ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Digital Learning Innovations
Expert Consensus on Gamification Strategies for ICT Courses in Higher Education: A Modified Delphi Approach
Provisionally accepted
- 1Universidad Técnica del Norte, Ibarra, Ecuador
- 2Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Teaching Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in higher education faces the challenge of engaging students accustomed to interactive and digital learning environments. Gamification has emerged as a promising pedagogical strategy to enhance motivation, participation, and academic performance; however, there is still no consensus regarding which gamification elements and strategies should be prioritized for ICT courses. To address this gap, a modified Delphi method with a mixed-methods design was conducted in two rounds: an open exploratory phase and a structured round using a five-point Likert scale. Twelve experts were selected based on a competence coefficient (K ≥ 0.75). Quantitative analyses included mean values, standard deviations, interquartile range (IQR), coefficient of variation (CV), and Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W), while complementary qualitative analysis was performed through thematic coding, achieving inter-coder reliability of κ = 0.82. Consensus thresholds followed current Delphi standards (≥ 80% agreement, IQR ≤ 1, CV ≤ 0.30, and W ≥ 0.60). Experts prioritized challenges and quests (83% agreement; W = 0.66), followed by points and rewards (67%) and the complementary use of badges and leaderboards. Strong consensus was reached on the potential of gamification to strengthen problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration (100%; W = 0.90), although heterogeneity persisted regarding the selection of technological platforms (W = 0.27) and specific strategies (W = 0.28). Overall, gamification was perceived as effective for increasing active participation (100%) and promoting deep understanding (83%), though its effects on academic performance were inconsistent. The expert consensus confirms that gamification is most effective when systematically integrated into ICT curricula, supported by teacher training and immediate feedback mechanisms. As no universal platform is recommended, contextual selection criteria are essential. These findings provide a validated reference framework for designing gamified learning experiences in higher education and underscore the need for further empirical validation across diverse educational contexts.
Keywords: Active Learning, Delphi method, expert consensus, Gamification, higher education, ICT, instructional design, Motivation
Received: 05 Jan 2026; Accepted: 30 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Jaramillo-Mediavilla, Basantes-Andrade, Casillas-Martin and Cabezas-González. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lorena Jaramillo-Mediavilla
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.