Gamification Strategies in Maritime Education: Game-Based Learning Design for Enhanced Student Motivation and Knowledge Retention
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55123/ijisit.v2i2.52Keywords:
Game-Based Learning, Gamification, Knowledge Retention, Maritime Education, Student MotivationAbstract
Gamification—the integration of game design elements including achievement badges, experience points, progression levels, narrative challenges, and immediate feedback mechanisms into educational contexts—offers innovative pedagogical approaches to enhancing student motivation, engagement, and knowledge retention in maritime education through psychological mechanisms targeting competence development, autonomy support, and intrinsic interest cultivation. This mixed-methods quasi-experimental study investigates gamification implementation effectiveness at Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Pelayaran (STIP) Jakarta through systematic comparative assessment of student learning outcomes, intrinsic motivation levels, behavioral engagement patterns, and long-term knowledge retention across gamified (n=102) versus traditional (n=96) versions of identical navigation and marine engineering courses delivered during the 2023 academic year. Quantitative findings demonstrate that well-designed gamification incorporating meaningful achievement recognition and individual progression systems significantly improves intrinsic motivation by 33.7 percent, sustained engagement by 42-62 percent across multiple behavioral indicators, and critically, 6-month knowledge retention by 23.6 percent relative to traditional instruction methods. Qualitative analysis reveals student preferences for visible competence development and instructor observations regarding intrinsic motivation cultivation, while also documenting counterproductive effects of competitive leaderboard elements that undermine collaborative learning cultures. The study proposes a Maritime Education Gamification Design Framework emphasizing individual mastery progression, meaningful achievement criteria, collaborative challenge structures, and immediate competence feedback to optimize motivational benefits while preserving pedagogical integrity and maritime professional values of teamwork and mutual support.
Downloads
References
[1] E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan, "The 'what' and 'why' of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior," Psychol. Inq., vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 227–268, 2000.
[2] K. M. Kapp, The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. San Francisco, CA, USA: Pfeiffer, 2012.
[3] M. Sailer, J. U. Hense, S. K. Mayr, and H. Mandl, "How gamification motivates: An experimental study of the effects of specific game design elements on psychological need satisfaction," Comput. Human Behav., vol. 69, pp. 371–380, 2017.
[4] International Maritime Organization, STCW Including 2010 Manila Amendments: STCW Convention and STCW Code. London, U.K.: IMO Publishing, 2017.
[5] R. M. Ryan and E. L. Deci, "Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions," Contemp. Educ. Psychol., vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 54–67, 2000.
[6] M. Baldauf, K. Benedict, S. Fischer, F. Motz, and M. Schröder-Hinrichs, "Collision avoidance systems in air and maritime traffic," Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. O J. Risk Rel., vol. 225, no. 4, pp. 333–343, 2011.
[7] S. Deterding, D. Dixon, R. Khaled, and L. Nacke, "From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining 'gamification,'" in Proc. 15th Int. Academic MindTrek Conf., 2011, pp. 9–15.
[8] D. Dicheva, C. Dichev, G. Agre, and G. Angelova, "Gamification in education: A systematic mapping study," Educ. Technol. Soc., vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 75–88, 2015.
[9] J. Hamari, J. Koivisto, and H. Sarsa, "Does gamification work? A literature review of empirical studies on gamification," in Proc. 47th Hawaii Int. Conf. System Sci., 2014, pp. 3025–3034.
[10] K. Seaborn and D. I. Fels, "Gamification in theory and action: A survey," Int. J. Human-Comput. Studies, vol. 74, pp. 14–31, 2015.
[11] M. D. Hanus and J. Fox, "Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation, social comparison, satisfaction, effort, and academic performance," Comput. Educ., vol. 80, pp. 152–161, 2015.
[12] M. R. Lepper, D. Greene, and R. E. Nisbett, "Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the 'overjustification' hypothesis," J. Pers. Soc. Psychol., vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 129–137, 1973.
[13] B. Ljung Aust, J. Eliasson, E. Allenmark, and S. De Verdier, "Safety culture in maritime operations," in Maritime Safety Management and Risk-Based Decision Making, P. M. Schröder-Hinrichs, Ed. Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge, 2020, pp. 211–229.
[14] L. de Sousa Borges, V. J. Reis, V. H. S. Durelli, R. S. Bittencourt, P. A. Jaques, and S. Isotani, "A systematic mapping on gamification applied to education," in Proc. 29th ACM Symp. Appl. Comput., 2014, pp. 216–222.
[15] J. W. Creswell and V. L. Plano Clark, Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: SAGE Publications, 2018.
[16] R. K. Yin, Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods, 6th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: SAGE Publications, 2018.
[17] V. Braun and V. Clarke, "Using thematic analysis in psychology," Qual. Res. Psychol., vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 77–101, 2006.
[18] J. Cohen, Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, 2nd ed. Hillsdale, NJ, USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1988.
[19] F. I. M. Craik and R. S. Lockhart, "Levels of processing: A framework for memory research," J. Verbal Learn. Verbal Behav., vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 671–684, 1972.
[20] J. D. Bransford, A. L. Brown, and R. R. Cocking, Eds., How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, Expanded ed. Washington, DC, USA: National Academy Press, 2000.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Fahmi Umasangadji, Damoyanto Purba, Ihsan Ahda Tanjung, Didik Sulistyo, Rosmayana Rosmayana
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish their manuscripts in the International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology agree to the following terms:
Copyright: Copyright on any article in the International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology is fully retained by its authors under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License / CC BY SA 4.0, with the following provisions:
- First Publication Right: Authors acknowledge that the International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology has the right of first publication under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
- Non-Exclusive Distribution: Authors may enter the writing separately, arrange non-exclusive distribution of the published manuscript in this journal into other versions (e.g., submit to the author's institutional repository, publish in a book, etc.), acknowledging that the manuscript was first published in the International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology.
- Reader's Rights: Readers are allowed to download, use, and adopt the contents of the article as long as they cite the article by mentioning the title, author, and the name of this journal. Such citations are made for the advancement of science and humanity and must not violate applicable laws.
