Jesper C. Sort Business Model Design Center, Aalborg University
Peter M. Holst Artventure, Copenhagen, Denmark
Using digital gamification in the Context of Business Models
Abstract
The use of blended learning to enhance motivation and learning by the students is a recent and increasingly important topic in teaching. This paper will give an example regarding how blended learning was implemented in an entrepreneurial course with business models as the primary structure.
Introducing a blended learning platform, in this case PeaQs, was quite straightforward, and the students had virtually no issues with understanding and engaging in a digital learning and gamification platform. Furthermore, the students understood the relevance and found inter-est in the use of an online platform underpinning the strength of blended learning and gamification. This is in line with what research into blended learning suggests when describing the implementation of gamification as “promising” (Iosup and Epema, 2014). It is also worth mentioning the quality of discussions among the students propelled by the question of what information they should prioritize and upload into the system. They engaged in discussions regarding how to condense their ideas into, e.g. 150 characters. In other words, the ability to convey a problem, present their solution and the associated value proposition in a short and precise manner. Furthermore, as students dived into the development of their projects/business cases of their peers, a loop of reflection and inspiration took place, inclining them to improve and refine their projects. This showed signs of a higher degree of knowledge transfer (Siegel and Wright, 2015), increase in the quality of the projects (Li et al. 2010) and is furthermore in line with research showing positive learning outcomes of blended learning (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004).
