Augmenting Experiential Learning with a Game-based Student Response System

This Innovative Practice Category Full Paper, analyses the effect of a game-based student response system to enhance experiential learning. The introductory engineering course offered for the freshman computer engineering cohort is designed with engineering practice at its core. Each week, the students spend two three-hour studio sessions experiencing engineering through hands-on practical applications followed by a two-hour reflective session. Among the two studios each week, only one is graded. The graded studios are designed with questions that supplement the practical application and spark reflective thinking. Consecutively, it is a good indicator of the effectiveness of the session. The ungraded studio sessions are designed the same as the graded ones but lack indicators of their efficacy for active implementation. To address this, an online game-based response system, Kahoot! is integrated with the ungraded studio sessions. Kahoot! combines game-based learning with the ease of a student response system that is useful in creating a stimulating environment and targets the competitive nature of students to supplement the ungraded studios. Kahoot! stands out from ordinary student response systems as it integrates a response time to the student's answers. Both qualitative and quantitative assessment results on the effectiveness of Kahoot! to augment experiential learning will be presented.