Mastery Learning as Gamification: Level-Up Through High-Transparency Assessments

This paper examines whether a self-paced mastery learning course can be understood as a gamified design even when it contains no explicit game elements such as badges or leaderboards. The authors conduct a qualitative, exploratory case study of an introductory Python programming course (IT1001) for first-year STEM teacher students at NTNU in Norway, run in 2023 and 2024 with roughly 50 students per cohort. The course divides content into nine modules, each requiring a mastery test with a 90% pass threshold, and the grade depends on how many modules are passed. The central thesis is that the level-based progression, automated feedback, and repeated test cycles of mastery learning already embody gamification mechanics, which the authors analyze using the Learning Mechanics–Game Mechanics (LM-GM) framework.

The analysis identifies achievement and progression affordances, including clear goals, increasing difficulty across levels, and instant autoscored feedback on practice tests, along with social affordances such as seminar groups formed by level and personal choice of pace and project topic. Descriptive survey results from anonymous questionnaires (44 of 47 responses in 2023 and 38 of 40 in 2024) show generally positive satisfaction, with the 2024 cohort reporting more favorable responses. Students valued the absence of a final exam and the sense of control over their grade, though the 2023 cohort reported higher stress. Log data from consenting students in 2024 show that test participation was highest early in the semester, and practice-test attempts rose through the modules, which the authors interpret as evidence against procrastination.

The authors acknowledge important limitations. The analysis is post hoc, since neither the course nor the questionnaire was designed to measure gamification outcomes, and the study relies only on descriptive statistics from small cohorts. Scalability is also uncertain, though the authors note that a similar design has been used with around 300 students elsewhere. The authors conclude that self-paced mastery learning can serve as a gamified pedagogical foundation for higher education, particularly through its laddered grading approach.