increase their chances, they need to prepare more whenever they are willing to learn, often physically outside the university. The proposed system is used at Algebra University in the Introduction to Databases course with the aim of empowering students, but the benefits could also be significant for the university, which is interested in minimizing the student dropout rate.