Gamification Strategies to Enhance Student Engagement in Entrepreneurship Courses at IIUM

Gamification has emerged as a powerful educational tool that leverages game elements to enhance motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes. In the context of higher education, particularly in entrepreneurship courses, it fosters active participation, critical thinking, and real-world problem-solving skills. Traditional lecture-based approaches often fall short in sustaining student interest and promoting hands-on learning. Implementing gamification addresses these gaps by creating an interactive and stimulating learning environment that mirrors real entrepreneurial challenges. This study explores the use of gamification to enhance learning experience in entrepreneurship course at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Hence, the objective of this research is to identify the strategies needed to incorporate gamification into the entrepreneurship course. This study employed the qualitative method, particularly using in-depth interviews to collect data. Nineteen entrepreneurship educators were recruited using purposive sampling to participate in this study. Thematic analysis reveals that gamification creates an interactive experience that turns the class from passive to active learning environment. Next, gamification improves students’ engagement and skills development by giving them more agency over their learning, which in turn improves their capacity for critical analysis, creative problem-solving and nurturing their growth mindset. Therefore, implementing gamification transforms traditional teaching methods by promoting active participation and real-world problem-solving.