A Gamification-Based Social Accountability Strategy to Improve Tutorial Attendance in an Undergraduate Anatomy & Physiology Module

Technical Summary: A Gamification-Based Social Accountability Strategy to Improve Tutorial Attendance

Problem Statement
Student attendance in higher education (HE) exhibits a consistent, progressive decline as a module advances, a trend particularly acute in small-group tutorial sessions. While a strong correlation exists between attendance and academic performance, traditional enforcement-based strategies (e.g., compulsory policies) often fail to address underlying motivational deficits and may reduce student autonomy. Furthermore, even when tutorials incorporate active learning strategies and receive positive feedback regarding content quality, attendance still tends to drop, suggesting that pedagogical quality alone is insufficient to sustain participation. The specific challenge addressed is the "mid-term decline," where students prioritize assessed components or perceive tutorials as supplementary, leading to disengagement typically observed between the second and fifth sessions of a term.

Methodology
This study employed a quasi-experimental observational design to evaluate a gamified intervention within an undergraduate Anatomy & Physiology module (EG1400) at City St George's, University of London. The study spanned three years (2023–2026), comparing four tutorial groups without the intervention (pre-intervention) against four groups with the intervention (post-intervention).

• Intervention Design: The intervention, titled "Legends of EG1400," integrated social accountability and team-based competition into the tutorial structure.
  • Team Formation: Students formed teams of 4–5 members with unique names to foster identity.
  • Mechanism: At the end of each tutorial, teams completed a short, formative, three-question quiz based on that week's lecture content. Questions were answered from memory without notes.
  • Scoring & Visibility: Correct answers earned points (max 3 per session). A cumulative league table was updated weekly and publicly displayed on the institutional Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
  • Incentive: The winning team received individual trophies at the module's conclusion.
• Data Collection: Attendance was recorded via a "Count me in" card-swipe system linked to the SEAtS database.
• Analysis: Mean attendance values were calculated for each session. Statistical analysis utilized a two-way repeated measures ANOVA to assess main effects of time and intervention, alongside t-tests with Holm–Bonferroni corrections for pairwise comparisons between cohorts.
• Qualitative Component: A nine-item anonymous questionnaire was administered to the experimental group to assess student perceptions of the intervention's utility, motivation, and specific features (e.g., team aspect, league table, prize).

Key Results

• Pre-Intervention Baseline: In the absence of the intervention, attendance showed a significant decline starting from the third tutorial, plateauing at approximately 35% by the start of Term 2 (Tutorial 5).
• Intervention Impact: The introduction of the gamified scheme significantly attenuated the rate of attendance decline.
  • The first statistically significant drop in attendance was delayed from Tutorial 3 (pre-intervention) to Tutorial 5 (post-intervention).
  • Attendance in Tutorial 5 rose to approximately 55% in the intervention group, compared to 40% in the pre-intervention cohort.
  • Significant differences in attendance were observed in Tutorials 5 through 8, where the intervention group maintained substantially higher participation.
• Long-Term Trajectory: While attendance eventually declined in the later sessions of Term 2 (reaching levels comparable to the pre-intervention group by Tutorial 10), the intervention successfully extended the period of high engagement. The decline occurred later than in control groups, suggesting the strategy delayed the typical disengagement curve.
• Student Feedback: Approximately 80% of respondents reported that the competition motivated them to attend and prepare for tutorials. The team structure and the visibility of the league table were cited as positive drivers for learning and experience. However, the final prize (trophies) was viewed as less critical than the ongoing competitive framework. Notably, students in lower-performing teams sometimes disengaged, and the overall increase in general engagement (beyond attendance) was not statistically significant.

Significance and Claims
The paper claims that structured gamification combined with social accountability offers an effective, low-cost strategy to enhance and sustain tutorial attendance in HE. The study posits that the intervention's success stems from the combination of retrieval-based learning (via the quiz), competitive gamification (league table), and social accountability (team identity).

Crucially, the authors argue that while content quality and active learning are necessary, they are not sufficient to prevent mid-term attendance decline; additional motivational structures are required. The findings suggest that mechanisms fostering peer comparison and shared responsibility can be more influential than extrinsic rewards alone. However, the paper modestly acknowledges limitations: the intervention did not prevent eventual decline in the final weeks, likely because teams perceiving themselves as unable to win the league disengaged. Consequently, the study concludes that while effective, such systems may require future iterations (e.g., resetting leagues or introducing multiple achievement categories) to maintain inclusivity and motivation throughout an entire academic year.