![Sample our Arts journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110799/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Arts.jpg"})
Abstract
The co-design approach is increasingly popular in facilitating the interchange of knowledge among multiple stakeholders. However, a new challenge emerged during the post-pandemic era when working from home became normal: how to facilitate co-design workshops remotely? The gamification tools, which involve the use of game elements in non-game contexts, appear to be a promising solution for re-engaging teams in online co-design workshops. To investigate this potential, we conducted an explorative experiment in an educational co-design setting with 46 Master’s students participating. By comparing the use of an online gamification tool ‘ideaGardener’ in the gamified workshops with an ad hoc ‘non-game’ tool in the comparison non-game workshops, we found that participants experiencing gamified workshops reported significantly higher levels of engagement. Moreover, we invited five experts to rate all the developed concepts from these workshops regarding the students’ performance of creativity. The results indicated that the concepts developed from the gamified workshops were acknowledged by the experts as having more novelty. This article provides practical implications that suggest the use of gamification tools in remote co-design workshops to achieve a higher level of participant engagement and more novel outcomes. It also discusses several educational implications based on the educational experimental context.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Ziheng Zhang
Dr. Ziheng Zhang is currently an assistant professor in design at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. He is a passionate designer and design researcher with a Cum Laude PhD title awarded by Politecnico di Milano. Current re-search focuses on the gamification approach to remote design participation. His expertise lies in product design, design thinking, service and strategic design, and game & gamification design. He has carried and published in total nine academic papers in the last 5 years. As a designer of Creative Lab, he has participated in many international design projects based in Milan. These experiences enhanced his capabilities in design thinking, strategic design, as well as project management and facilitation.
Rui Patricio
Prof. Dr. Rui Patricio holds a PhD degree in Marketing and Strategy and is a Professor and Researcher at IADE/UNIDCOM-Universidade Europeia, Lisbon. His research interests lie at the intersection between Innovation Management, Gamification, and Design Thinking. He carried out applied research on design approaches to innovation in global firms, which has resulted in publications in relevant journals. He is also a creator of gamification tools for innovation like ideaChef® which has been applied by many firms and universities. In 2016, he received an award by Born from Knowledge/FCTPortuguese Minister for Science for an innovative idea of a mobile ideation game. Before moving to the academic community, he held management roles at startups and leading companies.
Francesco Zurlo
Prof. Dr. Francesco Zurlo is a PhD in industrial design and a Full Professor of Industrial Design at Politecnico di Milano. In the same University, he is Dean of the Design School and Head of the Courses in Product Design (Bachelor and Master). Founder and Director of Ci.Lab (a Politec-nico’s research lab focused on Creative Industries). He is on the scientific board of ADI Index, the most important professional organization for assessing the best and innovative design in Italy. He manages, as director, the Executive Master in Design Strategy and System Innovation (held in China for Chinese students), and is co-director of the Master in Strategic Design and the Master in Furniture Design of Politecnico di Milano. He is the author of many international publications about strategic design, design driven innovation, design supporting organizational issues.
Gianluca Carella
Dr. Gianluca Carella, PhD candidate with a background in Product Service System Design and Management Engineering. His research focuses on how companies can overcome barriers for design thinking adoption and how they can use it to create innovation. Moreover, he is working on projects that deal with entrepreneurship, supporting start-ups in combining the design and the business binomial. He is collaborating with the Department of Design of Politecnico di Milano working as a designer and researcher involved in European research projects. His main streams of research are Design Thinking, Strategic Design, Service Design, Design Management and Entrepreneurship. In the last years, Gianluca has been teaching subjects related to his research activity both in the School of Design—Politecnico di Milano and in POLI.Design Consortium.