Abstract—Nowadays, one of the most crucial challenges for higher education teachers is to improve student motivation and engagement. Educational gamification, i.e., the addition of game techniques and models in non-game contexts arises as a support to avoid students’ distraction and get interested in the course content. Digital badges are a gamification tool that has witnessed a growing application in recent times. Digital badges are tokens employed to officially record or validate achievements in the realm of academia or any other domain. In this paper, we analyze the impact of the use of digital badges, as a strategy of educational gamification. We conduct a study involving 150 higher education students, specifically in the subject of database workshop, to whom the digital badges have been applied as a part of the system to accredit learning. The obtained results were analyzed through objective and subjective measurements indicating that the application of digital badges seemed to have a positive impact on student learning. 
 

Keywords—gamification, digital badges, higher education, educational innovation

Cite: Lydia Velázquez-García, María D. P. Longar-Blanco, Antonio Cedillo-Hernández, and Eduardo Bustos-Farías, "Gamification in the Classroom: Motivating Higher Education Students Using Digital Badges," International Journal of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 532-538, 2024.

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