Using gamification for sustainable transport education: results from an empirical study

Abstract

For a sustainable future, the shift to eco-friendly transport modes, such as railway and inland waterway transport, is necessary. One requirement is to create knowledge among decisions makers about these transport modes. Furthermore, the educational sector faces serious problems concerning students’ motivation. Gamification represents a new tool of active learning to increase students’ motivation and improve their learning results. The goal of this paper is to investigate the effects of gamification on knowledge, attitude, and behavioural intention to use with regard to sustainable transport education. Therefore, a longitudinal experiment with 384 logistics students was conducted comparing the results of gamified and non-gamified workshops which were done with future logistics & supply chain managers. Non-parametric statistical tests were used to test for significant effects. The results suggest that gamification is an effective measure to increase students’ knowledge as well as their intention to use sustainable transport. Concerning attitude, the findings show mixed results.