Level Up: Gamifying CSC3024 with the Hero’s Journey
In today’s evolving education landscape, engaging students in meaningful and motivating ways is more important than ever. In CSC3024: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), we’re taking learning to the next level by integrating gamification, an innovative strategy that applies game design elements in non-game contexts, to transform the classroom into an interactive and immersive experience. Through quests, challenges, point systems, and playful feedback loops, students are not just learning about user-centered design; they’re living it.
The semester begins with an “Onboarding Quest” during Week 1, where students introduce themselves through creative avatars and HCI-themed profiles. This icebreaker sets the tone for active participation and gives students ownership over their learning journey. Each week, students earn experience points (XP) and badges for completing tasks, participating in class activities, and giving constructive feedback to peers. These rewards tap into intrinsic motivation, a key concept both in learning psychology and HCI itself.
As students dive into ideation and design research during Weeks 2 and 3, they embark on the “Design Hero Begins” quest. In groups, they brainstorm creative project proposals and explore human-centered problems, earning creativity XP and unlocking game cards with design constraints to fuel lateral thinking. Weekly leaderboards encourage healthy competition and recognition for innovation and teamwork.
When it comes to prototyping in Weeks 4 and 5, the class enters the “Prototyping Arena.” Here, students unlock “Power Tools” by completing iterative design challenges. These tools, such as access to design guidelines or feedback tokens, support their design development and reinforce best practices. UX trivia Easter eggs hidden in slides offer bonus points for sharp-eyed learners.
Midterm week becomes a high-stakes “UX Boss Battle,” where the online multiple-choice and multiple-answer test is structured like a video game, with progress bars and levels. The familiar structure helps reduce test anxiety while keeping students engaged and focused. Students face off against increasingly difficult questions, applying their HCI knowledge in a game-like flow state.
Weeks 7 and 8 introduce “The Heuristics Hunt,” where students role-play as different types of evaluators: The Skeptic, The Novice, The Visionary; as they perform heuristic evaluations of peer prototypes. This gamified peer review enhances critical thinking while encouraging empathy for diverse users. Students collect “Insight Badges” to identify usability issues and offer actionable suggestions.
As the course nears its climax in Weeks 9 and 10, the “UX Olympics” takes centre stage. Teams present their mockups and receive votes for categories like “Most User-Friendly,” “Coolest Feature,” and “Best Interface Aesthetics.” Friendly competition motivates refinement, and peer feedback loops mimic real-world iterative design processes.
Finally, the semester ends with the “Final Quest: The UX Chronicles” during project pitching and industry feedback sessions in Weeks 12 and 13. Students pitch their solutions in a tournament-style showcase, vying for titles such as “Design Legend,” “Best UX Storytelling,” “Best Project Pitch,” and “Usability Wizard.” These gamified honours celebrate excellence while reinforcing communication, design thinking, and real-world applicability.
By integrating gamification into the CSC3024 lesson plan, students don’t just learn HCI, they experience it. They engage with course content actively, receive continuous feedback, and develop a stronger sense of collaboration, motivation, and purpose. This approach not only deepens understanding of HCI principles like user feedback, prototyping, and usability, but also brings joy, energy, and creativity into the learning environment. After all, in both HCI and learning, experience is everything.
Associate Professor Ts Dr Aslina Baharum
School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence
Email: @email