E-Learning Content Enhancement Using Gamification with xAPI Abdulaziz Hazazi E-Learning Content Enhancement

E-Learning Content Enhancement Using Gamification with xAPI Abdulaziz Hazazi

Table of Content

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5

ABSTRACT 6

الملخص 7

Chapter 1: Introduction 8

1.1 Motivation 9

1.2 Research Goals and Objectives 10

1.3 Concepts and Definition 11

1.4 Research Methodology 12

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Comparative Study 13

2.1 Comparative study 29

Chapter 3: Proposed Solution and Discussion 34

3.1 System Architecture 38

Chapter 4: Conclusion and Future Work 43

References 45

List of Tables

Table 1: Comparative study of related work ………………………………………………33

List of Figures

Figure 1: An overview of Gamification, xAPI and LRS eLearning elements………………..35

Figure 2:The proposed knowledge-based recommendation system for constraints recommendation of gamification elements. …………………………………………………37

Figure 3: Architecture of e-learning using gamification with XAPI and LRS………………39

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I take this marvelous opportunity to show my gratitude to everyone helped me achieve this project. First and foremost, I would like to thank Prof. Saleh Hammami and Prof. Hassan Mathkor for all the efforts they put in directing me to do a research in the field of E-learning content enhancement using Gamification with xAPI.

I cannot forget the unbelievable support of my parents and my wife (Salma Alhakami). This work wouldn’t come to light without their help and support. To my children (Badr, Nawaf, Malek and Saif), who miss seeing me much of the time, I am really so sorry, I want you to know that I love all of you more than my life and from now on I will dedicate all of my time for you…

Lastly, I owe my wonderful family for being such a star in the journey of my success. At times we need moral and emotional support from people to keep the fire burning.

ABSTRACT

Gamification incorporates game features such as scoring systems, scoreboards, badges, or other game-related features into “traditional” learning experiences to maximize interaction and excitement. As such, gamification layers are added to achieve some needed results, such as motivation for learning. A digital badge is an excellent example of Gamification, so it is vital to keep rigid rules of acquiring digital badges. Gamification causes excellent enthusiasm as it guarantees to make fun out of the hard stuff in life. An all-encompassing design of the constraints defined in gamification elements by educators have not been studied well in the literature. Thus, the study of new criteria of inclusive constraints in the gamification elements needs to be explored further. A tool for educators and deans to assess the inclusivity of the gamification elements, and an inclusive design guide without education background in special needs education to implement constraints to gamification elements that an inclusive to students with learning disabilities and cognitive disorders are provided in our proposed solution. Such constraints can be provided by a knowledge-based recommendation system that recommends suitable inclusive constraints to educators for ensuring the inclusivity of their gamification implementation. An experience Application Programming Interface (xAPI) is an e-Learning specification that collects data by allowing learning systems and contents to converse with each other during online and offline activities. The two key elements within the xAPI specification are statements and Learning Record Store (LRS). Statements are meant for dictating the type of format for certain learning activities and follow an object, actor or verb structure. The LRS is where the xAPI statements are stored and part of it stands for communication method to send and receive associated information. The xAPI allows trainers to bring into play some new capabilities that were not available in SCORM.

الملخص

يدمج التلعيب “Gamification” ميزات الألعاب مثل أنظمة التسجيل، أو لوحات النتائج، أو الشارات، أو الميزات الأخرى المتعلقة بالألعاب في تجارب التعلم “التقليدية” لزيادة التفاعل والإثارة إلى أقصى حد. وعلى هذا النحو، تتم إضافة طبقات التلعيب لتحقيق بعض النتائج المطلوبة، مثل الدافع للتعلم. تُعد الشارة الرقمية مثالاً ممتازًا على التعليب، لذا من الضروري الحفاظ على قواعد صارمة للحصول على شارات رقمية. يُسبب التلعيب حماساً ممتازاً لأنه يضمن الاستمتاع بالأشياء الصعبة في الحياة. لم تتم دراسة التصميم الشامل للقيود المحددة في عناصر التلعيب من قبل المعلمين بشكل جيد في الأبحاث الموجودة. وبالتالي، فإن دراسة معايير جديدة للقيود الشاملة في عناصر التلعيب تحتاج إلى مزيد من البحث. إن وجود أداة للمعلمين والعمداء لتقييم شمولية عناصر التلعيب، وتوفر دليل تصميم شامل بدون خلفية تعليمية لتعليم ذوي الاحتياجات الخاصة لتنفيذ قيود عناصر التلعيب سيتم توفيرها في حلنا المقترح الشامل للطلاب الذين يعانون من صعوبات التعلم والاضطرابات المعرفية . يمكن توفير مثل هذه القيود من خلال نظام توصية قائم على المعرفة يوصي بقيود شاملة مناسبة للمعلمين لضمان شمولية تنفيذ التلعيب. إن واجهة برمجة التطبيقات الخبيرة experience Application Programming Interface (xAPI) هي أحد مواصفات التعلم الإلكتروني التي تجمع البيانات من خلال السماح لأنظمة ومحتويات التعلم بالتحدث مع بعضها البعض أثناء الأنشطة المتصلة بالإنترنت وغير المتصلة. إن العنصرين الأساسيان في مواصفات واجهة برمجة التطبيقات الخبيرة هما العبارات ومخزن سجلات التعلم Learning Record Store (LRS). حيث تهدف العبارات إلى إملاء نوع التنسيق لأنشطة تعليمية معينة واتباع بنية كائن أو فاعل أو فعل. إن مخزن سجلات التعلم هو المكان الذي يتم فيه تخزين عبارات واجهة برمجة التطبيقات الخبيرة وجزء منه يمثل طريقة الاتصال لإرسال واستقبال المعلومات المرتبطة. تسمح واجهة برمجة التطبيقات الخبيرة للمدربين بتشغيل بعض الإمكانات الجديدة التي لم تكن متوفرة في نموذج مرجع كائن المحتوى القابل للمشاركة Shareable Content Object Reference Model(SCORM).

Chapter 1: Introduction

Gamification of learning is a technique for increasing participation in an educational setting by introducing game elements. The aim is to achieve a level of participation that is comparable to what games typically deliver. The major goals of Gamification are to improve specific skills, add strategies that offer learning significance, involve students, maximize learning, promote behavioral changes, and socialize. Games can incorporate targets, engagement, reviews, creative thinking, competitiveness, story, and enjoyable learning experiences, all of which can improve learner involvement and inspiration. This learning tip explores the distinction between gamification and game-based learning, the educational benefits that these two techniques can bring to learning, and game elements that are suitable for both face-to-face and online e-learning courses.

Gamification incorporates game features such as scoring systems, scoreboards, badges, or other game-related features into “traditional” learning experiences to maximize interaction and excitement which make the hard life moments funny. For instance, an online discussion board for a Science course could be gamified using a badge system. Learners could be rewarded a “Ptolemy” badge after 10 posts, a “Galileo” badge after 20 posts, a “Kepler” badge after 30, an “Einstein” badge after 40, and so on. Learners inappropriate gamified educational systems will view the online rewards that their classmates have won to foster a sense of camaraderie or rivalry.

Learners may be encouraged to debate passages before or immediately the following class by voluntarily, but awarding Experience Points (XPs) for every post or reaction to another post. The gained points could be used to get more assistance with a task (such as enabling a draft to be checked first or granting an immediate extension) or skip a task entirely (if the learner achieves a specific number of points). They can also promote real-time conversations with platforms like Padlet or TodaysMeet, which enable students to contribute anonymously. The contribution of paper is significant as it focuses on showing how the xAPI applications can implement gamification in e-learning platforms. The xAPI is regarded as a new specification that is applied in learning technologies. It is an essential tool as it permits the user to capture data about the activities of individuals or given groups consistently by extracting them from various technologies. The xAPI allows different systems to communicate and share various activities securely.

1.1 Motivation

Motivated by the results that game elements can create, several scholars have investigated the impact of gamification in a learning setting which yields positive outcomes including participation increase, user retention, awareness, collaboration, etc. Despite this, several studies have found that gamification produces inconclusive or harmful outcomes. They discovered that ranking affects women in a variety of ways and can lead to unforeseen opposite effects. According to Hanus et al.[45], gamification reduces enjoyment and motivation while not increasing performance. Haaranen et al. [46] revealed that some users had negative feelings about the badges. The combination of contentious findings of the impact of gamification in educational settings raises questions about the benefits of its use in a learning environment.

Furthermore, studying the impact of gamification elements on student performance, engagement, and other outcomes is a broad goal. The goal should be to determine which game elements are most effective for a specific student participating in a given activity. Various layouts of game elements employed in introducing gamification to various activities yielding different results, complicating the process of deciding which elements or collections of these elements are adequate to facilitate interaction and learning for a team or class of user performing a specific activity. The attributes and interests that have received the most attention in gamified learning settings are highly motivated.

1.2 Research Goals and Objectives

E-learning is a method of education that involves using technologies that replace physical classrooms with virtual ones. E-learning also plays a key role in reducing the geographical gaps by using tools that make the students feel as if they are inside the classes and can share all kinds of material such as videos, slide shows, even conducting webinars, and communicating with the teachers via messages. Most online courses offer flexible schedules, splitting the material into smaller chunks to facilitate the learning process. Nowadays, and especially with COVID-19, e-learning is a popular education method.

Many well-known universities offer online education to promote long-life learning. The number of online courses and enrollment grows every year despite that, students have many problems and lack the motivation to complete the material assigned to them, the e-content does not match the skills of students.

First, one of the solutions proposed was the use of game elements in e-learning. Games attracted hundred millions of people to spend hours after constant playing to improve their skills and overcome a challenge in the game world. Many researchers show that games are a source of enjoyment, and they can be a motivating factor for students to learn. Content Gamification witnessed widespread these days, not only in education but in many other areas such as healthcare, finance, training, and so on. It can be adopted as a tool to improve the participation and motivation of students by engaging in the learning procedure and carrying out tasks or activities that may be difficult or not too attractive. It is also proven that a teacher who involves students in games, the bond between them is rejuvenated making the students to be active in class and fight fear.

On the other hand, we will look at potential fits for xAPI that goes beyond regular online courses into mediums such as games and gamification, where xAPI content helps us track learning activities outside the Learning Management System (LMS) and connect those to a learning that happens within systems.

1.3 Concepts and Definition

In this section we define the main terms that are utilized in the paper as follows:

Experience API (xAPI): The xAPI is used to handle the requests that are made by respective applications. In this case, the request can take different forms, such as sending requests or replying responses, in some cases, both.

Learning Management System (LMS): The LMS is a technology platform used to manage educational classes, skills training, or learning and growing programs by monitoring, documenting, automating, and delivering them.

Learning Record Storage (LRS): The LRS includes built-in analytics for the collected data from the activities of an e-learning system.

Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM): a set of technical standards for eLearning products, such as time-based eLearning, tracking learning plans and goals, and e-Learning in native mobile applications.

1.4 Research Methodology

The research methodology of this study is carried out as follows:

We start with an introduction and background of E-Learning Content, Gamification and xAPI.

We explore the related work E-Learning Content and Gamification in the literature.

We provide a comparative study of LRS and xAPI in e-learning.

We design an architectural framework of content gamification with xAPI.

Finally, the conclusion and future work are presented.

Chapter 2: Literature Review and Comparative Study

The educational use of gamification techniques is presented in the state-of-the-art systems and literature relative to educational science, cognitive science and computer science. In this section, we present the studies of gamified E-learning implementations using scaffolding techniques that employ different learning environments, contributions, and target age groups.

Jayalath et al. [1] developed a gamification design and an operational model for a blended e-learning approach in a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) environment. Their aim is to study the impact of gamified applications in the TVET in blended e-learning courses to increase the motivation and engagement of a learner and achieve success. They used Competency-Based Education (CBE) as the primary delivery approach, and the learning process supported continuous assessments and outcome-oriented Competency-Based Assessments (CBA). The motivational model deployed includes Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) that focused on self-learning which applied to embed motivational design into lesson planning. They divide the engagement factor into behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, and cognitive engagement. While considering motivation as an independent variable, and engagement and competency to be dependent variables, a motivational and engagement design deployed content and structural gamification to Moodle blended eLearning course and onboarding scaffolding technique. Their methodology consists of three research stages, which are the development of the conceptual framework and model-building stage of the blended eLearning course based on relative theory. Then, the stage of design, development of course content and learning outcomes with game elements and learning modules, the implementation of gamified and non-gamified courses using the learning management system. The last one is the evaluation stage. The case study used the Electronic Circuits course for the undergraduate level using fifteen gamification elements such as levels, progress bars, points, grades, virtual gifts, ranking, and Facebook block. The measurement of the learning outcomes was carried during the course using an online end-of-module assessment of knowledge for each module with face-to-face and practical assessment in practical labs. The measurement of motivation is done using a self-reporting online questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale. The measurement of competency is done using the pre-test and post-test marks to compare the change of competency.

Chen et al. [2] proposed a gamification mechanism using an annotation scaffoldings technique for a Web-based collaborative reading annotation system to enhance Chinese language reading comprehension of elementary school for fifth-grade students in Taiwan. In a collaborative learning environment, they implemented several gamification elements in their gamification mechanism: level, leaderboard, achievement, visual status, goals, and feedback. The role playability element was implemented. The student started as a soldier and levels up the five levels to a knight, bishop and castellan. Then, lastly becoming a king by contributing and applying social annotation features that guide and scaffolds the students’ comprehension and understanding the reading article. The annotation scaffoldings technique contains six different annotation types that are designed to provide essential aspects to advanced scaffoldings: I know, New knowledge, Don’t understand, Different ideas, Additional information, and Want to say annotation. The first one represents students’ prior knowledge regarding the reading article, while the second one identifies their new knowledge and questions about the reading article. The last one is advanced annotation types that helped them to read and think of the reading article more in-depth and discuss with others in a collaborative web environment. However, to study the effect of gamification by applying a case study on 55 students, they are divided into two groups. One group used a non-gamified Web-based collaborative reading annotation system, and the other utilized a gamified system. The result showed that the differences in reading comprehension performances between the two groups were not significant.

López-Vatican et al. [3] proposed a mobile multiplayer augmented reality game for fifth-grade primary school children that implemented gamification activities that favour the expression and identification of basic emotions of children and the study of the impact of competitive and collaborative gamification on children’ communication using Unity. The journey of discovering characters in the physical environment that show different emotions such as anger, sadness or joy, allows participants to identify these emotions and act on them by launching objects that represent actions to improve the characters’ emotional state. Based on the players’ interactions in the physical environment, a gamification strategy was defined to capture the existing characters if they achieve a specific emotional state. A similar strategy was implemented in games such as PokemonGo. The game has two types of 3D objects in the augmented scene: the emotional characters to be captured and the objects to be thrown at them to change their emotional state—the game employed two gamification modes, competition, and collaboration where each mode presented different activities. The competitive mode favors the players who capture the highest number of characters. In contrast, the collaborative mode favors pairs who agree on the character to be captured and the objects to be thrown at the character. The results showed that the children’s enjoyment level, the ease of use of the game, and the degree of social interaction was not affected by the game mode. Furthermore, the gamification modes were equally perceived by the participants. However, the collaborative model had a little bit higher children’s enjoyment rate than the competitive one.

Ding et al. [4] presented gamification to promote students’ engagement in asynchronous online discussions called ghoul. Ling considered three main components to asynchronous online discussions to study the influence of gamification, which are a sense of community defined by social interactions, participation based on students reading or lurking and posting behaviours, and their cognitive thinking. Due to the lack of face-to-face interactions in online learning and the physical isolation, it is not easy to nurture a sense of community that requires students to feel close and interact with each other in discussions. The scaffoldings from instructors help the students increase the quality of posts and increase their communication efficiency. The display of the requirements for a particular badge motivates and scaffolds them to reach a higher degree of engagement and understanding. The results showed that the effect of the gamification approach had a positive but limited influence on student engagement and failed at promoting students’ sense of community. However, it shows that the more students’ awareness regarding the gamification approach showed, they were more engaged, commented more often, and performed better in general.

De-Marcos et al. [5] proposed a gamified social system to study the influence of social gamification in e-learning of undergraduate courses on students position and learning achievements. The social networking tool uses gamification to promote student participation. The system deployed content gamification with 167 participants and 2505 links. The use of gathered data to analyze the structure of the social network and the computation of different metrics for each participant assist in feeding models that predict students’ learning performance. The methodology was based on the analysis of the small world Social network was done by building the network graph with computing four measures of the overall network, which are degree, closeness centrality, eccentricity, eigenvector centrality, and between centrality and nine measures for each participant, which were then assessed as predictors of students’ achievement using three different methods: correlation, principal component analysis, and multiple linear regressions. The gamification elements deployed were: Challenges, points, leaderboard, virtual currency, and virtual shop and levels using scaffolding technique, which is parsing content into small units to aid learning and careful scaffolding of activities. The learning performance of students was measured using their final grades and four assignments. The result showed that the predictive power of the system is inadequate.

Bertling et al. [6] presented gamification with scaffolding technique to promote self-driven and blended learning to software engineering students at the Cooperative State University Karlsruhe. The onboarding scaffolding technique was used with several gamification elements such as progress bar, leaderboard, Moodle quizzes, points, levels, and feedback. The system results showed that self-guided learning and maintain student motivation across a variety of learner types. Given the positive motivation for the students, their performance is equally important. Three-quarters of students received a grade higher than a B.

Many feel confident about the nine topics covering software writing, communication, and project management courses. Kim et al. [8] proposed a tool that focuses on showing the Experience API applications’ working in various learning experiences. xAPI is regarded as a new specification that is applied in learning technologies. It is an essential tool as it permits the user to capture data consistently about an individual’s or a given group’s activities extracted from many technologies. xAPI allows different systems to communicate and securely share various activities. Just SCROM, xAPI has been featured to work like it. In addition to the same, xAPI is noted to be an open-source API. xAPI is considered to be the successor of SCORM. It is necessary and focuses on activities that make people experience learning evidence as they are encouraged to focus on increasing customer engagement. Learners are allowed to take learning outside their classroom and focus on using mobile applications to acquire knowledge. In addition to the same, it is essential to note that xAPI is essential and encourages platform transition. Gamification has been essential when applied in xAPI and improving the motivation of the learners. It can be used for tracking, aiming to spot the trends and judge the activities working to help people learn different things. My opinion about this paper is that it highlights the importance of xAPI and how it will replace SCORM. SCORM has become obsolete and cannot work most appropriately, considering how the technology is changing rapidly. The importance of xAPI makes it be regarded as an improvement of SCORM.

Haiou et al. [9] proposed an architectural tool that includes mechanical and aesthetic design, which require practicality and support. He came up with the idea and developed a teaching software that uses FLASH for display using the xAPI multimedia technology that supports his overall architectural design. Ultimately, the research gained significant achievements from its effectiveness in the teaching field, which enhanced interest in engineering courses. There is a detailed analysis of the purposes of the study and the stakeholders and methodological aspects applied in the research. Overall, the paper illustrates the essence of the computer-interpretable familiar designs, including the lack of systematic technological support methods for connecting observations and possible learning designs. According to Wang, the adoption of ICT tools for support on the design essentially enables the extraction of observations and other frameworks for architectural design teaching.

Manso-Vazquez et al. [10] proposed a self-regulated learning (SRL) being pushed and adopted according to requirements of present education systems. Among the essential components that support SRL is its tendency to allow both learners and tutors to enjoy self-monitor, thus enhancing better performance. However, the software comes with insufficient support from the SRL perspective, especially regarding SRL monitoring ability. Importantly, it has a vast array of SRL actions that should be considered and integrated to support the idea of data mining and analytics to realize impeccable results. There is also the standardization of SRL traces to ensure data collection from data analysis and other multiple sources to ease learners’ and tutors’ monitoring aspect. The initial chapters explore the monitoring software and SRL challenges, including the available standards, xAPI specification to realize the best recording of SRL traces. Finally, the researchers analyze the process of creating a profile and selecting the interactions that create the SRL actions.

Nouira et al. [11] illustrated the significance of tracking and collecting educational data to enhance learning practice. The use of xAPI maintains the standards for data operability used in e-learning. The researcher analyzes how xAPI is used in learning and teaching using assessment data to determine the educational data generated. Moreover, the paper explores the suitability of xAPI to determine the assessment data to enhance the data model for adequate support of assessment analytics. An ontological model introduced supports the purpose of assessment analytics based on the challenges of the xAPI data model. Overall, the intended pattern uses the ontological model, which allows reasoning according to assessment data through logical conditions using SWRL. This language supports inference methods associated with a learner’s level regarding their assessment performance.

Knutas et al. [19] defined personalization as is an evolving theme in gamification science and have been found to increased education’s drive and commitment. Nevertheless, gamification has seen detrimental effects such as unproductive competitiveness or incentive saturation, contributing to demotivation. One of the main issues with customized gamification is choosing which personalization technique to use on each user will take a long time, entailing continuous supervision, and be very costly. Each new personalization approach would effectively double the amount of time and commitment needed for gamification creation and execution.

With this regard, many authors have called to consider these factors; wherein gamified applications should be adapted to the system’s multiple users to understand their potential truly. The study used algorithms in gamification programs to simplify some aspects of personalization work to address the issue. The study designed a supervised machine learning algorithm that allows for collecting customized gamification elements for every type of user based on user profile and device context. The evidence-based gamification consumer form hexad was used as the personalization technique in the analysis to develop a gamification task ruleset that is unique to each user class. Programs incorporated user profiling in their design concepts and choose the most suitable gamification functionality for each user to make gamification more user-centric and personalized to the actual user in computer-supported shared learning environments.

Gamification is the process of using game mechanics and programming strategies. In education, it is described as a combination of learning and enjoyment. Gamification not only uses gaming mechanics and game design approaches, but it also empowers and engages learners with the potential to motivate on a learning approach. Nonetheless, the main concern about gamification in education is the lack of game attributes for delivering instructional materials to the students and the teacher’s participation in the ICT itself.

The disparity between technology’s potential and its implementation in education has led to a slew of similar questions about why technology is used in the classroom. In line with the above, the study, therefore, provided a review of related research regarding the adoption of gamification in technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). TPACK is a system for teachers that explains how three bodies of knowledge interact: information, pedagogy, and technology. With the TPACK participation, teachers’ knowledge of teaching material content improves and their ability to integrate technologies into classroom instruction.

Nowadays, due to the demands of today’s curriculum, which is student-centred and based on skill growth, self-regulated learning (SRL) is being encouraged and implemented more frequently. One of the critical components of SRL is the self-monitoring of learners, which ultimately leads to improved results. However, the available software nowadays still provides poor support from the SRL point of view, particularly for SRL monitoring. This particular dilemma is at odds with the rise of educational data mining and learning analytics.

The critical concern here is the broad range of SRL activities that must be documented, typically done in various instruments—the need to combine them to facilitate the advancement of analytics and data mining. To promote data collection and interpretation from various sources, to make the tracking process simpler for teachers and students, the paper reflects on the standardization of SRL traces in order. By first examining existing tracking tools and their SRL limitations, an application profile for the Experience API specification is proposed to allow interoperable documentation of SRL traces after a brief review of available standards in this area. Primarily, the paper outlines the steps involved in developing the profile, from review to final implementation, and the interactions that describe relevant SRL behavior, the vocabularies used to document them, and a case study.

Berlo et al. [36] proposed an Advergame which was seen as a successful application that uses gamification. Because of its gamified and entertaining style, advergames are widely regarded as successful advertisement formats in delivering a successful brand engagement. However, studies in this field are limited. Some studies only set the foundation for advergames’ research investigation, wherein significant neurological and behavioral effects of advergaming are mainly being studied. Therefore, empirical evidence in this field is not conclusive, with many studies revealing insignificant or contradictory findings. Therefore, this study is conducted to fill the understanding gap of advergame’s effects by performing a meta-analysis of advertisement results and considering its effects on memory, attitude, persuasion, persuasion knowledge, and choice behavior. This study revealed that advergames tend to be more convincing, and consumers tend to have a more optimistic outlook about advergames than other types of ads.

Balachandran et al. [37] presented that any area is influenced by ICT, and with the help, the educational framework can be changed regularly. In today’s world, e-content is a widely desired field for providing topic content in education. Any commercial businesses create e-content modules for all levels of school students. However, because of the vision that such businesses have on their economic growth, society often asks specific concerns about creating high-quality acceptable e-content in a specific standard student. For this particular reason, falls the necessity of teacher creating an e-content for his or her students’ education. Here, the subject teacher should be well-versed in their students’ academic skills and their strengths and limitation by building an e-content for the students. The research paper paves the way for making hypotheses based on e-content development to help students learn more effectively. It aspires to be correctly directed by e-content producers familiar with the theoretical context of e-content creation before engaging in it.

Dodero et al. [38] showed that instructors can plan and host learning tools that learners would complete and reuse as learning tasks to educate others, using modern e-learning software systems. The lack of format interoperability between various data sources in an e-learning environment is a challenge for LA techniques and software, focusing on a variety of distributed data. Data models and protocols consistent with the interoperability requirements that govern the design and architecture of an e-learning system are often used to address such issues. They outlined a web-based learning environment with analytic tools for teaching how to command and control unscrewed autonomous vehicles. They incorporated an external web content management system with a simulation engine to present multiple output criteria for capturing all significant events during the learning process. The efficiency of its record store, which is focused on standard interoperability protocols, is discussed here. According to the experiments performed to evaluate regular data stores used by learning analytics, Output cannot be ignored when designing and implementing learning analytics programs.

Zapata-Rivera et al. [12] illustrated that the advancement of online labs, recording and monitoring user interactions and impressions, the knowledge that can be used to improve the lab experience, is still essential. Typically, current systems record information about hardware and software that System Log Reports, which are only used by managers when a problem arises. The lack of integration and tracing capability has been described as a concern not only in online laboratory programs but also in content creation and integration tools for e-learning. The study examines xAPI interfaces for monitoring user interactions to address the issue. Methods were compared, and a blueprint was suggested for integrating xAPI into Smart Adaptive Remote Laboratories (SARL) framework. The study has a hierarchy of xAPI statements. The first type contains xAPI statements for functional aspects of lab tests. The second type contains statements relevant to user experiences, supporting instructional functions to support pedagogical aspects, and data needed for learning analytics.

Ozcinar et al. [25] presented that the Gamification, or the application of game design concepts to non-game environments, is gaining popularity in various fields, including education. Despite an increase in scholarly studies into the usage of gamification in education, little is understood about the key factors and challenges teachers face when implementing gamification in their classes. The study analyzed all of the papers in Web of Science. It looked at how they were distributed by years, subject areas, document forms, organization, writers, country/regions, sources, meeting names, language, and study area theme. The results suggest that evaluating studies reported in the Web of Science database is significant in terms of content for the importance of gamification by teachers.

Brianne et al. [39] revealed that Early childhood educators play a crucial role in encouraging children to engage in healthy physical activity. They also, however, stated that they do not have the necessary pre-service preparation to confidently lead physical activity (PA) and reduce sedentary behavior (SB) in childcare. With that, the need to create subject areas for inclusion in a PA and SB e-Learning module for Early Childhood Education (ECE) students and find consensus on them must significantly have attention. To address the issue, the researchers created two expert panels using a purposeful sampling of Canadian and foreign researchers via an online poll, and the PA/SB experts recommended their top 12 PA/SB topics for the module. Results showed that giving ECE students PA and SB preparation is a positive way to ensure that safe activity habits are prioritized in childcare programs. In conventional schooling, educators’ and students’ lack of preparedness in the learning process becomes a vulnerability. The teaching content cannot be duplicated, and knowledge transfer is limited by the small notes and instructor explanations, making it inefficient. It has restricted the learning space and time, which cannot be reached at any time or place. Since students nowadays have a strong preference for and reliance on multimedia information or ICT, online or interactive learning experiences should be put into attention because teaching resources can be downloaded, processed, and exchanged through the internet.

Rabiman et al. [40] proposed a system to facilitate the E-Learning System among students and teachers. The development packaging of interactive multimedia, teaching materials, lecture assignments, online discussions, learning videos and even interactive video conferences were all given focused. According to the validation findings, the viability rating for media experts and content experts was 79.18% and 80.71%, respectively, according to the validation findings showing that LMS’s e-learning satisfies the media and content requirements of vocational education. In a small and minimal group study, students’ answers in evaluating LMS are optimistic and reliable. Students in this situation demonstrate a high degree of involvement and happiness.

Wu et al. [41] suggested a data collection model for 3D printing courses. In STEM education, 3D modelling software is a popular immersive learning platform. 3D architecture is an excellent way to improve students’ visual thinking and engineering design skills. While there have been several theoretical and realistic advances in the use of 3D printing in education, 3D modelling is mainly focused on diagnostic and summative assessments, which ignores the development in students’ spatial thinking and engineering design abilities. Students’ problem-solving and imaginative skills are minimal, and teachers have not been able to teach students according to their abilities. To address the issue, a data collection model for 3D printing courses suggested based on xAPI requirements and uses GeekCAD modelling tools to incorporate the xAPI profile and add it to the 3D printing course. The successful implementation of this model at Li Jun Primary School showed that xAPI could document all students’ learning paths. It is discovered that students have different operating patterns and learning paths after analyzing interactive results, which provides the foundation for evaluating students’ spatial reasoning abilities and engineering design competence in an interactive learning context.

Kosa et al. [29] showed that elder violence affects one out of every six older adults worldwide. Psychological abuse was the most prevalent form of elder abuse in a comprehensive analysis of 52 prevalence studies undertaken in group settings across 28 countries. However, a recent European study showed that many healthcare professionals employed in hospitals have insufficient expertise and skills in identifying and reacting to elder violence and that further preparation and training is needed. An in-person elder abuse nurse examiner program was created to fill the void left to enhance these nurses’ skills and knowledge. This study aims to see how successful the e-learning program is at enhancing forensic nurses’ self-reported knowledge, skills, and skill in the area of neglected older adults’ treatment. The study results could aid in the advancement of e-learning curricula to improve the treatment given to exploited older adults by forensic nurse examiners and those who serve them who work around the world.

Agbonifo et al. [42] proposed an ontology-based personalized recommender framework. E-learning is a burgeoning area of study, with a lot of money going into the web-based distribution of individualized learning materials. Specific e-learning problems emerge from the heterogeneity and interoperability of learning material to fit learners’ styles and interests. Since different learners have different learning characteristics, interests, and expertise in an e-learning environment, it is crucial to have an intelligent, personalized recommender mechanism that can recommend appropriate content to learners based on their ability level, knowledge, and preferences learning. The study built an ontology-based personalized recommender framework that uses shared filtering and ontology to recommend relevant learning material to learners to solve personalization. Users are given a pre-test to assign them into learning groups depending on their ability level. Ontology is used to organize the instructional materials, and collective screening is used to gather interests from students. The results suggest that the method is capable of recommending the required learning materials to students.

König et al. [43] developed Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluation of E-Learning pieces of training to combat the issue. In our culture, child maltreatment and child welfare are essential current topics. Medical organizations are generally viewed as therapeutic, caring, and supportive environments. They do, though, include risk factors for child maltreatment. Efforts must be made to provide medical institutions with support to children and reduce risk factors for child maltreatment. In Germany, there is a high rate of infant maltreatment (neglect, physical and emotional maltreatment and child sexual abuse). As a result, it’s critical to find ways to help children grow up without experiencing abuse or to identify and react to maltreatment early. According to the study, online courses are an effective and well-accepted method for training practitioners in (institutional) child safety by enhancing participants’ abilities to build medical facilities that are competent and safe places for children. It allows for learning, which is crucial for a flexible qualification in time and place, making it a potent learning tool for balancing work and family life. It allows for individualized learning and can easily be distributed throughout the country.

Nand et al. [44] employed Gamification game mechanics in non-gaming contexts to improve the user experience. But nowadays, concerns about computer-based games having adverse effects on children and their relationships with society are increasing, notably the influence of violent themes seen in a large number of games, as well as the impact of extended gameplay and hyperstimulation of children. Specific characteristics of video games influence how well players receive them. Here falls the need for instructional resources designers to incorporate these characteristics in improving learning outcomes, participation, and inspiration. To better engage the student with learning, the research used gamification to boost learners’ motivation, learning participation, and teamwork by increasing their interaction with course materials. The study chose 120 students from Glen Eden Primary School in Auckland, New Zealand, between the ages of 9 and 10. They were given a questionnaire and asked to select three aspects of video games (from a list) that they find most appealing. The findings revealed that the learning tool’s FB, CH, and GH features successfully optimized learning outcomes.

Bakhouyi et al. [33] proposed a platform of e-learning that attracted growing attention. Many institutions already deliver courses for higher education in comparison to conventional e-learning sites. Manufacturers agree to follow different e-learning standards to ensure interoperability across platforms, giving consumers more options when purchasing a product. With this matter falls the necessity to ensure the interoperability, the reuse between e-learning systems and applications. The focus of this research is on the four organizations, each of which contributes to the creation of e-learning interoperability principles and the discovery of e-rising learning’s complexity and popularity and standards on the material. The study attempted to include a comprehensive timeline for and standard, including an outline containing a well-crafted summary of standards, criteria such as (SCORM, xAPI) for ADL, and Caliper for IMS, as well as their recommendations and strengths and weaknesses. The study also pays attention to the use of CMI-5, a new joint effort between AICC and ADL that both organizations created. Finally, a review of the evolution of E-learning interoperability principles, their effect on higher education platforms, and their perspectives on emerging technology such as mobile learning is discussed.

Armstrong et al. [34] proposed a tool that utilizes science-based gamification in employee training to close the research-practice gap. Gamification is often used as a buzzword in the workplace to refer to something even tangentially game-related. It is now becoming more common in employee preparation, and our theoretical knowledge of gamified learning has improved at the same time. However, few tools exist that provide concrete guidelines for using science-based gamification in employee training to close the research-practice gap. For this reason, the use of gamification for employee training and development should be further studied to explain our new scientific understanding of gamification and how it can practically enhance web-based employee training. The study primarily describes gamification in the sense of training because it is often misunderstood. Second, since gamification is often misunderstood, research on the usefulness of gamified learning concerning training design is examined. Finally, to include a simple roadmap for training design, the study defines a systematic method for scientifically validated gamification of web-based training. Technology is continually transforming how we work, and function, but schooling and preparation are frequently left behind as other forms of technical advancement take over. the education and training industry must resolve two principal concerns to enhance this opportunity. First, better virtual reality and wearable solutions for learning, teaching, and training must be introduced. Second, for real-time and real-world connectivity, we need more robust Learning Analytics. However, as different from previous work, a novel structure is suggested in this paper to fix the situation by implementing an analytics system to rectify the situation on top of an internal AR experience using the xAPI solution in eLearning. The objective of this paper is to help other developers where design choices are illustrated and lessons learnt are recorded. The proposed structure, terminology, and normative concepts are all described in the previous sections of this article. The integration of xAPI with Gamification and LRS are described in the following section. However, the third segment describes how to document an AR encounter and add it to a skills database.

2.1 Comparative study

Due to the pandemic’s current state, many schools and universities worldwide are forced to use an e-learning environment as the safest means for the learners’ pedagogical needs. Learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia) and cognitive disorders (e.g., Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)) are undiagnosed and incurable in many cases. Because many schools and universities utilize state-of-the-art learning management systems, gamification and scaffolding techniques to ensure the enlargement motivation and engagement of students in eLearning environment. In this section we discuss and compare the related work on (Gamification, xAPI and LRS).

It was proven that the students recall is between 10% and 20% of what they read and hear respectively, but if visual contents are included during learning the percentage increases to 20%. Furthermore, if students see someone doing an action while explaining something the figure goes up to around 50%. Noticeably, the percentage of recall was achieved 90% when students do the task themselves by involving gamification techniques like scores, eLearning, etc.

Nouira et al. [11] argued that Gamification is similar to adding a water slide to the house. It can be a fun way to spend time around the house, which would motivate people around the house. However, if it is put in a wrong place, it can be dangerous. When combined with LRS and xAPI, Gamification offers rigid mechanisms and shows real-world results, and choices don’t impact the results. As such, gamification layers are added to achieve some needed impact such as motivation. For example, digital badges are an example of Gamification. Thus, it is essential to keep rigid rules of acquiring the said badges. The main question in this is the role played by xAPI and LRS to facilitate Gamification.

To start with, through xAPI, Gamification can broadcast real-time data. Also, through xAPI, the challenges that were associated with the use of SCROM are eliminated. Besides, statements in this case are used as evidences. It is paramount that the designers clearly understand the goals they intend to achieve with the gamification layer.

Wu et al. [13] noted that xAPI as a component that allows different applications and platforms to communicate to the server and enable the server to send and locate the correct data used by the respective platforms. In simpler terms, xAPI is used to handle the requests that are made by respective applications. In this case, the request can take different forms, such as issuing responses and sending requests or, in some cases, both. In this case, the request can be sourced from several places, such as eLearning systems, non-launched learning experiences, or launched learning contents.

Sottilare et al. [15] argued that through xAPI, it can be possible to integrate different systems and aggregate data with a robust way. The xAPI is particularly important when applying learning analytics as it offers the ability to track progress, performance, and engagements over a respective period of time. It is essential to note that the more organized the data is, the more valuable it becomes. One of the critical aspects of xAPI is its elements, as they are responsible for dictating the respective formats for specific moments in a list of activities.

Obviously, an xAPI statement represents the format through which the API stores or reads data. The data, in this case, are arranged in a similar format as the standard English language, Actor-Verb-Object (AVO). However, in reality, the AVO statements in the xAPI are usually longer, since they contain loads of different interactions required by the respective users. So, the statements are expressed in everyday learning and coding languages (e.g., JavaScript). Respective applications must be coupled with statements that suit the respective user needs. For instance, during this time of the pandemic, there has been an increase in online classes, and hence the need for motivating students to keep them interested in using the site and thereby learning.

Zapata-Rivera et al. [47] integrates the data flow of the xAPI from all aspects of the respective systems through LMS on gamification application. The LMS acts as the data hub of the respective programs. Through the LMS, the xAPI can receive through and process respective AVO of xAPI statements. Then, the data are stored and aggregated in the LRS system while ensuring the detailed organization of the xAPI details. After that, that data are ready to be used by the analyst, educator and teams. Nouira et al. [9] noted that the housing of eLearning system under the LMS offers a robust and comprehensive data analytic landscape. Through this, the reporting capabilities and ability for designing are exemplified, making it possible to design better and improved applications. It is important to note that LMS is used to facilitate receiving and sending data. Thus, they are primarily applicable in areas where users rely on and require data analysis services such as the learning analytics which are required in learning websites.

Questions have been raised on the relevance of LRS and what the future holds with the changing environment of learning, where learning is gradually becoming informal, mobile, and more social. However, researchers still didn’t find valuable applications of LRS based on the ability to track information in areas relating to onboarding, compliance, safety, and baseline skills development. Within the xAPI system, many gamification apps and LRS platforms can communicate.

This section provides a comparative study of the related work based on suggested factors from the work in [7] that focused on e-learning and cognitive disabilities. We compared the related work in terms of several factors: the use of adaptive systems, the implementation of gaming mechanics, the accessible content, the virtual agents and accessible interfaces or environments. Table 1 summarizes a comparison of the related work with respect to the mentioned factors.

Table 1: Comparative study of related work.

Ref.

Adaptive

System

Gaming

Mechanics

Accessible

Content

Virtual

Agents

Accessible interfaces or environments

Jayalath et al. [1]

Chen et al. [2]

López-Vatican et al. [3]

Ding et al. [4]

De-Marcos et al. [5]

Bertling et al. [6]

As it is shown in Table 1, the approaches in [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] and [6] focused on Gamification and all of them considered the gaming mechanics factor. It is observed that they did not consider the other factors (Adaptive System, Accessible Content, Virtual Agents and Accessible interfaces or environments). Exceptionally, the study in [3] considered Virtual Agents and Accessible interfaces or environments factors. Therefore, there is a need for a holistic eLearning system that ingrate the elements of Gamification, xAPI and LRS an all-encompassing framework.

Chapter 3: Proposed Solution and Discussion

As observed from the above literatue reveiw and comparative study, an inclusive design of the constraints defined in gamification elements by educators has not been studied yet. Therefore the study of new criteria of inclusive constraints in the gamification elements needs to be explored. The proposed solution provides a tool for educators and deans to assess the inclusivity of the gamification elements and provide an inclusive design guide without an education background in special needs education. This is by implementing constraints on gamification elements that are inclusive to students with learning disabilities and cognitive disorders. Such constraints can be provided by a knowledge-based recommendation system that recommends suitable inclusive constraints to educators to ensure the inclusivity of their gamification implementation.

Notably, an organized data from Gamification, xAPI and LRS, which can be well aggregated and stored, the possibility of taking full advantage of the learning analytics can be achieved. When the data analytics are combined with the xAPI and LRS data, they are equipped to produce insights that can benefit the eLearning environment comprehensively. For instance, lambda analytics employs the use of a five-level hierarchy to combine the respective data together. Through the hierarchy, respective data can be converted to produce helpful reporting outcomes. Thus, statements such as return on investment (ROI) evidence and updates for respective instructors are converted to meaningful objectives to targeted course designers.

There are various questions asked about xAPI, and one of the major questions asked is whether the xAPI is a replacement of SCORM. However, deep research indicates that it’s not, since it is majorly used to bridge the gap between LMS system and eLearning authoring tools. Despite SCORM being known for analytical capabilities, the data it reports and collects are very limited. Even though xAPI is not a replacement of SCORM, it produces data and information which is far beyond SCORM.

Another frequently asked question about xAPI is whether xAPI will enable one’s course to be played on mobile phones. The answer to that question is a big no, because xAPI is far different from content authoring and delivery. The xAPI enables data to be collected from eLearning activities happening on mobile devices which are not possible in SCORM. Figure 1 presents an overview of our proposed solution in which the Gamification, xAPI and LRS can be integrated within LMS. It provides an understanding of how they support analytic reporting and eLearning application.

Learning Environment

LRS

Learning Record Store

Dashboard

eLearning Courses

Reports

Classroom Training

Learning Analytics

Games

Artificial Intelligence

Simulations

Open Badges

Mobile Apps

Recommendations

Business Systems

HR Tools

AR & VR

Figure 1: An overview of Gamification, xAPI and LRS eLearning elements.

The figure above shows the analytic and Gamification techniques employed, such as the opening of badges after accomplishing specific tasks and recommendations. With the eLearning, SCORM played a crucial role in transforming the form of eLearning. Through SCORM, data could be transferred seamlessly through LMS in addition to giving it the ability to track different kinds of data. The main difference associated with xAPI and SCORM is the ability of the xAPI to track eLearning from different kinds of sources. Notably, with the use of gaming machines and the changing environment in the eLearning environment, such as the need to offer motivation to learners, accessibility of contents, and need for a friendly environment, the xAPI took over and it is the most applicable in the current times.

The LRS is a very vital component of any xAPI-based ecosystem. It receives and stores data from various sources like websites, games, simulations and eLearning courses. It works in a very simple and secure way and its main objective is to store data received from xAPI content. The data can be gathered from the Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual reality (VR), business systems, mobile Apps, simulations, games and eLearning courses. LRS is used well in generating fast professional reports, and analyzing data with graphs. For example, if we create a quiz for students, the activities of learners will be recorded by xAPI content. The information of the quiz like attempted, passed, failed, answered, and completed will be sent by LRS to students who took the quiz.

Recommendation List

Gamification design

Knowledge Models

Students Profile &

contextual modification

Recommendation Component

Recommendation List

Gamification design

Knowledge Models

Students Profile &

contextual modification

Recommendation Component

Elements

Constraint

Level

Challenge

Goal

….

……

level

Challenge

Goal

Figure 2: The proposed knowledge-based recommendation system for constraints recommendation of gamification elements.

Figure 2 shows the elements and the structure of the proposed solution. It focuses on four learning activities: writing, reading, math problems and problem-solving. Such activities have the most effect on students with learning disabilities and cognitive disorders. By catering to the students’ unique needs and the constraints required for an inclusive gamification design of the elements and the learning environment, the tool can suggest suitable constraints for educators to use and for deans to assess the design of the eLearning approach.

3.1 System Architecture

The use of game mechanics in non-gaming events to catch and engage your audience is known as gamification. It offers the flexibility to turn a project into a more interactive and engaging environment for the students. We all appreciate the ability to spice up our daily activities with a little extra fun. In our daily lives, a perfect example of this was the fad ‘Pokemon Go’ (rest in peace), in which people’ gamified’ their walks using an app to capture imaginary Pokemon [17]. Ideas like these demonstrate how a little extra enthusiasm can completely change the way we view something. Therefore, the implementation of e-learning using gamification with XAPI makes it more interesting.

The xAPI (or Experience API) is a model that enables users to link any software program to a learning data storage and reporting system, such as a learning management system (LMS). It allows tracking typical learning events (e.g., reported grades and progress) and student behaviors (e.g., reading articles or viewing a training video). These learning experiences are documented in the form of a sentence, such as: “actor” did “action” on this “object” [18]. These interaction statements are then saved in a Learning Record Store (LRS) integrated into an LMS. The xAPI has transformed the outlook of e-learning to match learners’ requirements rather than forcing them into a learning style that does not accommodate them. The figure below illustrates the architecture of eLearning using gamification with xAPI and LRS.

xAPI data

Embedded feedback widget for learners.

Plan, modify

Contents or activities on different services

Ask, answer, note, submit, comment

Dashboard UI

Study aid action (request, respond, peer evaluation)

Open

Browse

Ask

Submit

Answer

Learning plan

Student profile

Other data

Workflow and Data flow of AcrossX solution and ecosystem

Share, suggest, self-report.

Direct message

Lesson Planning UI

(grouping) Dashboard Viz and analysis UI, Scoring, Evaluation AI

LRS

algorithms

xAPI data

Embedded feedback widget for learners.

Plan, modify

Contents or activities on different services

Ask, answer, note, submit, comment

Dashboard UI

Study aid action (request, respond, peer evaluation)

Open

Browse

Ask

Submit

Answer

Learning plan

Student profile

Other data

Workflow and Data flow of AcrossX solution and ecosystem

Share, suggest, self-report.

Direct message

Lesson Planning UI

(grouping) Dashboard Viz and analysis UI, Scoring, Evaluation AI

LRS

algorithms

f e a

Figure 3. Architecture of e-learning using gamification with XAPI and LRS

In this section, the workflow and data flow within the architecture is described. As it is shown in figure 3, there are two major sources of data, the lesson planning User Interface (UI) and the Dashboard UI. The lesson planning sends plans and modifications to the learning plan component and sends a message direct to the Dashboard UI. The Dashboard UI shares and suggests information to the learning plan. All the information is collected and taken to Learning Record Store component as xAPI data. The collected information is then passed through an algorithm which instructs LRS on how to pass the information. The Learning Record System embeds feedback widgets for learners and the Dashboard UI which represent the student watches and reads embedded widgets, and then notes down, submits and comments. The students’ feedback is sent to LRS which later transfers data to the teacher about the performance of a student.

The xAPI allows collecting data from various (online/offline) encounters through various frameworks and storing them in the LRS component. The following are some examples of data that can be collected using xAPI through different Learning formats:

Intense gamification and games: student activities, incentives, rewards, ratings, coins, lives, team-specific success data, game level data, and game state data

Learning simulation: Learner choices, parameterized rating, simulation state data, the course is taken, choices made, simulation process data and effect on outcomes are all part of business simulations.

The LRS includes built-in analytics for the collected data from the e-learning system. Furthermore, the data is exported for use by any third-party applications. The generated dataset can then be evaluated for personalized modelling, evolutionary learning models, and so on [38]. For instance, the analysis of simulation data can reveal that a learner requires intervention on a specific Key Performance Indicator (KPI)/parameter. Furthermore, behavioral data may indicate that attention spans of learners are limited and that they enjoy video content, which is an appropriate teaching style for the content.

The following are examples of how xAPI technology can create creative, interactive, and efficient learning experiences through gamification in e-learning systems.

I’m making a scoreboard for video games and simulations.

In custom Games/Simulations and other learning modes, xAPI offers insight into the abilities of students.

Determine the efficacy, utility, and success of teaching materials, and recognize poorly performing material.

On the collected dataset, machine learning and artificial intelligence frameworks can be used to construct knowledge and behavioral nodes that shape strong connections between content, learning goals, and persona styles, resulting in an efficient adaptive learning pathway for learners.

One-third of learners feel their learning materials are uninteresting or unengaging [16]. Students being uninteresting creates a concern on how vital learner participation is to the learning programs’ effectiveness and an organization’s overall growth. If the learners are not engaging with the LMS or are being ineffective and underachieving, people will never see ROI on the LMS [16]. The simplest way to gain buy-in and participation from any learning group is to get everyone to appreciate what they’re doing with the e-learning system. When we’ve grasped the learner’s attention effectively, gamification can be used to inspire learners further and cyclically drive their engagement.

It’s challenging to ensure that the students remember what they need to learn. Learners usually forget up to 50% of what they have just learned within an hour [17]. With this perspective, it is essential to consider how tutors present knowledge to learners. Creating learning impact does not benefit from exceeding the quota on the learning platform but it acquires invaluable information that enhances their performance successfully. With the implementation of xAPI, learners will enhance their e-learning by designing something that suits the learner’s environment, technology, and specific needs while achieving learning outcomes and objectives. The xAPI supports a blended learning model, as students gain more versatility in how they learn by mixing conventional and online learning. This diversity will foster the curiosity of students and increase their participation and engagement in eLearning environment.

Chapter 4: Conclusion and Future Work

Games can incorporate targets, engagement, reviews, creative thinking, competitiveness, story, and enjoyable learning experiences, all of which can improve learner’s involvement and inspiration. This learning tip explores the distinction between gamification and game-based learning. The educational benefits that these two techniques can bring to learning, and game elements suitable for both face-to-face and e-learning courses. Gamification incorporates game features such as scoring systems, scoreboards, badges, or other game-related features into “traditional” learning experiences to maximize interaction and excitement. Learners inappropriate gamified educational systems will view the online rewards that their classmates have won to foster a sense of camaraderie or rivalry. Nowadays, and especially with COVID-19, e-learning is a popular education method. Many well-known universities offer online education to promote lifelong learning. The number of online courses and enrollment grows every year. Still, students have many problems and lack the motivation to complete the material assigned because the e-content does not match the student’s skills.

This paper proposes an inclusive design of the constraints defined in gamification elements by educators that have not been studied well. Therefore, the study of new criteria of inclusive constraints in the gamification elements needs to be explored further. The proposed solution provides a tool for educators and deans to assess the inclusivity of the gamification elements. It provides an inclusive design guide without an education background in special needs education to implement constraints for gamification elements that are inclusive to students with learning disabilities and cognitive disorders. Such constraints can be provided by a knowledge-based recommendation system that recommends practical, inclusive constraints to educators to ensure the inclusivity of their gamification implementation.

In the future work, I am planning to implement the proposed solution in the real-world eLearning environment. King Saud University is one of the top universities in the world that provides all the facilities for research and development in different fields. One of the major fields is the E-Learning, especially with the current situation (Covid-19/Coronavirus). Thus, an implementation of the proposed solution on the multinational and diversity of KSU students will assist me to apply it and improve it to be a perfect solution E-Learning setting.

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