Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Using Gamification in the Higher Education Sector: A Qualitative Study in Some Mauritian Universities

The immersion of learners in a game-based educational environment can develop learners’ twenty-first century skills, useful at the workplace and entails many positive outcomes: learning for fun and by choice, social interaction, collaboration, and creativity, among others. The main research objectives of this qualitative paper are, therefore, to investigate the actual use of gamification at the higher education level in both public and private universities in Mauritius, the impact of gamification in classes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by both learners and academia. Through an online questionnaire, focus groups, and informal conversations, the opinions of academia and learners from various fields of public and private universities were sought. The results indicate a certain confusion or lack of understanding of the term gamification by some participants. Gamification is, in fact, often mixed up with game-based learning. Despite some of the challenges mentioned by both lecturers and learners, gamification seems to attract, but it needs to be properly integrated into class to be effective.